Why would Germany ally with Japan during WW2?

Question

Why would Germany ally with Japan during WW2? If Hitler was so racist, why would he want to ally with people of a different race?

Answer 1

It was purely strategic. Think about it? Who were Hitler's biggest worries? What two countries ended up defeating him? There was already bad blood between Japan and Russia after the Russo-Japanese war, and tensions were escalating between Japan and the US over US sanctions aimed at Japan's imperialist policies in Asia. If Japan could keep Russia occupied in the East, and either keep the US busy in the Pacific, or even better, intimidate them from entering the war at all, Germany's path would have been much easier. Of course, there is no doubt that he would have eventually turned on japan when he no longer needed them, as he did all his other allies.

Answer 2

Hitler thought of the Japanese as a potential arm of his empire. Japan was at war with China (who were worse than the Japanese to him) and their government shared a few values with National Socialism, so there was a link here.

Also, as stated, strategic value was key to Hitlers decision. Japans armies and navies could and would provide the same benefits that the Russians provided the west -A second front.

After China was forced to surrender, Russia would be the only nation loyal to the Allied forces with enough strength to resist Japan. This means the Soviet troops would have to withdraw from the Eastern front, and be stationed in the Asian theatre.

Lastly, Hitler suspected the USA would eventually join the fight from the beginning. If you haven't read Mein Kampf, it's really a fascinating book, if only to see what was going on in that mans mind (At one point, he proposes England as a potential ally of Hitler for the World War he planned, he likes monarchies). If the USA were to join the fight -first- they would not have invaded Japan, but if their Naval assets and military forces left for Europe, Japan would have had an easy time getting as far as the US coast before the US armies made it back.

What does that mean, it means that the USA would either surrender, or be fighting on home soil. Hitler and his High Command would have drueled at the thought of an ally making ground into California. Even if Japan still lost, the damage they deal to the USA is enough that they will not be recovered in time for a Germany who had by now taken Moscow and forced Stalin into surrender, and had applied all the German, Hungarian, Italian, Romanian, Austrian and Bulgarian industry onto the Western Front, England would be feasible. Fascist Spain who had won the Civil War is now able to safely aid the Germans without fear of repercussions from the Allies because the Axis will win, and Hitler is laughing atop his Reichstag Varandah.

Japan was therefore a necessary asset to have onside. Germany could not take on the world alone, but the Axis could. Perhaps we should thank the Japanese royalty for ignoring Admiral Yamamoto and pushing the Pearl Harbour blitzkrieg-esque invasion plan.

Answer 3

First, you have to understand that even amongst allies, there are differences. Hitler courted the Poles, and the Russians, and when the time came, he turned on them. The Axis Powers bonded for one reason only...to further their own ends. Hitler may have found it expedient to support Imperial Japan....that doesn't make them friends. He also had the Arabs and Turks as allies, and we can see how well THAT worked.
National Socialism was founded on the notion that there are only two types of people....Aryans, and everyone else, so don't think he had any use for Italians, Yugoslavians, Russians...... whatever. It was all to achieve the goal. With the Japanese creating the Co-Prosperity Sphere, and tying up Europeans who were involved in Pacific colonies, I imagine he felt pretty safe in signing a pact with them.

Answer 4

Why did Hitler ally himself (and Germany) with the Slavic Stalin
in 1939 - for political convenience. Hitler was a double dealer.
We can bet he despised the Japanese as an inferior race. But they could be a useful ally - for awhile. If Germany had won the war, that relationship would have soured. I doubt the Japanese trusted the Germans any more than Hitler truly respected them.

Answer 5

Water,
you have some decent answers here. Think though about this in a strategic sense (as opposed to Hitler's crazy racial thing). Strategically if the Japanese could move west and the Germans theoretically moving east then at some point (say British controlled India at the time) there could have been a link across Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and across to Asia.

Several problems as you know existed - by the time the Germans tried their hand with Iraq their forces were already spread thin across two fronts and North Africa was lost at Tobruk. The Japanese lost out in Malaysia and in other sectors west within the Pacific Theatre.

Strategically speaking there was a consideration of a "link" and yes I would agree with another responder that the Japanese and Russians were not friends based on a previous war of 1905.

Hope this helps - pull out a map and think to yourself of the possibility of linking Germany and Japan across the territory mentioned.

The infamous Corporal of WW I was highly critical in political speeches (later as he was seeking political notoriety and fame) of the two front war in WW I; so much for lessons learned.

Answer 6

Hitler was racist??? I didn't know that... wow. Maybe it is because somethings are more important like world conquest. Hitler wanted all of Europe, Japan wanted the Pacific basin. Hitler didn't want to fight the US. His people told him how powerful our industrial might could be and he knew his hands would be full with the Soviet Union. An alliance with Japan would give the US to the Japanese navy which was newer, larger, and better equipped than the US navy. Japan could also be a threat to the USSR from the rear. What was in if for the Japanese? The freedom to take on a distracted US (Europe) if they could destroy our navy. Japan also had designs on Vladivastok since the beginning of the 20th century. As for racism; Hitler also had Arab nazis, Croat nazis, Spanish facists, and Italian fascists on his side.

Answer 7

I think the Japanese started a War with the USA while the War was going on in Europe. They both fought the Allies but I never heard they had an agreement to be allies.

Answer 8

The 'Axis powers' were Italy, Germany, and Japan.

Japan and Germany staged a two pronged attack against the 'Allies' to gain control of economic resources, gain valuable land, and to trounce traditional enemies.