Why Hitler declared War on the USA
Why did Hitler declare war on the United States in December 1941? The Red Army was counter-attacking on the Eastern Front, the treaty with the Japanese did not require him to declare war and previously he avoided hostilities with the United States repeatedly and instructed particularly the Kriegsmarine to "stand down". So why did Hitler declare war now? This video features Dr. Klaus Schmider from the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst who researched this topics over the last few years.
Cover Images:
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Schmider, Klaus: Hitler’s Fatal Miscalculation: Why Germany declared War on the United States. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, United Kingdom, 2021.
Boog, Horst u. a.: Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg 6: Der Globale Krieg. Bd. 6. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt: Stuttgart, Germany, 1990 (Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg 6).
Mawdsley, Evan: The War for the Seas: A Maritime History of World War II. Yale University Press: New Haven, Connecticut, USA, 2019.
Garzke, William H./Dulin Jr, Robert O./Jurens, William: Battleship Bismarck: A Design and Operational History. Seaforth Publishing: Barnsley, UK, 2019.
Hitler, Adolf: Hitler, Mein Kampf: Eine kritische Edition. hg. von Hartmann, Christian u. a. Institut für Zeitgeschichte: München, 2016.
Jacobsen, H.A.: 1939-1945. Der Zweite Weltkrieg in Chronik und Dokumenten. Dritte durchgesehene und ergänzte Auflage, Wehr und Wissen Verlagsgesellschaft: Darmstadt, Germany, 1960.
Glantz, David M./House, Jonathan M.: When Titans clashed: How the Red Army stopped Hitler. Revised and expanded edition, University Press of Kansas: Lawrence, Kansas, USA, 2015 (Modern war studies).
Drea, Edward J.: Japan’s Imperial Army. Its Rise and Fall, 1853-1945. Kansas University Press, USA: 2009.
Stahel, David: Retreat from Moscow: A new History of Germany’s Winter Campaign, 1941-1942. First edition, Farrar, Straus and Giroux: New York, USA, 2019.
Wagner, Gerhard/Arbeitskreis für Wehrforschung: Lagevorträge der Oberbefehlshabers der Kriegsmarine vor Hitler 1939 - 1945. Lehmann: München, 1972.
Johnson, Danny M.: The Persian Gulf Command and the Lend-Lease Mission to the Soviet Union during World War II
armyhistory.org/the-persian-g...
00:00 Intro
00:45 Three main Areas
01:04 Hitler about Amerika
04:42 Situation Ostfront
08:19 Japan
13:05 US Policy Changes & Incident 1941
19:30 Gutting of Neutrality Act, November 1941
24:06 Pulling the Strings together
25:40 Window of Opportunity
#Hitler,#ww2 ,#WhyHitlerCeclaredWar
Thank you. This makes more sense than the notion that Hilter had such a Eurocentric world view that he didn't consider the US to be a significant threat.
Same here. I had never thought of the perfect storm of the Eastern Front counter-offensive, the changed US Neutrality Law, and Pearl Harbor. My brain is going to be buzzing for a while, wondering how a week or two differences in any of these would have changed matters.
Eurocentrism is a disease 🦟 🤢 🤢 🤮
@@grizwoldphantasia5005 This video makes a lot of mistakes and takes on the view that Hitler coerced Japan to do anything or fooled the "innocent" butcher and rapist of 30 million people in Asia in countless undeclared wars to be unaccountable for its war crimes of using biological, chemical, and even attempt nuclear (right up to the end of the war) WMDs not even Germany used in WW2. Japan already cheated UK and US with the naval treaties by increasing its naval tonnage and bombed US ships in Nanjing in 1937 when WW2 was started by attacking China (a nation that would become 1 of 5 members of the permanent security council), then used the classic tactic used in In fact Pearl Harbor in of itself was a rehash of the same tactic used in the Russo-Japanese war. Attack the Russian Crown Prince, then when it fails, feign apology with school girls to hide behind them and insinuate reproach against Japan is to incriminate innocent girls (who are ofc raised on resources exploited off of the backs of other enslaved Asians), bide time, then start an undeclared war against Russia. It was "successful (not, really unable to force Russians to hand them money... which the Allies in WW2 did not do for Japan itself when by all means they should have instead of pumping trillions of Cold War dollars into it as a reward for being an Axis power... just like China would get in the 70s)" but they failed to remember that was only because UK and US kept bailing out the Japanese government multiple times, from total bankruptcy, as part of the Great Game. They didn't realize this would amount to biting the hand that feeds them (and even gave relief funds for the 1923 Earthquake while Japanese civilians were lynching 6,000 Asian foreigners within Japan, blaming the earthquake on them). The Japanese answer to US restricting exports of US Oil and Steel to Japan (and some limitations on some exports like expensive US machinery that drove Japanese industry much like Russians in 2022 realized too late that their industry relies heavily on imported US machinery as well) was to launch more undeclared invasions into Southeast Asia to exploit rubber and oil to fuel their insatiable war machine that 1 billion Asians in 1945 were all too grateful to be rid of when Japan was forced to surrender (not by nukes but by Soviets coming in from the West and like Nazis who butchered ppl in the Eastern Front and fled to the west to avoid life in Soviet gulags, Japan opted to surrender to the West but not the Soviets and have their country split like Germany) "Hitler thought this, Hitler thought that" that doesn't really give an accurate picture of what the Japanese ACTUALLY thought or did. It's like thinking Japan is not a thinking entity itself responsible for its actions but Germany decided everything for them, like someone put a gun to its head and sold 300,000 of Japanese girls overseas to make pimp money to develop Japan (leaders weren't even ashamed of this, praised this as Joshigun, or "Army of Girls") for the glorified Meiji Restoration period alone (samurai as far back as 1500 have been selling girls for Portuguese muskets just like African warlords, and when that wasn't enought started setting overseas brothels to earn war funds), then kidnapped 100s of 1000s of girls all over Asia and gave them 80-man daily rape quotas for soldiers in officially built military sex slave brothels, and executed most of any survivors by the end of the war to hide war crimes, and sent 5-digits of people into kamikazes by plane, boat, submarine, diving suits, etc. and did not care about daily reports of 10s of 1,000s of casualties by the end of the war and was planning Operation Cherry Blossoms at Night, which was to use poison gas manufactured in the WMD production hub in Hiroshima to start bombing America as well... for September of 1945. Any attempt to expose their propaganda of victimhood is met with accusation of racism, of course.
