Did we jump into WW2 without looking?

Question

Sorry liberated Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Germans and Jews!

Answer 1

JUMP INTO WORLD WAR II ?

On September 5, 1939 the heroic USA was doing the next best thing to (unconditional) surrender.

Abbreviated time-line for WWII:

Sept 1, 1939 - Nazis invade Poland.

Sept 3, 1939 - BRITAIN, France, Australia and New Zealand DECLARE WAR on Germany.

Sept 5, 1939 - UNITED STATES PROCLAIMS NEUTRALITY.

Sept 10, 1939 - CANADA DECLARES WAR on Germany.

(The war rages on for two years and nearly three months.)

Dec 7, 1941 - Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor.

Dec 8, 1941 - United States and Britain declare war on Japan.

Dec 11, 1941 - Germany declares war on the United States.

May 7, 1945 - Unconditional surrender of all German forces to Allies.

Aug 6, 1945 - Little Boy dropped, on Hiroshima. Three days later Fat Man dropped, on Nagasaki.

Sept 2, 1945 - Japanese surrender.

Oct 24, 1945 - United Nations is officially born.

Notice that the Britain declared war on Japan at the same time as the US, even though it had been embroiled in a war in Europe for over 27 months.

Personally, I believe that your whole nation has been brainwashed into thinking that you are heroes. Braggarts yes, heroes?

Answer 2

HECK no the US didn't "jump" into WWII without looking! The nation may not have been "prepared" for war, either militarily or psychologically, but eventually, we would have become directly involved. FDR knew this, and took steps accordingly.

Politically, the US was (largely) isolationist. Most Americans viewed WWII as a far-away European civil war, and didn't want any part of the conflict. Fortunately, FDR was far-sighted enough to understand that WWII was FAR too important a phenomenon for the US to ignore. He knew that we would be dragged into it eventually, and as such, FDR carefully and intentionally aligned the US with the Allied powers (especially Great Britain). Pearl Harbor was merely the trigger that ended American isolationism and galvanized the nation in favor of war. Think I'm kidding?

Fact: Great Britain's domestic economy and warmaking industry depended heavily on imported supplies from abroad - food, raw materials, etc. Under the Atlantic Charter (an agreement between Britain and the US - before the US became involved in the war), US Navy warships helped escort Allied merchant convoys in the Atlantic. So much for "neutrality."

Fact: CONGRESS (and FDR) passed the Lend Lease Act in March of 1941, nine months before Pearl Harbor. Under Lend-Lease, the US "leased" surplus MILITARY hardware to Allied combatants. Britain received the largest amount of aid in this regard, but the US also "leased" large amounts of war materiel to France, the Soviet Union and China.

The best-known example was a number of US Navy destroyers leased to the Royal Navy, which was having trouble providing sufficient numbers of military escorts for Allied merchant convoys. They simply did not have enough of the right kinds of hulls (destroyers and light cruisers suitable for anti-submarine operations) for the job. Granted, these were WWI-era ships, and therefore obsolescent without substantial upgrading, but an old warship is better than no warship at all. Under Lend-Lease, the British did not have to pay the US for these ships, until after the conflict was over. Basically, a HUGE low-interest loan - of purely military hardware. No cash down payment was required, although the US did receive certain territorial concessions (mostly naval bases and docking/refueling rights) in exchange. Again, not the actions of a "neutral" party.

Fact: The Japanese invaded Manchuria, part of what is now mainland China. Western Europe (and the US) was (were) concerned about the effect of Japanese expansionism in Asia and the Pacific Rim, especially the threat to petroleum interests in what was then the Dutch East Indies. As a result, the US placed embargoes on trade with Japan in several categories of crucial industrial raw materials (like petroleum, iron ore, steel and bauxite). The US (and the Allies) also provided China with interest-free or low-interest "loans" of cash, weapons, equipment and other war materiel.

The US (and the Allies) provided "covert" military assistance, through "volunteer" military personnel who trained Chinese soldiers and even fought the Japanese directly. The famous "Flying Tigers" are a famous example a great example. Japan was faced with a choice: either withdraw from China and roll back its expansionist plans, or fight the US directly. Everybody knows which option the Japanese took.

Answer 3

When you think about the war starting in 1938 the US did very little at first... Still most likely we wouldn't have entered it at all if the Japanese hadn't joined the axis then bombed pearl harbor in 1941.
The leaders back then knew very well what was going on. one of the big reasons they didn't want to get to involved.
SO you could say we didn't jump into as much as we were pushed into the deep end and forced to sink or swim!

Answer 4

No actually. We didn't jump into WW2 until the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour. Hitler declared war on the US just after the sneak attack by the Japanese. We didn't declare war on Germany until after Hitler declared war. We didn't jump into anything we were forced into the war.

Answer 5

We were waiting for the other guys to make a big enough attack so that people would be ready to fight.There were ships being sunk off the US coast 2 years before Pearl Harbor.Britain,Germany and France ,Russia were at war since1939.

Answer 6

Jump? Did you forget we got attacked by Japan on the 7th of December? Hitler declared war on the USA on 1the December. Maybe you should jump. Don't be sorry, go read something!

Answer 7

No, we did not jump into WW2. We actually declared war on Japan after they attacked us. Then, Hitler declared war on the U.S. after that, Austria declared war on us and the Britian and France declared war on Germany a nd Austria.
(something like that.)

Answer 8

No, I think we looked quite intently at the destruction at Pearl Harbor by the surprise attack by the Japanese. That really got our attention, don't you think??

Chow!!

Answer 9

Not really, FDR had our foot in the door via the Lend Lease, convoy protections, etc.

Answer 10

Yep, we did, but we had little choice in the matter. If you are trying to make some underhanded reference to the current war in Iraq, you are making a really bad analogy.