US and UK blames that Germany initiated World War II ?

Question

Do You agree ? If no then give some reasons please.
Also some people say that America was already in world war II before its formal entrance after pearl harbour attack by putting embargo on oil for Japan and helping UK by providing weapon and finances ? I met japanese guy in train last month who became good friend of mine he said to me during a discussion that all the history is influenced by Americans and Britishers especially the stuff present in English language so u won't find the right answers by looking in internet and asking English speaking people. i wonder what the truth is?

Answer 1

The US put the oil embargo in place because of Japan's aggressive movements against mainland China and the atrocities they were committing. And we agreed to provide arms and supplies to the allies because they were getting their asses handed to them. Germany was the aggressor so why would it be wrong to arm the countries that were trying to defend themselves.

Answer 2

The US and UK blame Germany for initiating World War II because Germany started the war with the Allies in World War II.

Britain, France and Poland had mutual defense treaties. Germany invaded Poland. Britain and France declared war on Germany.

Germany committed an act of war so how was it NOT the fault of Germany starting a war with England and France?

Political and economic sanctions are not acts of war. A neutral nation selling supplies and equipment to a nation at war is not an act of war. (If it was, by that logic, the Allies should have declared war on Sweden for selling high grade steel to Germany during World War Two.)

Bombing Pearl Harbor was an act of war and as a result the USA declared war on Japan. Since the Germans and Italians had the same kind of mutual defense treaty with Japan as Britain and France had with Poland, Germany and Italy declared war on the USA. So how was the AXIS not responsible for starting a war with the USA?

As far as Japan goes, some of the people there think the USA made Japan attack Pearl Harbor and it was not their fault. Japan and Japanese in general have an issue with guilt and "saving face" and will take any rationalization they can to excuse their behavior on World War Two.

Answer 3

Yes and No.
Europe: The Versailles Treaty (1919), the peace treaty that officially ended World War I, was percived by the German people as unfair was a major cause and can be traced to the Balkanic wars (1911-1912) and the Russo-Turkish War(1877–1878). Hitler had basically spelled out his intentions in Mein Kampf(1925). The Great Depression in the 1930s gave the people of Germany a reason to rally around Hitler. The Munich Agreement in 1938 followed a policy of appeasement British and French governments giving Germany parts of Czechoslovakia. In March 1939 Germany invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia. In September 1939 Germany invaded Poland. In May 1940 they invaded Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, and France.
Asia: Japan invaded Manchuria (1931) and China (1937) to bolster its meager stock of natural resources and to extend its colonial control over a wider area and can be traced back to the First Sino–Japanese War (1894-1895) . The United States and the United Kingdom instituted increasingly broad embargoes of raw materials and oil against Japan. The direct cause of the United States' entry into the war with Japan was the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Germany declared war on the United States on December 11, 1941.

Twice prior to Pearl Harbor FDR asked congress to declare war on Germany. Many U.S. merchant seamen lost their lives in north atlantic convoys prior to the United States official entry into the war.

Answer 4

That is true of course, but Germany and Japan were aggressive nations already at war. Japan had invaded China and Korea and killed millions of people. That was the reason for the Oil embargo. Germany was waging war in Europe and Britain was on the verge of destruction. That was the reason for our aid to Britain.
These are facts that are not in Japanese history books

Answer 5

World War 2 is just a continuation of World War 1 and earlier wars, to better understand World War 2 you need to understand World War 1 and preceding wars.

So what truly started the 2 World Wars was the pride and greed of the Austrian (Southern German) empire, which was allied with the Prussian (Northern German) empire, which were finally united in World War 2, but then later dismembered.

Also you need to read on Otto von Bismarck, to understand why the Germanic people were led to World War 1 and World War 2. And even in ancient times the Germanic tribes were fiercely independent and always unified against the ancient Roman empire. The very term "German", was given to the peoples of Deutschland, by the Romans, because they though of these "barbarians" as "germs": In the same sense that the ancient Hindus termed the Afghan peoples "Pathan", which has the same meaning as "German", in the ancient Hindu language, Sankskrit.

Answer 6

Well for starters the Germans invaded Poland that Germany knew had a treaty for defense with France and UK. Once they invaded Poland the Germans knew they would be at war with UK and France. The Germans also practiced unrestricted submarine warfare this led USA to declare The belligerent neutrality act of 1940 which stated that any unidentified warship attacking nuetral ships would be attacked by US forces in the western Atlantic. This was enforce until Germany declared war on the USA December 12 1941 after which the USA declared war on Germany and Italy. AS to Japan we had imposed a oil embargo on them because they threatened our interest in China and had sunk one of our gun boats in the Yangtze river namely the USS Panay. This put Japan in a bind they either had to accept the US demand of Japan getting out of China or go to war with the US they chose war and paid for it.

Answer 7

History is written by the victors.
We DID embargo oil to Japan and provided supplies to the British prior to Pearl Harbor.
This in no way diminishes Japan and Germany's failed attempts to take over the planet.
Why don't you read a book and quit listening to guys on trains and consider them the authority on World War II?
Ask your buddy what the Anschluss (sp?) was. Ask him about Blitzkrieg into Poland - then tell me WE started the war.

Answer 8

Details, details. You could go back to the Panay incident for the Japanese, or the formation of the AVG (Flying Tigers). And yes, the USN was involved in a shooting war with German U-boats before December 1941. This last was kept secret from the American public at the time, but it's been no secret since.

Answer 9

The reason the UK was involved in WW II
was that the Nazi's invaded Poland and honouring their treaty with Poland, France and the UK declare war.

They however did nothing to aid Poland as France was invaded almost straight away.
The British and French had their hands full in France.

Although on paper the Brits and French Armies were larger there were poorly led and couldn't adopt to Hitler's "blitzkrieg" tactics.

Hence the fall of France

It was the League of Nations who put the oil embargo on Japan NOT the US

Answer 10

History is written by the victors, it's true. However Germany did start WWII (in europe - Japan had been at war with China for some years previously), they were the ones who invaded Poland and annexed Austria and Czechoslovakia. Just because it's hard to define an exact starting point for a war because of the arms deals and backdoor alliances going on it doesn't deny the fact that Germany invaded a country they were told they couldn't get away with invading without war.

Answer 11

Hitler started the war in Europe. He signed papers saying he wouldn't, but he was lying and he never honored any treaties anyway. America twiddled and watched as Europe was crushed under Nazi boots of war. We did supply England with arms and armament under the covers, and Americans volunteered to help them fight. Any other country would have crumbled under Hitler's massive war machine, but the British persevered against horrendous bombardment for nearly a year of bombers every day, sometimes day and night. Hitler "annexed" some small countries but annex means surrender now or die en masse.
The Japanese people, just like the Germans, were kept in the dark about most of Japan's atrocities in other lands.
And the Japanese gentleman you met is right about the net. You can NOT believe everything you see on it, and should research to find the truth, just like in todays politics.