WWII: pre-war territory of selected Allied and Axis countries and possessions 1938
Before the Second World War, the Soviet Union was the largest individual world power in terms of territory, at over 21 million square kilometers. When the territories of the United Kingdom it's colonies and dominions are combined, then the expanse of the British Empire totaled at almost 35 million square kilometers, making it larger than the USSR. The Axis Powers, led by Germany, Italy, and Japan, controlled a much smaller share of the globe than the Allied Powers in 1938 - however, the majority of Europe was under Axis control by 1941, while Japan had taken much of the Western territory in Asia and pushed further into China by this time.