Mexica wrote:Japan attacked the U.S. after the U.S. engaged in acts of war against Japan.
Although i find that i usually agree with your statements, and think that you express your points of view admirably, and even often elegantly, this is a false statement. The United States had embargoed certain goods being shipped to Japan, most notably scrap metal and petroleum (the United States was then a petroleum exporting nation). That this would be considered an act of war was a part of the defense used by Japanese offices during war crimes trials after the war, but the concept has never been accepted in international law.
In fact, Japan had already planned to attack the Dutch East Indies, and the English colonies which produced petroleum and strategic minerals in the East Indies. It was known as the southern operation. The Commander in Chief of the Imperial Navy at that time was Isoruku Yamamoto. Yamamoto decided, about December, 1940 (there is some debate about the exact time) that this could not be accomplished with United States forces on the flank of the operation. The United States had United States Army, United States Army Air Force and United States Navy forces in the Philippine Islands. To secure the flank of the Southern Operation would require neutralizing, at the least, the threat from the Philippines. That would start a war with the United States, and the Imperial Navy would immediately be threatened by the Pacific Fleet, based in Hawaii. Therefore, Yamamoto concieved, and carried out the bold operation to attack the Pacific Fleet in Hawaii, carrying his plan over the objections of the Imperial Navy Staff. It truly was a brilliant operation, daringly conceived and boldly implemented. It also made complete sense, given that the Southern Operation was already planned and would be carried out, whether or not the Imperial Navy attacked Hawaii.
The American embargo on exports to Japan was implemented after the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931. The attack on Hawaii did not take place until ten years later. It is fallacious to state that Japan attacked the United States because the United States had " . . . engaged in acts of war against Japan."
If, perhaps, you have something else in mind, you might post it, and be prepared to defend it.
Quote:Furthermore, Germany was an ally to Japan and obligated by treaty to war with any nation at war with Japan. Therefore, Germany declared war on the U.S. after the U.S. made its declaration of war on Japan.
Although this is technically correct, it is a naive point of view. Japan did nothing to aid Germany in the war, and, in fact, concluded an armistice with the Russians in Russian East Asia (Siberia), which freed hundreds of thousands of Soviet troops to rush west to defend Moscow in 1941. The Japanese action was taken without regard to any obligations one might have claimed they had toward Germany. They were only ever interested in and motivated by their own agenda. Declaring war on the United States was one of the more glaring stupidities by Hitler, a man with a breath-taking capacity for making stupid decisions--it ranks right up there with the invasion of the Soviet Union.