@@CrabTastingMan Is there any actual purpose to your long rant? I don't know why you picked on me.
Nonsense. Try reading Hitler's second book. Then you will know that he saw the USA as the biggest threat to Europe. And he was right. Today's Europe is just a province strategically dependent on the USA. And Germany, the strongest country in Europe, is literally under the boot of the USA.
Very informative. I didn’t know about all of the nuances and reluctance on Germany’s part to declare war on the US. I incorrectly thought that it was a dismissive decision on Hitlers part. Also, I love the collaboration of historians on this channel!
Hitler's declaration of War against the US itself contains most points why he made this decision. Unfortunatly it was censored on youtube, but may be found on odyssey or bit chute. On this regard, also the declaration of War against the USSR is interesting.
Japan's reluctance is already well known, but it's really interesting that every Axis nation had their gripes about dragging the USbinto the war. What's more interesting for me is that Germany had influence over Japan's non-aggression pact with the Soviets and then sticking to the Southern strike doctrine.
they are leaving out failed negoiations between nazi germany and the us. the us was pretty close to joining the axis powers. theres all kinds of photos and events that took place showing that the us was friendly to the nazi party. sold out madison square garden rallies to senators and congressmen hosting nazis at the capital and their homes.
and then the fact that we assimilated 15k nazis in the middle of the chaos that was left after germany failed in weeks. we would have trouble doing project paper clip in modern times in the time frame they did in 39
Oh no hes a human
Prior to watching the video, because the US was already engaging in an undeclared war against Germany? Basically, the German declaration of war is a pretty decent summary of the situation.
USA USA USA 😎😎😎
Prior to video. Why didn't Hitler declare war on Japan? Unprovoked attacks and aggression. And he would have elicited some confused Americans to think positively about Germany standing against their invaders, the Japanese. And Germany wouldn't have to do anything to actually engage in war against the Japanese, merely confusing the situation by standing by the Americans and pledging to offer military support to them when able. So Japan could be informed of the plan and ploy to destroy the foes while they remain scattered. Instead of a 2 sided war between various allies, it could fracture the possibility of military alliance and be seen that the USA government was funding a war against a friendly power who supported their people, if not their current government.
@@glenmcgillivray4707 Japan and Germany were allies, they got cozy in the 30's.
I'm not sure if you call it a undeclared war, but they were not at all acting like neutrals.
@@TheEvilmooseofdoom When the US announced it would attack German vessels on sight, I would upgrade it to an undeclared war. Regardless, by December 7, 1941, the point of no return was well crossed (as noted in the video it is less claear when that line was crossed, but it was crossed before Pearl Harbor) and the US was going to war with Germany. Roosevelt had wanted to go to war with Germany for some time and with the Japanese attacks on Britain and then the US, he absolutely had the leverage he needed as a commitment to keeping the UK strong in Europe would facilitate the British Empire's fight against Japan. Germany not declaring war would allow the US to benefit from its "neutrality" until they declared war on their terms.
I would be extremely interested to hear more from this guy. He seems to have a deep knowledge and understanding of this era.
These guys are great. I can highly recommend them.
Framing is everything. It`s always very interesting what german historians who work or worked in the UK for the UK goverment say and also what they tend not to touch Lets not foreget that the UK has destroyed classified archives from that time which had to be opened to the public in defiance to their own laws: So it had nothing to do with the fact that the US was already in the war, although somewhat covertly? Let`s just forget about asia for this (although the US was involved there too before Pearl Harbour). The US provided personal and marerial to the enemies or the axis even before that. Here are a few points in chronological order: July 1940, William J . Donovan (who then became the head of the forerunner of the OSS and then the USS) was send to the UK and then established things. Destroyers for Bases Agreement aka „Destroyer Deal“ (not to forget the Tyler Kent affair before that, it included Joseph Kennedy, the father of John F. Kennedy, part of it was opened to the public as part of the Watergate affair, part of it was classified until atleast 2015 [i don`t know if they have been declassified yet]) September 2, 1940 Lend-Lease Act March 11, 1941 Operation Barbarossa June 22, 1941 The destroyer USS Niblack attacked a German U-boat: the U-52 April 10, 1941 Greer Incident (aggression by the US, although it`s mostly framed differently by only mentioning a part of the story) September 4, 1941 The order for US ships to shoot at german and italian ships outside of US territorial waters September 9, 1941 USCGC Northland destroyed a German weather station in northeast Greenland. September 14, 1941 Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941 Presidential Proclamation No. 2526 (Alien Enemies--German) December 8, 1941 German declaration of war against the United States December 11, 1941
He also has a very charming accent that I like listening to.
Check out TIK (KZheadr) on the same subject. He explains the uncomfortable truths with regard to Hitler.
@@davidelliott5843 Are there any comfortable truths concerning A. H.? I don't know. But thanks for the tip. I will certainly check it out.
Dr. Schmider is an excellent educator. I'd love to hear more from him, he has a depth of knowledge and non-partisan approach that is all too rare. Very good episode. You are getting better all the time and started ahead of many in the first place.
It is always good when you get more historians on the channel, expertise and new research are rare in KZhead history circles.
You Always dig deeply into original documentation for your presentations, and this is one of the best examples of your diligence. Thanks so much for all you do!
Terrific work. Your content is improving by leaps and bounds over an already excellent baseline.
Thank you very much!
Japan - We successfully attacked some American war ships Germany- YOU DID WHAT!!
Eh. Hitler actually welcomed the development and he enthusiastically went to war with the United States himself, as he wanted to finally have a go at those American ships convoying British supply lines.
The Japanese had informed Hitler on 17 November that they would attack the US.
Huzzahs for Kr. Klaus Schmider! He is a real historian, one who actually learns what people were thinking at the time. This is a huge contrast to the vast majority of self-appointed "historians" who mindlessly spew war propaganda from nearly a century ago.
