Would the US have gotten involved in WWII had the Japanese not attacked Pearl Harbour?

Question

From the little i know there were volunteers that came to Europe to join the fight against the Germans but the US as a nation did not get involved until afterJapan bombed Pearl Harbour.
So had it not been for Pearl harbour ... would they have bothered? Would the beaches in France have seen the same action to rid Europe of the evil that was ...?
What you reckon ...

Answer 1

Hard to say, the allies were desperate for the Americans to join them but the USA was making so much money on supplying munitions and war loans. Also their homeland was not under threat so its unlikely they would have taken up arms unless the UK fell and the Nazis started eyeing up the USA. Its not disputed that the bombing of Pearl Harbour ( The Day of Infamy - as Truman called it ) led to American involvement and ultimately the shortening of the war with American resources behind the Allies.

Answer 2

No the americans wouldnt have been directly involved, and what a load of S*** about britain been over run !! by this time the Battle of britain had been won and the RAF defeated the luftwaffe hence one of the reasons why Hitler recoiled and went to the east as he knew he cound never successgully invade britain while the RAF was in exisance never mind getting stronger! he never had any intention of fighting on more than one front and was preparing to invade russia. The British where geraing up and going on the offensive agains the germans and the italians, Britain needed supplies from america of which FDR once said " will becom the arsenal of deomocratic countries" but we also where developing our own weapons and tactics which later led to defeating the axis powers in north africa etc, and dont forget by the time of pearl harbour whe had been fighting alone for nearly 3 yrs

Answer 3

In all probability the US would have eventually entered the war without the attack on Pearl Harbor. In spite of what people think, the US was already gearing up for war from the mid-30s onwards, same as here in UK.

In a democracy like USA, you've got to bring the people with you. In other words, the US-gov of the day needed time to persuade the people that war was coming and that they would be involved, like it or not and that the concept of a Fortress America is not really in their interests.

Answer 4

Franklin D. Roosevelt in his speech declared there has been a state of war between United States and the Japanese Empire after the attack on Pearl Harbor. About four periods later, Italy and Germany declared war on United States.

Answer 5

Its a shame but America would NOT have joined the war in the military sense if the Japanese hadnt attacked.

Dont forget, that Germany declared war on America (to support Japan). If Hitler hadnt done that, America would have only fought in the Pacific.

The War was turning the allies way in 1942, El Alamein showed the world that the Germans could be beaten on land, and Stalingrad was the beginning of the end for the Germans in Russia. American militiary participation against the Germans shortened the War - but it wasnt needed for victory.

Answer 6

No, the US only joined WWII because of Pearl harbour. They were busy enough recovering from the Depression, and the Wall Street crash to join the war if there was njo threat to the US.

Its a good thing they did join though, for us and the USA. It helped us win the war, and nearly sorted out the American unemployment issues.

Answer 7

The USA has always only ever gotten itself involved in foreign conflicts if they suit its purpose. The Americans had no interest in European freedom or democracy, and didn't care how many innocents the Nazi's exterminated. In WWI the USA was eventually forced to join the war in 1917. So yes, I think that in 1942 the USA would have been quite happy to stay neutral indefinitely.

Answer 8

FDR had promised the American people that they wouldn"t get involved in WW11, although privately he wanted to assist.

Evidence shows that he had early warning of the impending attack on Pearl Harbour, but did nothing about it. He wanted an event to happen that would sway public opinion to such an extent that getting involved in the war would be acceptable.

It worked.

Can you see anything similar to more recent events?

Answer 9

if there had ever been a succesful invasion of britain they probably would hav done its difficult to say if that would ever have happened though. britain still had the commonwealth at the time. i dont think the us were bothered about the germans occupying france. but as they had been supporting britain in other ways perhaps that would have bothered them more. having said that the americans did eventually get involved in wwl without being attacked.

Answer 10

The japanese attacked PH in the knowledge that it was better to decide when and where to expand the war rather than let history take its course. it wasnt a sudden change of events, rather an acknowledgement by the japanese that a decisive blow was required before trying to bring a new stalemate under better conditions for them (they needed to expand to secure raw material).
basically war was almost inevitable but it still could have been a long way off.