Question: What date did the US declare war against Germany and Italy?
About the article "Attack on Pearl Harbor", section "Aftermath".

Candidate passages:
After diplomatic negotiations, Britain and France convinced Italy to join the war effort with promises that Italy would gain favourable territorial concessions from the Central Powers, including Italian-populated territories of Austria-Hungary.
Italy ordered mobilization on 22 May 1915, and issued an ultimatum to Austria-Hungary, and then declared war on Austria-Hungary, though it did not declare war on Germany. 
    (annexed/occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940, occupied by Germany in 1941, retaken by Soviet Union in 1944)  (jointly occupied by Germany and Italy in 1940, then only by Germany in autumn 1943)  (annexed/occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940, occupied by Germany in 1941, retaken by Soviet Union in 1944)  (annexed/occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940, occupied by Germany in 1941, retaken by Soviet Union in 1944)  (Occupied by Italy in 1942, occupied by Germany in 1943)    (briefly occupied by Germany, 17–20 September 1944)    (unrecognised; claimed by China but "de facto" independent)   Independent Nations.
In addition, many Latin American nations remained neutral until after the Japanese attack on United States forces at Pearl Harbor in December 1941; some did not declare war on the Axis Powers until the war was nearly over, in 1945.
See Participants in World War II and Latin America during World War II. 
In the late 19th century, after Italian unification, a nationalist movement had grown around the concept of "Italia irredenta", which advocated the incorporation into Italy of Italian-populated areas still under foreign rule.
There was a desire to annex Dalmatian territories, which had formerly been ruled by the Venetians, and which consequently had Italian-speaking elites.
The intention of the Fascist regime was to create a "New Roman Empire" in which Italy would dominate the Mediterranean.
In 1935–1936 Italy invaded and annexed Ethiopia and the Fascist government proclaimed the creation of the "Italian Empire".
Protests by the League of Nations, especially the British, who had interests in that area, led to no serious action, although The League did try to enforce economic sanctions upon Italy, but to no avail.
The incident highlighted French and British weakness, exemplified by their reluctance to alienate Italy and lose her as their ally.
The limited actions taken by the Western powers pushed Mussolini's Italy towards alliance with Hitler's Germany anyway.
In 1937 Italy left the League of Nations and joined the Anti-Comintern Pact, which had been signed by Germany and Japan the preceding year.
In March/April 1939 Italian troops invaded and annexed Albania.
Germany and Italy signed the Pact of Steel on May 22.
Italy entered World War II on 10 June 1940.
In September 1940 Germany, Italy, and Japan signed the Tripartite Pact.
Italy was ill-prepared for war, in spite of the fact that it had continuously been involved in conflict since 1935, first with Ethiopia in 1935–1936 and then in the Spanish Civil War on the side of Francisco Franco's Nationalists.
Mussolini refused to heed warnings from his minister of exchange and currency, Felice Guarneri, who said that Italy's actions in Ethiopia and Spain meant that Italy was on the verge of bankruptcy.
By 1939 military expenditures by Britain and France far exceeded what Italy could afford.
As a result of Italy's economic difficulties its soldiers were poorly paid, often being poorly equipped and poorly supplied, and animosity between soldiers and class-conscious officers; these contributed to low morale amongst Italian soldiers.
Military planning was deficient, as the Italian government had not decided on which theatre would be the most important.
Power over the military was overcentralized to Mussolini's direct control; he personally undertook to direct the ministry of war, the navy, and the air force.
The navy did not have any aircraft carriers to provide air cover for amphibious assaults in the Mediterranean, as the Fascist regime believed that the air bases on the Italian Peninsula would be able to do this task.
Italy's army had outmoded artillery and the armoured units used outdated formations not suited to modern warfare.
Diversion of funds to the air force and navy to prepare for overseas operations meant less money was available for the army; the standard rifle was a design that dated back to 1891.
The Fascist government failed to learn from mistakes made in Ethiopia and Spain; it ignored the implications of the Italian Fascist volunteer soldiers being routed at the Battle of Guadalajara in the Spanish Civil War.
Military exercises by the army in the Po Valley in August 1939 disappointed onlookers, including King Victor Emmanuel III.
Mussolini who was angered by Italy's military unpreparedness, dismissed Alberto Pariani as Chief of Staff of the Italian military in 1939.
Italy's only strategic natural resource was an abundance of aluminum.
Petroleum, iron, copper, nickel, chrome, and rubber all had to be imported.
The Fascist government's economic policy of autarky and a recourse to synthetic materials was not able to meet the demand.