Not like "real" historians who also spew propaganda from more than a century ago.
Super interesting ! Thank you for your work !
I love these deep strategy discussions - thank you!
It's tragic have many people comment before even watching the video lol Schmider absolutely spells it out hat Hitler was not "insane" nor was he "stupid and underestimated America".
Japan attacking the USSR instead of the USA would have been great for Germany. It would have drawn off multiple Soviet divisions and delayed the American involvement in the war if not prevented it.
Isn't this what the IJA wanted to do eventually? I may have been misinformed but I thought remember reading about how the IJN and it's allies in Government eventually gained effective control of the majority of resources for their own forays into the pacific.
@@DieNextInLINE The IJA was extremely unprepared for a war with the USSR and lost early skirmishes with them near Mongolia. Germany made several attempts at convincing Japan to join an official alliance against the Soviets because they were ideologically against communism, but Japan knew they wouldn't win that. It didn't benefit Germany all that much to switch its alliance from nationalist China to Japan in the long run.
Yes axis powers thinking they could defeat the American and Russian at same time bad mistake
@@jadenhiggins7167Japan attacked America because they essentially had to to secure pacific strategic oil reserves. It was either try and knock out the US with one attack or give up its imperialist desires. They chose to try and take out all the US aircraft carriers in one go. That obviously didn’t happen. Pearl Harbor being nothing short of total annihilation of the US in pacific meant japan was screwed. Pearl Harbor was a Hail Mary.
I have to agree with you. Not bringing America into the war, shouldve been their primary objective. Had Japan joined the axis powers in a fight against Russia, instead of attacking pearl harbor. Things would have been very different.
This is a very important video on the history of this topic. I hope you might interview Dr. Schmider again with more insights!
This video makes a lot of mistakes and takes on the view that Hitler coerced Japan to do anything or fooled the "innocent" butcher and rapist of 30 million people in Asia in countless undeclared wars to be unaccountable for its war crimes of using biological, chemical, and even attempt nuclear (right up to the end of the war) WMDs not even Germany used in WW2. Japan already cheated UK and US with the naval treaties by increasing its naval tonnage and bombed US ships in Nanjing in 1937 when WW2 was started by attacking China (a nation that would become 1 of 5 members of the permanent security council), then used the classic tactic used in In fact Pearl Harbor in of itself was a rehash of the same tactic used in the Russo-Japanese war. Attack the Russian Crown Prince, then when it fails, feign apology with school girls to hide behind them and insinuate reproach against Japan is to incriminate innocent girls (who are ofc raised on resources exploited off of the backs of other enslaved Asians), bide time, then start an undeclared war against Russia. It was "successful (not, really unable to force Russians to hand them money... which the Allies in WW2 did not do for Japan itself when by all means they should have instead of pumping trillions of Cold War dollars into it as a reward for being an Axis power... just like China would get in the 70s)" but they failed to remember that was only because UK and US kept bailing out the Japanese government multiple times, from total bankruptcy, as part of the Great Game. They didn't realize this would amount to biting the hand that feeds them (and even gave relief funds for the 1923 Earthquake while Japanese civilians were lynching 6,000 Asian foreigners within Japan, blaming the earthquake on them). The Japanese answer to US restricting exports of US Oil and Steel to Japan (and some limitations on some exports like expensive US machinery that drove Japanese industry much like Russians in 2022 realized too late that their industry relies heavily on imported US machinery as well) was to launch more undeclared invasions into Southeast Asia to exploit rubber and oil to fuel their insatiable war machine that 1 billion Asians in 1945 were all too grateful to be rid of when Japan was forced to surrender (not by nukes but by Soviets coming in from the West and like Nazis who butchered ppl in the Eastern Front and fled to the west to avoid life in Soviet gulags, Japan opted to surrender to the West but not the Soviets and have their country split like Germany) "Hitler thought this, Hitler thought that" that doesn't really give an accurate picture of what the Japanese ACTUALLY thought or did. It's like thinking Japan is not a thinking entity itself responsible for its actions but Germany decided everything for them, like someone put a gun to its head and sold 300,000 of Japanese girls overseas to make pimp money to develop Japan (leaders weren't even ashamed of this, praised this as Joshigun, or "Army of Girls") for the glorified Meiji Restoration period alone (samurai as far back as 1500 have been selling girls for Portuguese muskets just like African warlords, and when that wasn't enought started setting overseas brothels to earn war funds), then kidnapped 100s of 1000s of girls all over Asia and gave them 80-man daily rape quotas for soldiers in officially built military sex slave brothels, and executed most of any survivors by the end of the war to hide war crimes, and sent 5-digits of people into kamikazes by plane, boat, submarine, diving suits, etc. and did not care about daily reports of 10s of 1,000s of casualties by the end of the war and was planning Operation Cherry Blossoms at Night, which was to use poison gas manufactured in the WMD production hub in Hiroshima to start bombing America as well... for September of 1945. Any attempt to expose their propaganda of victimhood is met with accusation of racism, of course.
Wow. Cool. Love getting new info like this. Makes the picture more clearer.
Roosevelt's "Arsenal of Democracy" speech on 29 December 1940 was a de facto declaration of war against the Axis.
Thank you Bernard for quoting Stahel, his books are superb
A great episode, thank you.
I would love to attend a seminar by this man.
too bad he only does them in non public settings i.e. Sandhurst and MOD. This channel should bring him on more if possible.
I too would love to attend a seminar by AH
Buy his book, its about Hitler declaring war on America.
Thank you for this detailed history information and I'm always curious about why he declared war on USA
"A great power does not allow itself to be declared war on; it declares it on others" - Ribbentrop
Germany invaded every country they could and never gave an official declaration of war beforehand. He was just performing lip service.
@@Wallyworld30 But that's different, Germany was still the actor and not the one being acted upon. It's not like they were worried Austria was going to invade Germany. In this case though it's a pride and arrogance thing.
@@ashfox7498 Germany didn't invade Austria. Most Austrians welcomed the Anschluss, which just fulfilled the desire for the großdeutsche Lösung.
