the united states declared war on germany on 1 february 1917.
the united states declared war on germany on 1 february 1917.
when did the united states declare war on germany?
1 february 1917
in the autumn of 1941, ribbentrop worked for the failure of the japanese-american talks in washington and for japan to attack the united states. in october 1941 ribbentrop ordered eugen ott, the german ambassador to japan, to start applying pressure on the japanese to attack the americans as soon as possible. ribbentrop argued to hitler that a war between the united states and germany was inevitable given the extent of american aid to britain and the increasingly frequent "incidents" in the north atlantic between u-boats and american warships guarding convoys to britain. he said that having such a war start with a japanese attack on the united states was the best way to begin it. ribbentrop told hitler that because of his four years in canada and the united states before 1914, he was an expert on all things american; he thought that the united states was not a serious military power. on 4 december 1941, the japanese ambassador general hiroshi ōshima told ribbentrop that japan was on the verge of war with the united states. in turn, ribbentrop promised that germany would join the war against the americans. on 7 december 1941, ribbentrop was jubilant at the news of the japanese attack on pearl harbor and did his utmost to support a declaration of war on the united states. he delivered the declaration to the american "chargé d'affaires" leland b. morris on 11 december 1941. in the winter and spring of 1942, following american entry into war, the united states successfully pressured all of the latin american states, except for argentina and chile, to declare war on germany. ribbentrop considered the acceptance of declarations of war from small states such as costa rica and ecuador to be deeply humiliating, and he refused to see any of the latin american ambassadors. he had weizsäcker accept their declarations of war instead.
joachim von ribbentrop
on 20 june 1941, raeder used an incident where an u-boat had almost fired on an american battleship the day before to argue that the "kriegsmarine" should be given the right to fire on sight whenever american warships were encountered. raeder told hitler that "where the united states is concerned firm measures are always more effective than apparent yielding". hitler gave raeder strict orders for no "incidents" with the united states until the war with the soviet union was over. in july 1941, when the u.s marines took over the occupation of iceland, raeder advised hitler that germany should declare war on the united states as a reply. on 9 july 1941, during a meeting with hitler, raeder said he had enough of the americans, and after this latest act of american "aggression" as he called the occupation of iceland, demanded that germany declare war on the united states. though hitler rejected raeder's advice, raeder spent the entire second half of 1941 persistently pressing for germany to go to war with the united states. hitler was sympathetic to raeder's anti-american fulminations, but said that the war with the soviet union would have to be finished before taking on the united states. in september 1941, raeder and the u-boat commander karl dönitz presented hitler with plans for an all-out u-boat offensive intended to destroy both the united states navy and merchant marine. raeder took the view that because of the increasing number of naval "incidents" in the second half of 1941 between u-boats and us ships guarding convoys to britain, the best thing to do was to declare war on america in order to end all of the restrictions on fighting the u.s. navy. murray and millet wrote that raeder's views on the desirability of starting a war with the united states were "astonishing" because neither he nor anybody else in the "seekriegsleitung" saw fit during july–december 1941 to commission studies on what would be the strategic consequences of war with the united states. on 17 september 1941, raeder told hitler that he believed that it was only american support that allowed britain to continue the war and that the "kriegsmarine" could defeat the united states navy if only hitler would just give the necessary shoot-on-sight orders. once the "kriegsmarine" had control over the atlantic then britain would collapse. hitler replied that he wanted no "incidents" with the americans, but he expected the war with the soviet union would be over by the end of september, and at the middle of october he would decide whatever to give permission to the "kriegsmarine" to sink american warships-a step equivalent to declaring war on the united states.
erich raeder during world war ii