Why did the USA get involved in WW2?
Simply put the USA got into the Pacific War when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. Several days later Germany declared war and brought the USA into the European War (something they didn’t have to do). Yes German subs and American warships were already shooting at each other, but selling arms isn’t part of this. Many countries sells arms to other countries at war, happens all the time and throughout history, not something specific to the USA. Don’t be fooled either into thinking that the US had forced Japan into this. The US was trying a diplomatic way to solve the China situation (Rape of Nanking ring a bell) because the rest of the world seemed to ignore it. The Lusitania had nothing to do with WW2, it was sunk in WW1, not 2.
The Americans entered WW2 because Japan wanted to rule the Pacific and the American forces in Pearl Harbour were in the way. They thought that destroying as many American ships as possible would mean less ships for the Americans to fight with. Fortunately, their three aircraft carriers, the Americans that is, were away on exercise at the time and it was because of that that the Americans were able to defeat Japan in the Battle of Midway which was a fight between aircraft carriers of both sides. Churchill had wanted America to join in the war several years before that and was delighted when the Geremans sank a British ship which carried some American citizens. Same thing happened in WW1 when the Germans sank the Lusitania, there were about one third Americans aboard her at the time. My father went to the States in the Lusitania`s sister-ship the Mauretania during the 20`s and stayed for three years. During the last war I was about to be evacuated to America to one of my three uncles, my
The simple answer is because the administartion wanted to. The attack on Pearl Harbor can only be described as a suprise because of its timing. It was known to be inevitable, the only question was when. Keep in mind that the US declared war on Germany and Italy on December 11, 1941, despite the fact that the European theater was a wholly seperate conflict from the goings on in the eastern hemisphere. Roosevelt was a distant cousin of Churchill, so it makes perfect sense that he would want to assist the UK in any way possible. It’s just human nature. US commercial interests were involved in the war long before any official declaration. A little factoid: Japan never invaded American soil, but Germany did. Hawaii was but a military outpost at the time. German U-boats patrolled the eastern seaboard in American waters and were sighted at the ports of New York City and Galveston, as well as many unconfirmed reports elsewhere.
Why America Entered World War II Many reasons, including that Nazi Germany was sinking American supply ships because the US was providing financial and military support to the Allied troops (England, France, China and Russia). Most importantly, Japan attacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, without a declaration of war or any warning that hostlities were being commenced, sinking most of the battle fleet. The day after the attack, December 7th, 1941, President Roosevelt went before the US Congress and asked for a formal declaration of War with Japan in retaliation. With the exception of Janet Rankin (Montana), the US Congress voted unamiously for War. President Roosevelt never asked for war with Italy or Germany before the Congress. Instead, three days after December 7th, Italy and Germany declared war on the United States. The 7 December 1941 Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor was one of the great defining moments in history. A single carefully-planned and well-executed stroke re