@@ragnarokgzlr8522 Yeah I should have said poland maybe, same issue though; Germany didn't not declare war on them out of the same arrogance that lead them to declare war on America.
@@ashfox7498 It was hubris just as it was when Goering said “If one enemy bomb falls on Berlin, you can call me Meyer.” In a bit of dark humor after the Allies started bombing Berlin and Ruhr on the daily basis the locals called the air raid sirens "Meyers trumpets".
Really interesting video. Thank you for for presenting some new insights.
Fun fact: if you switch from a southern US accent to a German accent it’s a perceived +20 intelligence
That's fucked up my dude.
Huh?
Grow up.
I could listen to Dr. Schmider talk ww2 all day long! superb video!
A fascinating insight into the world of German-Japanese politics and the "thinking "of Hitler. Thank you.
Excellent video.
very good. thank you sirs !
Tack!
Thank you!!!
--caught the 'al dente' gag. Multo grazie!
Very interesting. Learned something new today!
Thank you
gr9 vidya m8
Deine Werner Herzog Imitation ist großartig!
Superb job as always. Dr. Schmeider (sp?) clearly knows his stuff.
Very interesting Video. I always just assumed that this decision was done to honour the Treaty. Great to know better now.
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you.
You're welcome!
OK. As a Polish guy, I'm interested and you have my attention. Even though I know at least rough outlines, you always have some amazing details. Thank You!
Polak = Superior Slav
My girlfriend is Polish and is studying ballet. She is a pole dancer.
Brilliant!
I remember my grandfather telling me he went to the conference in NYC. He said Germans from all over the U.S came. They had many rallies to join Germany after that!
Watch Ken Burns Holocaust. They talk about this.
Excellent
Amazing stuff MHV.
Thank you very much for presenting the extensive research on the German perspective for this decision. On a related note, in Churchill's postwar memoirs he states that the "Germany first" policy was agreed with FDR prior to Pearl Harbor. He also recalls going to bed happy on hearing that Pearl Harbor had got the US into the war. And waking up disappointed that HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse were sunk off Malaysia hours later. So I wonder why the US didn't declare war on Germany immediately. And I've always thought the US would've got round to it fairly soon. Or is Churchill's memoir now discredited?
Congress had yet to completely abdicate its responsibility to determine when the USA goes to war.
The U.S. (English-speaking countries in general in my opinion) have a cultural predilection for always trying to let the other guy fire the first shot in order to look like they were merely forced into fighting (references to Lusitania/Zimmermann Telegramm, resupplying Fort Sumter, fake news at Tonkin Gulf, fake news when Maine blew up in Cuba, WMDs in Iraq, Brits using excuse of Belgian and then Polish neutrality, etc. [Hitler emulated at Gleiwitz of course].)
The US could not declare was on Germany because there wasn't support for this in Congress. Roosevelt needed congressional approval to declare war, but Hitler saved him the trouble.
It would have been a harder sell for the US to declare war on Germany and Italy. The US might have shed isolationism (or had it bombed out of them), but there was a very big push within the US to go after Japan alone, or failing that, to go after Japan first. Roosevelt was on board with Germany First. The Chiefs of the Army (Marshall) and Navy (King) were much harder sells, and weren't exactly pleased with Roosevelt's Germany First Agreement.
One should take EVERYTHING Churchill has ever said with a mountain of salt.
I'm constantly confused how so many historians seem to think the UK and US can be co-billigents in a war against Japan with the US remaining disinterested towards the situation Europe when German occupation of the Netherlands, France and threat to the British Isles has enabled the very Japanese military expansion they now have to contend with. I also favour the more straightforward argument that Hilter declared war on the US because he expected to win. Or at least he never expected the German Army to lose on the Battlefield to such an extent that a peace would be unfavorable to a Germany now in control of most of Europe.
Framing is everything. It`s always very interesting what german historians who work or worked in the UK for the UK goverment say and also what they tend not to touch Lets not foreget that the UK has destroyed classified archives from that time which had to be opened to the public in defiance to their own laws: So it had nothing to do with the fact that the US was already in the war, although somewhat covertly? Let`s just forget about asia for this (although the US was involved there too before Pearl Harbour). The US provided personal and material to the enemies or the axis even before that. Here are a few points in chronological order (be aware some were mentioned): July 1940, William J . Donovan (who then became the head of the forerunner of the OSS and then the OSS) was send to the UK and then established things. Destroyers for Bases Agreement aka „Destroyer Deal“ (not to forget the Tyler Kent affair before that, it included Joseph Kennedy, the father of John F. Kennedy, part of it was opened to the public as part of the Watergate affair, part of it was classified until atleast 2015 [i don`t know if they have been declassified yet]) September 2, 1940 Lend-Lease Act March 11, 1941 Operation Barbarossa June 22, 1941 The destroyer USS Niblack attacked a German U-boat: the U-52 April 10, 1941 Greer Incident (aggression by the US, although it`s mostly framed differently by only mentioning a part of the story) September 4, 1941 The order for US ships to shoot at german and italian ships outside of US territorial waters September 9, 1941 USCGC Northland destroyed a German weather station in northeast Greenland. September 14, 1941 Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941 Presidential Proclamation No. 2526 (Alien Enemies--German) December 8, 1941 German declaration of war against the United States December 11, 1941
When the Anglo-American alliance went as deep as it deep as it were - Germany were in war with USA and Britain - German/Hitler thinking about US neutrality is purely about direct/hot attacks -which as said in this video - the Americans were sure would happen.
It's no secret that Hitler thought of Americans as decadent and weak. And perhaps, had Pearl Harbor never happened, he may have had a point.
Hitler was not stupid as he has been portrayed. He knew the might of the US and was actively trying to win over those in powerful positions in the US. Why else would he allow the British army at Dunkirk to go back to England unmolested during their retreat if he truly wanted to fight Great Britain? It was a show of restraint and a lack of aggression against England when Hitler could have massacred the British forces there and scored a tactical victory and a propaganda bonanza which would have demoralized allied troops knowing how their comrades were slaughtered. Hardly a choice a raving blood thirsty lunatic would make if set on global domination.
