Germany and Italy Declare War on the US
On 11 December, 1941 because the US had declared war on Japan after the attack on Pearl Harbor Italy and Germany, Axis allies of Japan declared war on the US. The US in turn declared war on them.
Hitlers' timing was out of sync. He truly thought he had plenty of time to wage war on the US and Britain while he busied himself with the USSR. However, because Germany was in the Tripartite agreement with Japan and Italy he would have to declare war on the US at this time.
Hitler stated that he had tried to avoid direct conflict with the US but had previously torpedoed US naval ships escorting British merchant ships. This webmaster wonders how he figured he was trying to avoid conflict? I think what he meant to say was I didn't want to directly fight the US until we had Europe under my control. He is quoted as saying: "After victory has been achieved," he said. "Germany, Italy and Japan will continue in closest co-operation with a view to establishing a new and just order." It was a known fact that he considered America to be inferior to Germany because we have always been the ideological enemy and are racially mixed.
He accused President Roosevelt of waging a campaign against Germany since 1937, blamed him for the outbreak of war in 1939 and said the US was planning to invade Germany in 1943. Webmaster comment: Come on, didn't Hitler listen to the radio?
In Italy Mussolini declared war on the states also noting the pact with Japan. Dictator Benito Mussolini pledged the "powers of the pact of steel" were determined to win.
The US congress and senate both voted in favor of war with them. It was a unanimous vote in the senate and only one congresswoman, a pacifist, Jeanette Rankin voted against.
The draft had been enacted the year before and the army had grown tenfold. After the attack on Pearl, citizens were flocking to enlist in the navy and Marine Corps which do not take draftees.
The President's Message
To the Congress of the United States:
On the morning of Dec. 11 the Government of Germany, pursuing its course
of world conquest, declared war against the United States.
The long-known and the long-expected has thus taken place. The forces
endeavoring to enslave the entire world now are moving toward this
hemisphere.
Never before has there been a greater challenge to life, liberty and
civilization.
Delay invites great danger. Rapid and united effort by all of the
peoples of the world who are determined to remain free will insure a
world victory of the forces of justice and of righteousness over the
forces of savagery and of barbarism.
Italy also has declared war against the United States.
I therefore request the Congress to recognize a state of war between the
United States and Germany, and between the United States and Italy.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
This ends the "WWII - The Beginning" section.
The next section is: "Tank Destroyers Needed"
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