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It de-facto did; the US had been providing material aid to the British for years and the axis powers had a mutual defense treaty. As soon as the US declared war
by wayoutthere 5y ago
It de-facto did; the US had been providing material aid to the British for years and the axis powers had a mutual defense treaty. As soon as the US declared war on Japan, Germany and Italy declared war on the US (meaning they would now be attacking every US ship they saw, civilian or military). This was entirely expected by military leaders at the time and blatantly obvious to even the news media.
- ZanyProgrammer 5y agoThe point is that Germany was under no obligation to declare war on the United States. What was Japan going to do if they didn't?
- rkk3 5y agoNot only was there no obligation to declare war, but it was Hitler's first formal declaration of war in the conflict! So there was no precedent for expecting him too. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declarations_of_war_during_World_War_II https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declarations_of_war_during_Wor...
- wayoutthere 5y agoThere had been a low-grade conflict for a few years with German U-boats attacking American ships carrying goods to England. Given that’s how we got drawn into WWI, it was certainly the most likely outcome at the time given our “special relationship” with England.