@@truebeliever5233 There were a bunch of german peaceoffers to objective very sensible conditions from the german side, while germany was winning from the beginning. It has been alledged that Rudolf Heß, when he flew and parachuted into the UK did so on a secret peacemission to meet the King of the UK but was caught by uk security services who had their loyalties to the prime minister. If this was true this would be another ignoring of the Hague Convntion (i think the allies ignored pretty much all points of it in regards to germany). This peace thing has to my understanding been nudged on by the UK high command (i don`t remember which one). Don`t forget that the UK has bombed german population centers for about a year until german high command allowed to bomb mainland UK and even then limited it to military targets according to the rules of war. There is a lot more.
Can't stand your voice but love your presentation. Thank you
Really love your channel! I love how you use sources and how you teach actual history!
How is this actual history?
@@NJP-Supremacist If you have to genuinely ask the question and aren't just being another in a long line of unimaginative, banal trolls, then you're on the wrong channel.
@@TheDoctor1225 Why can't anyone genuinely ask this question? You think it's impossible to answer honestly? I'm not a troll, you answer the question, otherwise you're a malicious actor who isn't serious about any political issue.
Just several years go when I was still a junior in collage, I was doing my research on this exact same topic. The official explanation of this topic is far simple and superficial. Although there are some primary sources from German perspective but those often dubbed as right-wing revisonist. This is an excellent video trying to explicate this topic in a more historically accurate approach. Good job, I hope there will be more informative videos like this.
Thank you for creating this enlightening video. Great to hear from such a knowledgeable source. Hitler's seemingly bizarre decision to declare war on the US makes a lot more sense from the context explained. Bizarre, no, rash or misguided, yes.
Framing is everything. It`s always very interesting what german historians who work or worked in the UK for the UK goverment say and also what they tend not to touch Lets not foreget that the UK has destroyed classified archives from that time which had to be opened to the public in defiance to their own laws: So it had nothing to do with the fact that the US was already in the war, although somewhat covertly? Let`s just forget about asia for this (although the US was involved there too before Pearl Harbour). The US provided personal and material to the enemies or the axis even before that. Here are a few points in chronological order (be aware some were mentioned): July 1940, William J . Donovan (who then became the head of the forerunner of the OSS and then the OSS) was send to the UK and then established things. Destroyers for Bases Agreement aka „Destroyer Deal“ (not to forget the Tyler Kent affair before that, it included Joseph Kennedy, the father of John F. Kennedy, part of it was opened to the public as part of the Watergate affair, part of it was classified until atleast 2015 [i don`t know if they have been declassified yet]) September 2, 1940 Lend-Lease Act March 11, 1941 Operation Barbarossa June 22, 1941 The destroyer USS Niblack attacked a German U-boat: the U-52 April 10, 1941 Greer Incident (aggression by the US, although it`s mostly framed differently by only mentioning a part of the story) September 4, 1941 The order for US ships to shoot at german and italian ships outside of US territorial waters September 9, 1941 USCGC Northland destroyed a German weather station in northeast Greenland. September 14, 1941 Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941 Presidential Proclamation No. 2526 (Alien Enemies--German) December 8, 1941 German declaration of war against the United States December 11, 1941
Young soldiers in Rommel's beaten Desert Corps became U.S. POW's and crossed America from New York to places like Kansas and saw immense industrial cities and sprawling farmlands and knew at once they were on the losing side.
Amost excellent video.@4 minutes who is "bust" of behind the professor?
Damn, now I have to buy the book.
I think his thinking was the same as the German thinking in the Great War. He hoped that, with the help of the Japanese, he could drive the UK out of the war if the U-boats were unlimited in the Atlantic. This would also force the Soviets to quit. Both Japan and Germany needed to win in 1942 or not at all.
Yes although I think defeating the Soviets was to be more or less simultaneous with winning the Battle of the Atlantic (which would deprive the U.S. of a base from which to project its strength into Europe if it chose to fight Germany more or less alone).
Framing is everything. It`s always very interesting what german historians who work or worked in the UK for the UK goverment say and also what they tend not to touch Lets not foreget that the UK has destroyed classified archives from that time which had to be opened to the public in defiance to their own laws: So it had nothing to do with the fact that the US was already in the war, although somewhat covertly? Let`s just forget about asia for this (although the US was involved there too before Pearl Harbour). The US provided personal and material to the enemies or the axis even before that. Here are a few points in chronological order (be aware some were mentioned): July 1940, William J . Donovan (who then became the head of the forerunner of the OSS and then the OSS) was send to the UK and then established things. Destroyers for Bases Agreement aka „Destroyer Deal“ (not to forget the Tyler Kent affair before that, it included Joseph Kennedy, the father of John F. Kennedy, part of it was opened to the public as part of the Watergate affair, part of it was classified until atleast 2015 [i don`t know if they have been declassified yet]) September 2, 1940 Lend-Lease Act March 11, 1941 Operation Barbarossa June 22, 1941 The destroyer USS Niblack attacked a German U-boat: the U-52 April 10, 1941 Greer Incident (aggression by the US, although it`s mostly framed differently by only mentioning a part of the story) September 4, 1941 The order for US ships to shoot at german and italian ships outside of US territorial waters September 9, 1941 USCGC Northland destroyed a German weather station in northeast Greenland. September 14, 1941 Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941 Presidential Proclamation No. 2526 (Alien Enemies--German) December 8, 1941 German declaration of war against the United States December 11, 1941
Essentially, the argument for considering what the rational, strategical basis for a decision was before considering it insane wins again.
Thank you for clearing out that period, when I was in uni we had no info about those insides of the german command and hittler himself. we always learn that it was mostly the pact with japan that was the fulcrum of the reason to declare war to the usa.
One of the biggest military blunders of all time.
According to MHV, Italians are best-served soft-to-the-bite after 10 mins. of boiling. Also, is that Manhan-class model used for Uss Greer?
Short answer, we sided with England who already declared war on Germany.
I like this old guy, he's well spoken and seems smart!
I always appreciate a sober view on the Second World War.
