Okla-homey
12/11/2008, 07:30 AM
December 11, 1941: Germany declares war on the United States
67 years ago on this day in 1941, the totalitarian dictator of Germany, Adolf Hitler, declares war on the United States, bringing America, which had been neutral, into the European conflict.
The bombing of Pearl Harbor surprised even Germany. Although Hitler had made an oral agreement with his Axis partner Imperial Japan that Germany would join a war against the United States, he was uncertain as to how the war would be engaged.
Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor answered that question. On December 8, Japanese Ambassador Oshima went to German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop to nail the Germans down on a formal declaration of war against America. Von Ribbentrop stalled for time; he knew that Germany was under no obligation to do this under the terms of the Tripartite Pact, which promised help if Japan was attacked, but not if Japan was the aggressor. Von Ribbentrop feared that the addition of another antagonist, the United States, could overwhelm the German war effort.
http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/8984/fdrimage29jq8.jpg
Von Ribbentrop, Ambassador Oshima and Hitler
http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/15/fdr10392qw8.gif
Defendants Rudolf Hess (first row, left), Joachim von Ribbentrop (first row, right), Karl Doentiz (second row, left), Erich Raeder (second row, middle), and Balder von Schirach (second row, right) sit in the dock during the Nuremberg Trials, 1945-46.
But Hitler thought otherwise. He was convinced that the United States would soon beat him to the punch and declare war on Germany. The U.S. Navy was already attacking German U-boats, and Hitler despised Roosevelt for his repeated verbal attacks against his Nazi ideology. He also believed that Japan was much stronger than it was, that once it had defeated the United States, it would turn and help Germany defeat Russia.
So at 3:30 p.m. (Berlin time) on December 11, the German charge d'affaires in Washington handed American Secretary of State Cordell Hull a copy of the declaration of war.
http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/1682/fdrprh01img0066ic5.jpg
Franklin Roosevelt, wearing a black mourning armband, holds in his hands the joint Congressional declarations of war against Germany and Italy in December, 1941. THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
That very same day, Hitler addressed the Reichstag to defend the declaration. The failure of the New Deal, argued Hitler, was the real cause of the war, as President Roosevelt, supported by "plutocrats and Jews," attempted to cover up for the collapse of his economic agenda. "First he incites war, then falsifies the causes, then odiously wraps himself in a cloak of Christian hypocrisy and slowly but surely leads mankind to war," declared Hitler-and the Reichstag leaped to their feet in thunderous applause. Fascist Italy declared war on the US three days later.
http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/2443/fdrimage27mx1.jpg
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/6133/insane7zolh2.jpg
67 years ago on this day in 1941, the totalitarian dictator of Germany, Adolf Hitler, declares war on the United States, bringing America, which had been neutral, into the European conflict.
The bombing of Pearl Harbor surprised even Germany. Although Hitler had made an oral agreement with his Axis partner Imperial Japan that Germany would join a war against the United States, he was uncertain as to how the war would be engaged.
Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor answered that question. On December 8, Japanese Ambassador Oshima went to German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop to nail the Germans down on a formal declaration of war against America. Von Ribbentrop stalled for time; he knew that Germany was under no obligation to do this under the terms of the Tripartite Pact, which promised help if Japan was attacked, but not if Japan was the aggressor. Von Ribbentrop feared that the addition of another antagonist, the United States, could overwhelm the German war effort.
http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/8984/fdrimage29jq8.jpg
Von Ribbentrop, Ambassador Oshima and Hitler
http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/15/fdr10392qw8.gif
Defendants Rudolf Hess (first row, left), Joachim von Ribbentrop (first row, right), Karl Doentiz (second row, left), Erich Raeder (second row, middle), and Balder von Schirach (second row, right) sit in the dock during the Nuremberg Trials, 1945-46.
But Hitler thought otherwise. He was convinced that the United States would soon beat him to the punch and declare war on Germany. The U.S. Navy was already attacking German U-boats, and Hitler despised Roosevelt for his repeated verbal attacks against his Nazi ideology. He also believed that Japan was much stronger than it was, that once it had defeated the United States, it would turn and help Germany defeat Russia.
So at 3:30 p.m. (Berlin time) on December 11, the German charge d'affaires in Washington handed American Secretary of State Cordell Hull a copy of the declaration of war.
http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/1682/fdrprh01img0066ic5.jpg
Franklin Roosevelt, wearing a black mourning armband, holds in his hands the joint Congressional declarations of war against Germany and Italy in December, 1941. THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
That very same day, Hitler addressed the Reichstag to defend the declaration. The failure of the New Deal, argued Hitler, was the real cause of the war, as President Roosevelt, supported by "plutocrats and Jews," attempted to cover up for the collapse of his economic agenda. "First he incites war, then falsifies the causes, then odiously wraps himself in a cloak of Christian hypocrisy and slowly but surely leads mankind to war," declared Hitler-and the Reichstag leaped to their feet in thunderous applause. Fascist Italy declared war on the US three days later.
http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/2443/fdrimage27mx1.jpg
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/6133/insane7zolh2.jpg