Prior to entering the war, the Fascist government sought to gain control over resources in the Balkans, particularly oil from Romania.
The agreement between Germany and the Soviet Union to invade and partition Poland between them resulted in Hungary that bordered the Soviet Union after Poland's partition, and Romania viewing Soviet invasion as an immediate threat, resulting in both countries appealing to Italy for support, beginning in September 1939.
Italy - then still officially neutral - responded to appeals by the Hungarian and Romanian governments for protection from the Soviet Union, by proposing a Danube-Balkan neutrals bloc.
The proposed bloc was designed to increase Italian influence in the Balkans: it met resistance from France, Germany, and the Soviet Union that did not want to lose their influence in the Balkans; however Britain, that still hoped that Italy would not enter the war on Germany's side, supported the neutral bloc.
The efforts to form the bloc failed by November 1939 after Turkey made an agreement that it would protect Allied Mediterranean territory, along with Greece and Romania.
Initially upon the outbreak of war between Germany and the Allies, Mussolini pursued a non-belligerent role for Italy out of concerns that Germany may not win its war with the Allies.
However Mussolini in private grew anxious that Italy not intervening in support of Germany in September 1939 upon Britain and France waging war on Germany, would eventually result in retribution by Germany if Italy did not get involved in the war on Germany's side.
By early 1940, Italy was still a non-belligerent, and Mussolini communicated to Hitler that Italy was not prepared to intervene soon.
By March 1940, Mussolini decided that Italy would intervene, but the date was not yet chosen.
His senior military leadership unanimously opposed the action because Italy was unprepared.
No raw materials had been stockpiled and the reserves it did have would soon be exhausted, Italy's industrial base was only one-tenth of Germany's, and even with supplies the Italian military was not organized to provide the equipment needed to fight a modern war of a long duration.
An ambitious rearmament program was impossible because of Italy's limited reserves in gold and foreign currencies and lack of raw materials.
Mussolini ignored the negative advice.
An April 1938 report by German Naval High Command (OKM) warned that Italy as a combatant ally would be a serious "burden" to Germany in a war between Germany and Britain occured, and recommended that it would be preferable for Germany to seek for Italy to be a "benevolent neutral" during the war.
On 18 March 1940, Hitler told Mussolini in person that the war would be over by the summer and that Italy's military involvement was not required.
Mussolini on 29 May 1940 discussed the situation of the Italian Army in which he acknowledged that it was not ideal but believed that it was satisfactory, and discussed the timeline for a declaration of war on Britain and France.
He said: "a delay of two weeks or a month would not be an improvement, and Germany could think we entered the war when the risk was very small ... And this could be a burden on us when peace comes.
"After entering the war in 1940, Italy had been slated to be granted a series of territorial concessions from France that Hitler had agreed to with Italian foreign minister Ciano, that included Italian annexation of claimed territories in southeastern France, a military occupation of southeastern France up to the river Rhone, and receiving the French colonies of Tunisia and Djibouti.
However on 22 June 1940, Mussolini suddenly informed Hitler that Italy was abandoning its claims "in the Rhone, Corsica, Tunisia, and Djibouti", instead requesting a demilitarized zone along the French border, and on 24 June Italy agreed to an armistice with the Vichy regime to that effect.
Later on 7 July 1940, the Italian government changed its decision, and Ciano attempted to make an agreement with Hitler to have Nice, Corsica, Tunisia, and Djibouti be transferred to Italy; Hitler adamantly rejected any new settlement or separate French-Italian peace agreement for the time being prior to the defeat of Britain in the war.
However Italy continued to press Germany for the incorporation of Nice, Corsica, and Tunisia into Italy, with Mussolini sending a letter to Hitler in October 1940, informing him that as the 850,000 Italians living under France's current borders formed the largest minority community, that ceding these territories to Italy would be beneficial to both Germany and Italy as it would reduce France's population from 35 million to 34 and forestall any possibility of resumed French ambitions for expansion or hegemony in Europe.
Germany had considered the possibility of invading and occupying the non-occupied territories of Vichy France including occupying Corsica; Germany capturing the Vichy French fleet for use by Germany, in December 1940 with the proposed Operation Attila.
An invasion of Vichy France by Germany and Italy took place with Case Anton in November 1942.
In mid-1940, in response to an agreement by Romanian "Conductator" Ion Antonescu to accept German "training troops" to be sent to Romania, both Mussolini and Stalin in the Soviet Union were angered by Germany's expanding sphere of influence into Romania, and especially because neither was informed in advance of the action in spite of German agreements with Italy and the Soviet Union at that time.
