It seems so idiotic to me to call a side "allies" when it could have been used to describe all 4 groups in these these wars. If some PR/advertizing firm were to give each side more apt names, what would they be? This is just for fun, I know at the time they didn't use the words to describe themselves as we do now.
From wikipedia...
WWI: Allies included Britain, France, Russia, Italy
Central Powers which included Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria
WWII: Axis Powers were Germany, Italy and Japan
Allies were Britain, France, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, India, the Soviet Union, China and the United States of America.
I know at the time they didn't use the words to describe themselves as we do now.
But they did exactly that.
Axis Powers (Achsenmächte, Potenze dell'Asse) was the self description of the countries centered around the alliance of Germany and Italy. It was also called 'Achse Berlin-Rom' or 'Asse Roma-Berlino' from the Italian perspective. Later Tokyo was added.
The term was first used in a speech by Mussolini in November 1936, after both powers had started their intervention into the Spanish Civil War. He used it as a metaphor of an axis around which the other European states would revolve. It evoked strong images of unity, particularly in the fight against bolshevism and communism, which was considered one of the main goals of both the Fascist and the National Socialist movement; cemented in the Anticomintern-pact of 1936.
This tapestry, printed on large scale after 1936, powerfully shows this visual association. The two national monumens of the two powers face each other, and the corinthian column adorned with both the fasces and the swastika forms a symbolic axis that unites Berlin and Rome. Two important cities for the movements, Napoli and Nuremberg, are also shown, with a medallion that shows the alps with a piece of Autobahn as a very tangible link between the two.
You could also arguably use the term United Nations for the Allied Powers of WW2. The term first pops up in the January 1942, coined by FDR, and used in the joint statement by the UK, US, China and the USSR, called the "Deceleration of the United Nations".
The also in the text refer to the Axis as members of the "Tripartite Pact".
The UN name also appeared throughout the war in propaganda. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Original_United_Nations.jpg