Dr. Schmider is marvelous! I was never aware of the German policy twists and turns leading up to the German declaration of war on the U.S. A really wonderful and well researched presentation. All of your efforts are really appreciated.
Hitler specifically mentioned the sinking of the German freighter Rhine,which had been shadowed by U.S. destroyers in 1940 as it left a Mexican port and tried to make a run for Germany.The U.S. destroyers made contact with a Dutch warship which then closed in and engaged the German freighter,which caused the crew to set the ship on fire.The crew was rescued by the Dutch ship and the U.S. ships returned to port.
Very good video. Learning about why Hitler liked the U.S. before the war realy is something oftain not talked about, yet it is an important topic and it even helps to understand current U.S. politics.
Of course he did not hate the US and not even the UK. The so called "racist legislation" which the Herr Professor talked about was likely the restricted immigration act of the 20s. Hilarious.
You mean we're supplying someone right now in a war but acting like we're neutral lol?
@@watching99134 We never said we were neutral in Ukraine. Stop making stuff up.
@@watching99134 No we're not. Our country is firmly and openly against the invasion. We're not being secret about our funding of Ukraine.
@@watching99134 the US isn’t neutral. Their president has stated multiple times they are supporting Ukraine and not Russia. Are you not paying attention to international news? Edit: Just realized you’re American. Which makes your comment even dumber.
Pretty sure he was angry that Disney get Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs out on time.
Nice video …
A very thought provoking episode. History turns on a dime at critical moments, in seems. I very much like this, 'behind the scenes' view. I imagine that ordinary soldiers would hardly envisage the complexity of decisions at the top. This begs the question 'how did Hitler, an ordinary soldier, become this (arguably) brilliant stratigraphic mastermind? Could any thoughtful soldier with appropriate support fill this role. And what part did his WW1 field experience play in his decisions and strategys in WW2?
1: Egomania. 2: Doesn't require being "thoughtful" (this implies an unnecessary amount of moral rumination); only requires intelligence. And, well, see #1. 3: Who gives a shit?
Millions of German people gave their lives to support him. Millions more people fought to supress him. He was a man from nowhere with no past and no prospects at the end of WW1. How did this MONSTER get created? Did the Devil do it? Did God ? It is SUCH a strange, unlikely story. But listen... Mr canon fodder speaks.... 'who gives a shit?', says he To ignore the failings of the past is to repeat those failures. So YOU kind sir, should give a shit.
@@timothyodering6299 : You give humans far too much credit. The evidence suggests that they're easily led into catastrophe. Charisma and intelligence is all that's required to separate a man from men. No wisdom, no particularly special attributes. No, no. Your romanticism blinds you to reality. Most of these pompous windbags contribute nothing to society. Many of them steal from society. And many of them make wars in service of their ego. Check your infatuation with Hitler---because that's exactly what it is, infatuation. Regardless of what you think of the "Great Man" theory of history, there's literally no evidence to suggest that Hitler was great in any measure excepting opportunity. He was a charlatan. He contributed nothing positive to civilization.
I saw the title of your video and I said yes, that is a good question! The historical consensus is that Hitler didn't give much thought to the consequences when he declared war on the US.
Not that I've studied it in detail, but from what I've read the Japanese consensus for war 1937-41 was usually anything but brittle. They kept attacking further and further south in East Asia until FDR put together the US-Anglo-Dutch oil embargo over China. And then they attacked virtually all of Southeast Asia simultaneously. It appears Hitler had quite a different view of this in early December 1941; perhaps he'd heard of the various widely separated places that were attacked on 7-8 December and assumed the Japanese had overextended themselves, thus would need at least moral support from Germany.
What consensus? The Japanese government didn't even decide to go to war with China, some local military hotheads first took over Manchuria and later invaded them, with the government just having to go along with it, lest they risk being outright murdered. They wouldn't have dared taking over European colonies if the latter they hadn't been busy with war in Europe. And until the American oil embargo the Japanese army was more interested in revanche against the Russians. Absolutely erratic, particularly to anyone dealing with them diplomatically since the foreign ministry didn't know what the army would do next.
@@fips711 I'm interpreting "consensus" as you described the situation, the army does what it wants and the gov has to go along. The army kept attacking into more and more territory; Mongolia was their only setback. And it was the army that moved into southern Indochina, finally provoking the American economic response. No lack of motivation for war on the Japanese army's part. You mentioned something I missed, that maybe Hitler was hearing a lack of commitment from Japanese diplomats, who of course didn't represent the erratic military officers who were de facto in charge.
@Fips One does not randomly happenstance into invading all of Southeast Asia without prior aspirations and political will behind it even in those first few tentative steps.
The automatic subtitles translated Roosevelt as rulesworld...
Interesting guy. I could listen to him talk for quite awhile I'm sure.
the story of a man who came to truly know how bad things really are
He named his private train "Amerika"
Hitler’s Lebersraum was similar to our Manifest Destiny in terms of living space . Now as far as racial purity, he looked at us as decadent .
Hitler praised the United States and it's racial eugenics structure before the war
I can't believe the amount of 'experts' in the comments that see a 30 minute video with citations and external sources but still reckon they know best. You might have played World at War but you might not know everything
Hello mr. Kant, are you thinking about releasing a video on the recent police raids in Germany? Your view would be super interesting!
The USA wanted to enter the war anyway on UK's side. "Democracy" is an ideology of its own, 2 week after France fell, the US government ordered a dozen Aircraft carriers. So they prepared already, just needed some time and later an excuse to enter war. Excuse wasn't necessary as Japan attacked and Hitler declared war after.
He never declared war.
The US was already at war.
I heard that the IJA diplomat came to Germany to discuss operation Barbarossa. Hitler wants Japan's aid. However, due to the IJA decline in power and the IJN coming to power, it won and decided to go the naval route that the land route to secure resources.
The simple answer: Roosevelt wanted war with Germany long before Pearl Harbor, or even the outbreak of WW2. If Hitler hadn't declared war then Roosevelt would have.
