Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.

AJ
Lv 7
AJ asked in Arts & HumanitiesHistory · 3 years ago

Why did the US declare war on Germany in 1941 when Germany had already declared war on the US?

6 Answers

Relevance
  • 3 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    Mostly for internal political reasons. Remember that technically the President has limited control of the armed forces when it comes to sending them to fight unless our Congress officially declares war.

  • Anonymous
    2 years ago

    Minors don’t have “no rights”. Minors do have rights, retard.

  • ?
    Lv 6
    3 years ago

    It was just a formality to justify violating the neutrality act. Like WW1, the position of the United States was neutral. But Roosevelt was supplying money and materials to Germany's enemies and this violated the neutrality act.

    When Hitler declared war on the United States, he had no intention of ever coming close to America. It was in retaliation of Roosevelt provoking a war with Japan - but mainly it was because Roosevelt began stirring up conflicts in Europe to provoke a conflict there, too.

    "The American president increasingly used his influence to create conflicts, intensify existing conflicts, and, above all, to keep conflicts from being resolved peacefully...this man increased his campaign of incitement in January 1939. In a message [on Jan. 4, 1939] to the U.S. Congress, he threatened to take every measure short of war against the authoritarian countries.

    He repeatedly claimed that other countries were trying to interfere in American affairs, and he talked a lot about upholding the Monroe Doctrine. Starting in March 1939 he began lecturing about internal European affairs that were of no concern of the President of the United States. In the first place, he doesn't understand these problems, and secondly, even if he did understand them and appreciated the historical circumstances, he has no more right to concern himself with central European affairs than the German head of state has to take positions on or make judgments about conditions in the United States." - Hitler on why he declared war on the United States.

    Roosevelt's New Deal policies were failures. To distract the American people's attention away from one failed attempt after another to restore the economy after the Great Depression, he chose to follow an increased foreign policy of incitement to war.

  • 3 years ago

    The truth is the Americans were working hard to supply us (UK) with war materials long before the unprovoked and dastardly attack upon Pearl Harbor by the Imperial Japanese Navy.

    Following the attack on Pearl Habor - Adolf Hitler declared war on the United States of America which in turn declared war on Germany and it's Allies (Italy and Japan).

    Don't think Adolf Hitler had any idea what the US was and is really like. Within days of the declaration of war, American factories were churning our war materials where before they had been making washing machines, Frigidairs and etc.

    In the years before the war Charlie Chaplin had made a movie called, "The Great Dictator" which had been seen by many Americans who went regularly to their local Movie Theatre. The message contained within the movie was not lost on the American people, who, in their own democratic time and fashion gave thought to what they should do.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqyQfjDScjU

    Once, while sitting in a restaurant with friends, a person strode over to Charlie Chaplin and said, "You are Jewish, aren't you?" To which Charlies replied, "I do not have that honor."

  • How do you think about the answers? You can sign in to vote the answer.
  • 3 years ago

    Declaring war officially gives the government authorization to mount a full war effort.

  • Anonymous
    3 years ago

    Details ....... We stayed out of it as long as we could. But we were 'loaning' ships to Briton and selling them tanks & planes cheap.

Still have questions? Get your answers by asking now.