Mussolini in a conversation with Ciano responded to Hitler's deployment of troops into Romania, saying: "Hitler always faces me with accomplished facts.
Now I'll pay him back by his same currency.
He'll learn from the papers that I have occupied Greece.
So the balance will be re-established.".
However Mussolini later decided to inform Hitler in advance of Italy's designs on Greece.
Upon hearing of Italy's intervention against Greece, Hitler was deeply concerned as he said that the Greeks were not bad soldiers that Italy might not win in its war with Greece, as he did not want Germany to become embroiled in a Balkan conflict.
By 1941, Italy's attempts to run an autonomous campaign from Germany's, collapsed as a result of multiple defeats in Greece, North Africa, and Eastern Africa; and the country became dependent and effectively subordinate to Germany.
After the German-led invasion and occupation of Yugoslavia and Greece, that had both been targets of Italy's war aims, Italy was forced to accept German dominance in the two occupied countries.
Furthermore, by 1941, German forces in North Africa under Erwin Rommel effectively took charge of the military effort ousting Allied forces from the Italian colony of Libya, and German forces were stationed in Sicily in that year.
The German government in response to Italian military failures and dependence on German military assistance, viewed Italy with contempt as an unreliable ally, and no longer took any serious consideration of Italian interests.
Germany's contempt for Italy as an ally was demonstrated that year when Italy was pressured to send 350,000 "guest workers" to Germany who were used as forced labour.
While Hitler was deeply disappointed with the Italian military's performance, he maintained overall favourable relations with Italy because of his personal friendship and admiration of Mussolini.
Mussolini by mid-1941 was left bewildered and recognized both that Italy's war objectives had failed and that Italy was completely subordinate and dependent to Germany.
Mussolini henceforth believed that Italy was left with no choice in such a subordinate status other than to follow Germany in its war and hope for a German victory.
However Germany supported Italian propaganda of the creation of a "Latin Bloc" of Italy, Vichy France, Spain, and Portugal to ally with Germany against the threat of communism, and after the German invasion of the Soviet Union, the prospect of a Latin Bloc seemed plausible.
From 1940 to 1941, Francisco Franco of Spain had endorsed a Latin Bloc of Italy, Vichy France, Spain and Portugal, in order to balance the countries' powers to that of Germany, however the discussions failed to yield an agreement.
After the invasion and occupation of Yugoslavia, Italy annexed numerous Adriatic islands and a portion of Dalmatia that was formed into the Italian Governorship of Dalmatia including territory from the provinces of Spalato, Zara, and Cattaro.
Though Italy had initially larger territorial aims that extended from the Velebit mountains to the Albanian Alps, Mussolini decided against annexing further territories due to a number of factors, including that Italy held the economically valuable portion of that territory within its possession while the northern Adriatic coast had no important railways or roads and because a larger annexation would have included hundreds of thousands of Slavs who were hostile to Italy, within its national borders.
Mussolini and foreign minister Ciano demanded that the Yugoslav region of Slovenia to be directly annexed into Italy, however in negotiations with German foreign minister Ribbentrop in April 1941, Ribbentrop insisted on Hitler's demands that Germany be allocated the eastern Slovenia while Italy would be allocated western Slovenia, Italy conceded to this German demand and Slovenia was partitioned between Germany and Italy.
Internal opposition by Italians to the war and the Fascist regime accelerated by 1942, though significant opposition to the war had existed at the outset in 1940, as police reports indicated that many Italians were secretly listening to the BBC rather than Italian media in 1940.
Underground Catholic, Communist, and socialist newspapers began to become prominent by 1942.
By January 1943, King Victor Emmanuel III was persuaded by the Minister of the Royal Household, the Duke of Acquarone that Mussolini had to be removed from office.
On 25 July 1943, King Victor Emmanuel III dismissed Mussolini, placed him under arrest, and began secret negotiations with the Allies.
An armistice was signed on 8 September 1943, and Italy joined the Allies as a co-belligerent.
On 12 September 1943, Mussolini was rescued by the Germans in Operation Oak and placed in charge of a puppet state called the Italian Social Republic ("Repubblica Sociale Italiana"/RSI, or "Repubblica di Salò") in northern Italy.
The war went on for months as the Allies, the Italian Co-Belligerent Army and the partisans contended the Social Republic's forces and its German allies.
Some areas in Northern Italy were liberated from the Germans as late as May, 1945.
Mussolini was killed by Communist partisans on 28 April 1945 while trying to escape to Switzerland. 