Some said Roosevelt manufactured pearl harbor exactly like how 9/11 was
So in summary: Overconfidence in the war with the Soviets, paranoia due to new American legislation, and desire to formulate some sort of stable alliance with Japan is what led to the declaration of war after Pearl Harbor. Declaring war against America would of course be quickly recognized as a severe miscalculation only a few months afterwards, however, it does give some insight into the reasoning behind the decision by Hitler who did not have the foresight we do now.
The US was already at war with Germany in 1940, as Admiral King had confirmed at the time.
I saw "Why did Hitler attack the USA?" and my first thought was "he didn't. He declared war on us because he was allied with Japan."
You best try again and this time, don't be so obtuse.
The treaty didn't require a declaration of war from Germany. It was essentially defensive in nature, the signing powers were required to go to war on behalf of each other if another power initiatized war against them. Since Japan had attacked the U.S. rather than the other way around, neither Germany or Italy was required to go to war with the United States. It's also why Japan did not declare war on the Soviet Union when Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, aside from their own strategic reasons for staying out, they had no treaty obligation with Germany to join the war.
@@jamessullivan4391Are your parents also this dumb?
@@ahorsewithnoname773 The US was already at war with Germany.
Wow...that was quite some production. Thank you and thank goodness those Siberian divisions didn't counterattack a couple of weeks sooner.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Interesting. But there wasn't enough discussion about the German advantage with the submarines in December 1941 in what is regarded as the Battle of the Atlantic. Hitler was looking to cut off Britain from U.S. supplies. While Hitler probably thought the advantage with the submarines would be permanent, the Allies completely reversed the advantage in May 1943. Hitler also failed to appreciate how much better the United States would be at producing weapons than the Germans and how much better the U.S. would be at developing technology than the Germans.
This is just speculation since most of the decisions Germany made during the war rested on Hitler's whims & he shot himself without leaving much of a paper trail on why some decisions were made...but he probably did not anticipate the U.S. adopting a Germany first policy in the wake of the Pearl Harbor attacks, likely underestimated the speed at which the U.S. could mobilize or wage a two front war, probably understimated how long it would take to deply U.S. forces in significant numbers to the European theater (the U.S. had much less merchant shipping in WW1, and as a result along with some other factors the process had been much slower), and probably expected that U.S. naval contributions to the Battle of the Atlantic would be minimized by the threat posed by the Japanese navy, which he also expected (which is documented) to win.
I can only imagine the feeling when it became clear that not only was Russia not going away, but they didn't get any Japanese commitment regarding Russia, and their '42 plan couldn't even assume that they could do any more than attack the southern half of Russia, while having to deal with the long term issues of America.
Thing is the Germans kept thinking ‘ok now the Russians collapse’, for years
Wait wait wait....Dr Claw?
2:37 heh, was the first thing I thought
Lend lease cut a couple of years off the time needed for the US to ramp up it's war production.
Fascinating... But I really doubt the US would have stayed out of the European war. We were doing everything we could to get an excuse to enter it, and it was only a matter of time before that happened. Maybe we would have stayed out had we not been attacked, but once we were fighting any war, I think we would have inevitably joined the whole war. So at worst Hitler sped up our entry in the war by something like half a year or so. Maybe it was a mistake on his part, but not one that likely had a dramatic impact on the war. Then again, had our entry into the European war been delayed, Germany would have still been in the war in August of 45, which would have meant they got nuked instead of Japan.
I wouldn't be to sure about that. Ww1 was quite devestating for US populus, moraly, economy was getting on its feet after depression (war helped us economy here, alot)... it is a fact usa was preparing for war (250k total military personel in 1939, 450k in 1940, 1.8m by 1941..), but doing anything to join? Nah man, facts show US was quite pacifistic and isolatistic in the early-mid 1900 with an army smaller then portugals or bulgaria. Totaly different USA from todays USA. Without Japans attack on US home territory and hitlers declaration, direct involvement in eu would come very late, if it would even come. We do know that majority of usa populus and military wanted japan 1st, eu later, meybe later. Germans at the Moscows gates was probably the reason europe got priority in the end. .. one fun fuct, hitler somehow admired usa, especily its racial laws at the time
I personally don't think he thought America was a threat in the short term, and Germany was going to win the war before America showed up in force. He thought- correctly- that it would take America about one year to intervene in strength, and American troops didn't invade North Africa until November 1942, 11 months after Pearl Harbor; and his war with Russia he expected to have been successfully concluded by then, in which he was of course wrong. If Russia was defeated, the full force could have been used against any D-Day attack, which would have been much more difficult for us then it was in reality. In the meantime, he had the ability to expand the U Boat war against American shipping, a not inconsiderable advantage. But since Russia held on, America could only grow in strength, and Hitler was doomed.
They misjudged American industry by about 2 years though, they predicted the US industry wouldn't max out until 1945. Turned out the US maxed out by 1943.
Iceland was not a part of Denmark, it was sovereign from 1918. Iceland had a close relationship with Denmark, a Danish king until 1944 and was reliant on the Danish foreign servive until the occupation of Denmark in 1940.
A lot of people in Europe in the political extremes (right and left) still discount American Power and consider them decadent. When speaking to many Europeans they will act like they believe that Germany and France could defend Europe, utterly bizarre when you consider the world wide interests of Europe and the limited size of the economies and Military.
yes, there are strong anti-American tendencies in Europe, sadly they are not limited to the extremes. > When speaking to many Europeans they will act like they believe that Germany and France could defend Europe well, defend against what? Against the US no, against nearly everyone else, probably yes, simply due to the fact that there is not much that is a threat and directly on the borders. > Europe and the limited size of the economies and Military. military might be limited, economies not so sure about that.
Defend Europe against who? Who does Europe need defending from?
@@tb8865 China, Russia if it's still around the war, and in the worst case scenario the U.S if friendly relations sour.
@@thebandofbastards4934 ok, the US attacked both Germany and Russia earlier this year so maybe it's time to reconsider the relationship.
@@tb8865 I think that Europe already does that, after the Ukraine war the US would leave NATO in order to cut down on it's military budget and in exchange the EU would no longer have a threat close to it's sphere of influence.
