Why America entered european war

I apologize for asking what may have been a frequently discussed question. Why did America decide to fight WWII in Europe? I have studied WWII and know many of the common explanations.

I assume it was primarily Roosevelt's desire to protect England from Germany, however I haven't read much about Roosevelt's feelings in 39-42 timeframe. Of course Pearl Harbor and Hitler's declaration of War on the US gave Roosevelt the popular support to enter the war but this is only part of the story.

At the time of Pearl Harbor did Roosevelt hold anything more than a hope of keeping England out of Hitler's hand. It seems difficult to believe that there was much hope of defeating Germany before they fully engaged Russia.

I appreciate any responses.

There are two points you need to bear in mind. Firstly, Roosevelt was not supreme dictator of the US. Congress and much popular opinion was not in favour of supporting the UK in 1939, 1940 or even 1941. Germany declared war on the US, not the other way around. Secondly, the UK with the Commonwealth and Empire needed little help in protecting itself from Germany. What it needed was help in defeating Germany within a few years.

By December 1941, an invasion of the UK was ruled out entirely, even if Germany had secured an armistice in the East. The only conceivable window for a extremely risky invasion of the UK was May 1940, and Germany wasn't positioned or able to exploit it. By the time Germany was ready to start thinking about invasion, in August 1940, the UK defences were too strong to enable a successful invasion in the time available.

Aside from the legal detail that Germany declared war on the U.S., not the other way around, by Dec 1941 not only Roosevelt but most of American thinkers and leaders were coming to the conclusion that Nazism was the greatest menace to the world. Given its power and military success in Europe up to that point (Hitler's armies were at the gates of Moscow) there was considerable feeling that in spite of the Pearl Harbor attack Germany was a greater threat than Japan.

The easy answer is that Germany declared war on the US shortly after the Pearl Harbor attack, thus removing from FDR the burden of making that decision.

Walter S

Today Germany is a second tier power, and has been for a long time. But in 1939, Germany was a first rank power. German scientists and engineers were reputed the best in the world. This was probably not really true any more, but it had been true for a generation or so not long before.

German industry was very powerful - Germany far outweighed all other European countries in such basic areas as steel production.

The great industrial resources built up in the USSR were not widely known yet, and in any case the USSR had actually allied with Germany for almost two years.

Japan by comparison was considered 'rinky-dink'. The Japanese were after all mere Asians, with industries and technology that were supposed to be second-rate copies of American or European models.

This made Germany seem to be the far more dangerous enemy.

Germany's potential threat was magnified by the events of 1939- 1941. The swift crushing of Poland (a good sized country, thought to be at least somewhat armed and prepared), the daring conquest of Norway in the teeth of Allied naval supremacy, the shattering defeat of France, the blitz of Yugoslavia and Greece, and finally the immense blows delivered to the USSR - to many observers, it seemed as though German arms were all but invincible.

The Germans' pioneering use of tanks, parachute and glider troops, airpower, and other innovations repeatedly stunned observers. No one knew what Germany would come up with next. Reports of 'fifth- column' treachery were rampant, and it seemed as though Germany had agents and sympathizers everywhere.

To give an example of the awe felt by many at the time - in early 1942, the US military attache in Romania came back to the US, and reported to the Army's Operations Division in Washington. This officer, Colonel Ratay, was 'extremely energetic... one of our better attaches.' He told Eisenhower and Marshall that Germany had 40,000 aircraft in reserve, together with sufficient divisions for a successful invasion of Britain.

Here's another 'data point'. An elderly man of my acquaintance, who was a boy in 1941, once said to me (and this was no earlier than 1990) that he had always thought the Japanese at Pearl Harbor used planes that were built or designed for them by Germany. He was not a well-educated man, of course, but it shows the sort of thinking that was widespread among Americans at the time.

As of Pearl Harbor, Germany _was_ 'fully engaged' against the USSR. German troops were fighting at the outskirts of Moscow (the German drive on Moscow was stopped only a few days before).

It must be remembered that traditional United States policy (once it had become powerful to become a major actor on the world stage) was to prevent the establishment of a non-democratic Eurasian superstate. This was the reason the US intervened in the First World War as well. This was a modified form of traditional British policy in favor of a balance of power on the Continent such that one state there shouldn't get too strong at the expense of the others. Thus, the personal relationship between FDR and Churchill only partly explains FDR pro-British policy before December 7, 1941. By 1941 the Americans could already see that the Japanese were bogged down in China, whereas the Germans were on the march in the Mediterranean and eastern Europe. The Germans also had an aggressive intelligence and diplomatic effort going in Latin America which was pretty successful, especially in anti-American and anti-British countries like Argentina and I'm sure the US viewed this as at threat in terms of the Monroe Doctrine. Thus, it was pretty clear where the main threat to American interests were.

The History Channel had a 'World at War' episode on about a year or two ago on which they discussed this period of our countries history. One of the participants was a member of FDR's White House Staff (Ambassador John Kenneth Gailbraith)at the time and I quote from him on the subject of the United States going to war with Germany in December of 1941:

'When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor the country was 100% for declaring War on Japan on Dec 8th, but the majority of the country did not want to declare war on Germany, so when Germany declared war on the United States FDR breathed a great sigh of relief because he knew that Congress would not go along with the US declaring war on Germany first'

Gallup Polls taken at the time tend to support this view the following are the results of a poll taken 11/22/41 just before PH:

Question:

It has been suggested that Congress pass a resolution declaring that a state of war exists between the United States and Germany. Would you favor or oppose such a resolution at this time?

Favor...26% Oppose...63% No opinion...11%

Voluntarily committing the US to a war with Germany right after PH would mean stretching our weak military just that much more at a time when they were already spread pretty thin. Right after PH we had no knowledge as to the full extent of the Japanese threat in the Pacific, and what it would take to stop them, plus at the time we had no idea when and were they might attack next(a lot of people thought somewhere on the US West Coast). Hitler solved this dilemma for FDR on Dec 11, 1941.

Jim Carew

Easy and insufficient. The German declaration of war followed over a year of US non-neutral actions in support of Britain, including an undeclared naval war. Moreover, after Pearl Harbor there was a good deal of pressure to forget about the Germans for the time being and fight the Japanese instead.

So, in order to understand the original poster's question, we have to be able to answer two other questions:

1. Why did the US support Britain to the extent that it did, which included not only every legal avenue of support but several illegal?

2. Why did the US concentrate its war effort on Germany after about mid-1942?

How about: Germany Declared War and no Nation will ignore that.

story.

No. That *IS* the story. When one nation, an ally of a nation one is at war with, declares war on you also, you don't ignore it.

Germany was going to interfere in our war effort with Japan if it could. That threat of interference was sufficient.

Further, if you felt an 'of course' was necessary, then why the question? Roosevelt did not want *war*, he wanted *Peace*, just not a peace on

*Germany's* terms.