The “cash and carry” legislation passed in 1939 was not a failure, it simply was not going to be an effective measure after Germany began invading its neighbors.
After the fall of the Low Countries (Belgium and the Netherlands) and the invasion and capitulation of France, Roosevelt lobbied for the introduction of Lend-Lease.
Further, the concept of “cash and carry” had enabled Japan to continue lots of trade with the US while China’s trade had dropped to practically nothing, given their slim economic resources.
Helping an enemy at the expense of an ally was not the effect Roosevelt had been hoping for.
It also affected Italy.
Lend Lease was a plan in which the European allies didn't have to pay cash or arrange transportation any longer.
Instead, the U.S. would demand payment at a later time.
In keeping with the Monroe Doctrine, the U.S. did not actively participate in the war until after the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Japanese declaration of war prompted Congress to reciprocate and declare war on Japan, after which Italy and Germany declared war on the U.S.
The U.S. then switched from allied assistance to active engagement. 
Italy under "Duce" Benito Mussolini had pursued a strategic alliance of Italy with Germany against France since the early 1920s.
Prior to becoming head of government in Italy as leader of the Italian Fascist movement, Mussolini had advocated alliance with recently defeated Germany after the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 settled World War I.
He believed that Italy could expand its influence in Europe by allying with Germany against France.
In early 1923, as a goodwill gesture to Germany Italy secretly delivered weapons for the German Army, which had faced major disarmament under the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles.
In September 1923, Mussolini offered German Chancellor Gustav Stresemann a "common policy": he sought German military support against potential French military intervention over Italy's diplomatic dispute with Yugoslavia over Fiume, should an Italian seizure of Fiume result in war between Italy and Yugoslavia.
The German ambassador to Italy in 1924 reported that Mussolini saw a nationalist Germany as an essential ally to Italy against France, and hoped to tap into the desire within the German army and the German political right for a war of revenge against France.
The German government during the Weimar Republic era did not respect the Treaty of Versailles that it had been pressured to sign, and various government figures at the time rejected Germany's post-Versailles borders.
General Hans von Seeckt (head of the "Reichswehr" command from 1920 to 1926) supported an alliance between Germany and the Soviet Union to invade and partition Poland between them to restore the German-Russian border of 1914.
Gustav Streseman as German foreign minister in 1925 declared that the reincorporation of territories lost to Poland and Danzig in the Treaty of Versailles was a major task of German foreign policy The "Reichswehr" Ministry memorandum of 1926 declared its intention to seek the reincorporation of German territory lost to Poland as its first priority, to be followed by the return of the Saar territory, the annexation of Austria, and remilitarization of the Rhineland.
Italy since the 1920s had identified the year 1935 as a crucial date for preparing for a war against France, as 1935 was the year when Germany's obligations to the Treaty of Versailles were scheduled to expire.
However at this time Mussolini stressed one important condition that Italy must pursue in an alliance with Germany, that Italy "must ... tow them, not be towed by them".
Italian foreign minister Dino Grandi in the early 1930s stressed the importance of "decisive weight", involving Italy's relations between France and Germany, in which he recognized that Italy was not yet a major power, but perceived that Italy did have strong enough influence to alter the political situation in Europe by placing the weight of its support onto one side or another.
However Grandi stressed that Italy must seek to avoid becoming a "slave of the rule of three" in order to pursue its interests, arguing that although substantial Italo-French tensions existed, that Italy would not unconditionally commit itself to an alliance with Germany, just as it would neither unconditionally commit itself to an alliance with France over conceivable Italo-German tensions.
Grandi's attempts to maintain a diplomatic balance between France and Germany were challenged by pressure from the French in 1932 who had begun to prepare an alliance with Britain and the United States against the then-potential threat of a revanchist Germany.
The French government warned Italy that it had to choose whether to be on the side of the pro-Versailles powers or the side of the anti-Versailles revanchists.
Grandi responded by stating that Italy would be willing to offer France support against Germany if France gave Italy its mandate over Cameroon and allowed Italy a free hand in Ethiopia.
France refused Italy's proposed exchange for support, as it believed Italy's demands were unacceptable and the threat from Germany was not yet immediate.
On 23 October 1932, Mussolini declared support for a Four Power Directorate that included Britain, France, Germany, and Italy, to bring about an orderly treaty revision outside of what he considered the outmoded League of Nations.
The proposed Directorate was pragmatically designed to reduce French hegemony in continental Europe, to reduce tensions between the great powers in the short term to buy Italy time from being pressured into a specific war alliance while at the same time being able to benefit from diplomatic deals on treaty revisions.