Why did Nazi Germany ally with Japan?

Question

Why would white racists align themselves with asians? Didn't they see anything wrong with this, or was it purely a pragmatic arrangement?

I've never understood this.

Answer 1

Pragmatisms completely-

It was done for purely military strategic reasons. Germany wanted an ally that could potentially slow down both US and the Soviet Union. They were only half right. Japan never confronted the Soviet Union. Japan wanted an ally that could supply them with oil and the Japanese were convinced Germany would allow them to conquer Asia and create a large Japanese empire.

I've always heard that Hitler planned on eventually attacking the Japanese had they won the war. But I've never heard the evidence. There is no doubt he considered Japanese people an inferior race. And the Japanese were telling their people they were the master race.

In reality, they were allies in only name. They had minimal contact with each other during the war and neither gained much of anything from their alliance. But both countries wanted to expand their empires, so that was enough to ignore both of their racist stances against each other.

Answer 2

It was natural for the 3 original Axis powers (Italy, Germany, and Japan) to be allies. First, they were all either sanctioned by or quit the League of Nations. Second, they were all bent on conquest and domination. For Germany it was eastern and western Europe, the idea of Lebenstraum. For Italy, it was North Africa and the Eastern Mediterannean. For Japan, it was East Asia and the Pacific.

Also, by allying with Japan, Hitler took some heat off the European Theater. Both Britain and Russia would have to use some of their military to defend their territories in Asia. Hitler also knew that the US would enter the war at some point and he assumed, correctly, that they would also have to divide forces to fight in the Pacific as well as Europe. Japan attacked the US too soon into the war. Hitler was enraged when he heard the news of Pearl Harbor because that meant he would have to declare war on the US because of his pact with Japan. This would then draw US into Europe sooner. Hitler was hoping that he could mop up Europe before the US would even get a chance to enter the war but Japan's pre-emptive attack on Pearl Harbor screwed that up. Hitler's silly decision to attack Russia (Operation Barbarossa), despite the warnings of his military high command didn't help either. Italy's swift defeat by the Allies, coming out of Africa hastened the end for Hitler and soon Japan was fighting by itself.

To make a long story short...it was an alliance of convenience and of strategy. Hitler did not like the Japanese, but as another person answered earlier....A ENEMY OF AN ENEMY IS A FRIEND.

have a nice day.

Answer 3

It was a great strategic decision. At one time the Germans were fighting a war on 3 fronts. Russia, Europe and North Africa. With the Japanese continued to threaten the US on the West (Hawaii and Alaska) they assumed US would not be able to fully support Europe. It was true since only England was still free but badly damaged.

Additionally, had the Japanese continued to succeed as they did in the S Pacific and Manchuria. They could have gone onto attack Russia. This was not out of the question because Russia and Japan fought a war at the turn of the century and the Russians were the ones who begged for peace

Answer 4

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RE:
Why did Nazi Germany ally with Japan?
Why would white racists align themselves with asians? Didn't they see anything wrong with this, or was it purely a pragmatic arrangement?

I've never understood this.

Answer 5

Because both saw eachother as a bulwark against bolshevism/communism.

Because of people high up in financial/political circles in the US and UK, both the US and the UK allied with the communists in russia against both germany and japan.

Thus, the US and the UK really did ally with the wrong side. The communists went on to kill at least 7 million people in the ukraine and russia, they killed over 20 million in china, they killed millions in cambodia, and they basically made war all over asia and took over eastern europe.

Much of what we have been told about WWII is lies in the west. Watch the movie Katyn (from 2007) for starters.

Answer 6

Russia was such a threat to Germany they thought if Japan attack it's Eastern flank it would weaken the Russians.We got into it and kicked their butts.If Japan would have won,the Germans would have turned on them sooner or later....not of the Master race,you know?

Answer 7

Two words....convenience and no-obverlapping-objectives (does that count as one word?).

In fact, the Nazis aligned themselves with their arch-enemy prior to the invasion of Poland, as a matter of convenience. The Pact with Stalin was an agreement between the world's bitterest enemies. Their ideologies clashed, but when it came to 'convenience', Hitler used the pact to squeeze out Poland and give him a free hand to deal with the west.

Eventually the Japanese alliance would've fell apart too if Hitler had succeeded in defeating the allies, but that point never came close.

Answer 8

I agree with Dick but also the Japanese were doing the same thing in Asia by killing, torturing and raping as many of their enemies as they could (especially the Chinese)

Answer 9

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Answer 10

You never understood it because you're probably I.Q. challenged.
The German's allied themselves with Japan because they believed the US couldn't fight a war on two fronts. They were wrong!!