page_title: German declaration of war against the United States
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: German declaration of war against the United States / Background
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Berlin, Reichstagssitzung, Rede Adolf Hitler Die welthistorische Sitzung des Grossdeutschen Reichstags am 11. Dezember 1941. Immer wieder muss der Führer dem ihn entgegen brandenden Jubel des ganzen Hauses danken. [Berlin, Kroll-Oper.- Adolf Hitler vor dem Reichstag.- Rede zur Kriegserklärung an die Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika]
context_page_description: On 11 December 1941, four days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States declaration of war against the Japanese Empire, Nazi Germany declared war against the United States, in response to what was claimed to be a series of provocations by the United States government when the U.S. was still officially neutral during World War II. The decision to declare war was made by Adolf Hitler, apparently offhand, almost without consultation. It has been referred to as Hitler's "most puzzling" decision of World War II. Publicly, the formal declaration was made to American Chargé d'Affaires Leland B. Morris by German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop in the latter's office. Later that day, the U.S. declared war on Germany.
context_section_description: The course of relations between Germany and the United States had deteriorated since the beginning of World War II, inevitably so given the increasing cooperation between the United States and the United Kingdom. The Destroyers for Bases Agreement, Lend-Lease, the Atlantic Charter, the hand-over of military control of Iceland from the United Kingdom to the United States, the extension of the Pan-American Security Zone, and many other results of the special relationship which had developed between the two countries had put a strain on relations between the US, still technically a neutral country, and Nazi Germany. US destroyers escorting American supply vessels bound for the UK were already engaged in a de facto war with German U-Boats. Roosevelt's desire to help the UK, despite the objections of the influential US isolationist lobby, and legal impediments imposed by Congress which prevented direct involvement in the war, brought the US to push hard against the traditional boundaries of neutrality.
  On 7 December 1941, the Empire of Japan launched an attack on the US naval and army base on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, beginning a war between Japan and the United States. Japan had not informed its ally, Germany, in advance of the attack, although the Japanese ambassador had informed the German Foreign Minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop, at the beginning of December that relations between the US and the Japanese Empire were at a breaking point, and that war was imminent.  He was instructed to ask Germany for commitment to declare war under the terms of the Tripartite Pact should that occur.  Hitler and Ribbentrop had been urging Japan to attack and take over Singapore from the British, on the theory that doing so would not only hurt the UK, but would also serve to help keep the US out of the war.
  According to the terms of their agreements, Germany was obliged to come to the aid of Japan if a third country attacked Japan, but not if Japan attacked a third country. Ribbentrop reminded Hitler of this, and pointed out that to declare war against the US would add to the number of enemies Germany was fighting, but Hitler dismissed this concern as not being important, and, almost entirely without consultation, chose to declare war against the US, wanting to do so before, he thought, American president Franklin D. Roosevelt would declare war on Germany. In general, the Nazi hierarchy held low regard for the military resolve of the U.S. under Roosevelt, a stance that is widely considered a major error in their strategic thinking. In their eyes the U.S. was a corrupt, decadent, Jewish-dominated nation weakened by its large populations of African-Americans, immigrants, and Jewish-Americans.
  Whatever consultations Hitler sought out to help him make his decision did not include anyone from the Wehrmacht except perhaps for the sycophantic Generals Alfred Jodl and Wilhelm Keitel.  Jodl was Hitler's chief military advisor on operation planning, and Jodl's second in charge, General Walter Warlimont, later recalled that it "was another entirely independent decision on which no advice from the Wehrmacht had either been asked or given..."  It is likely that if they had been asked, the military leadership would have advised against expanding the war, given the extent of the crisis on the Eastern Front.  Hitler's Luftwaffe Adjutant, Nicolaus von Below, who was told about decision to widen the war when he returned from a month's leave, was astounded by Hitler's "cluelessness" about the military potential of the United States, and saw it as an example of Hitler's "dilettante approach and his limited knowledge of foreign countries."  Nor had Hitler ordered the preparations necessary for such a decision or taken into account any logistical considerations, such as Admiral Karl Dönitz's earlier request to be notified if the U.S. was in danger of being drawn into the war, so that he could position his U-boats to take maximum advantage of the new situation. 
  Hitler's declaration of war came as a great relief to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who fear
caption: Closeup of Hitler as war is declared upon the United States, 11 December 1941
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