How do you lose 452,000 soldiers? Thats just incomprehensible..
I liked this presentation and it filled in many gaps in my knowledge. However, an area that was not discussed is the US people and Congress' view of war with Germany. The attack on Pearl Harbor had the country and Congress baying for retaliation against Japan. Hitler did not have to declare war on the US, and Roosevelt may not have had the votes or popular support to declare war on Germany if Hitler had expressed sympathy for the US and maintained Germany's neutrality with the US, however tenuous it may actually been. Instead, Germany's declaration of war on the US played right into Churchill and Roosevelt's plan, after all the US pivoted to a Germany first strategy immediately.
This video makes a lot of mistakes and takes on the view that Hitler coerced Japan to do anything or fooled the "innocent" butcher and rapist of 30 million people in Asia in countless undeclared wars to be unaccountable for its war crimes of using biological, chemical, and even attempt nuclear (right up to the end of the war) WMDs not even Germany used in WW2. Japan already cheated UK and US with the naval treaties by increasing its naval tonnage and bombed US ships in Nanjing in 1937 when WW2 was started by attacking China (a nation that would become 1 of 5 members of the permanent security council), then used the classic tactic used in In fact Pearl Harbor in of itself was a rehash of the same tactic used in the Russo-Japanese war. Attack the Russian Crown Prince, then when it fails, feign apology with school girls to hide behind them and insinuate reproach against Japan is to incriminate innocent girls (who are ofc raised on resources exploited off of the backs of other enslaved Asians), bide time, then start an undeclared war against Russia. It was "successful (not, really unable to force Russians to hand them money... which the Allies in WW2 did not do for Japan itself when by all means they should have instead of pumping trillions of Cold War dollars into it as a reward for being an Axis power... just like China would get in the 70s)" but they failed to remember that was only because UK and US kept bailing out the Japanese government multiple times, from total bankruptcy, as part of the Great Game. They didn't realize this would amount to biting the hand that feeds them (and even gave relief funds for the 1923 Earthquake while Japanese civilians were lynching 6,000 Asian foreigners within Japan, blaming the earthquake on them). The Japanese answer to US restricting exports of US Oil and Steel to Japan (and some limitations on some exports like expensive US machinery that drove Japanese industry much like Russians in 2022 realized too late that their industry relies heavily on imported US machinery as well) was to launch more undeclared invasions into Southeast Asia to exploit rubber and oil to fuel their insatiable war machine that 1 billion Asians in 1945 were all too grateful to be rid of when Japan was forced to surrender (not by nukes but by Soviets coming in from the West and like Nazis who butchered ppl in the Eastern Front and fled to the west to avoid life in Soviet gulags, Japan opted to surrender to the West but not the Soviets and have their country split like Germany) "Hitler thought this, Hitler thought that" that doesn't really give an accurate picture of what the Japanese ACTUALLY thought or did. It's like thinking Japan is not a thinking entity itself responsible for its actions but Germany decided everything for them, like someone put a gun to its head and sold 300,000 of Japanese girls overseas to make pimp money to develop Japan (leaders weren't even ashamed of this, praised this as Joshigun, or "Army of Girls") for the glorified Meiji Restoration period alone (samurai as far back as 1500 have been selling girls for Portuguese muskets just like African warlords, and when that wasn't enought started setting overseas brothels to earn war funds), then kidnapped 100s of 1000s of girls all over Asia and gave them 80-man daily rape quotas for soldiers in officially built military sex slave brothels, and executed most of any survivors by the end of the war to hide war crimes, and sent 5-digits of people into kamikazes by plane, boat, submarine, diving suits, etc. and did not care about daily reports of 10s of 1,000s of casualties by the end of the war and was planning Operation Cherry Blossoms at Night, which was to use poison gas manufactured in the WMD production hub in Hiroshima to start bombing America as well... for September of 1945. Any attempt to expose their propaganda of victimhood is met with accusation of racism, of course.
Problem is that US was not neutral towards Germany... shipping tons and tons of equipment and fuel to Britain is not being neutral. If the US truly wanted to stay out of the war they would have acted different. The fact is that US wanted war but had no way to convince the population, a problem the Japanese solved for them.
@@azoniarnl3362 Correct the Roosevelt administration viewed Germany as a threat. However, Japan attacking the US did not mean Germany had to declare war on the US. It was a misstep on Hitler's part.
@@mrgunn2726 I see your point but as I said the US was already acting as a war industry for the Allies, on paper they were at peace but in practice they werent. The US was hiding behind neutrality to prevent Germans from sinking their ships, ships that carried war materials.. just listen to full declaration of war and you will see that Germans in their mind were already at war with the US but just not on paper.
I have a theory that if the attack on Pearl harbor had been replused, hitler might have delayed declaring war on the US for 6 months to a year.
He declared war on the USA because he believed by doing so Japan would break it's treaty with Russia and it would become a two front war for him on the eastern front, but Japan had no intention of being involved in a two front war. For Japan taking on America in an attempt to conquer the Pacific was more than enough.
"Because he was a big goof" is probably not a sufficient answer, is it?
all sounds like a movie...hmmm who were the writers?
FYI Germany didn’t invade Poland alone. Stalin invaded at the same time and split Poland. Why was war only declared on Germany?
> FYI Germany didn’t invade Poland alone. yeah, man, tell me about it: kzhead.info/sun/o9WieM55hYyHi5s/bejne.html
@@MilitaryHistoryVisualized not mention Hitlers direct order stopping the annihilation of the BEF at Dunkirk and an offer of peace with England if they left the war. Hess’ flight with peace offers. Guards were forbidden to talk with Hess in Spandau prison. English and American men died for nothing.
> not mention Hitlers direct order stopping the annihilation of the BEF at Dunkirk that is utter hogwash, I looked at this claim and the data does not support it all: kzhead.info/sun/np2Rn9iZioVvh5E/bejne.html > an offer of peace with England if they left the war. that is mostly correct.
@@MilitaryHistoryVisualized read original sources not the textbooks with a narrative used today. I read many interesting papers in the imperial war museum and the smithsonian plus the library of Congress. But I’m sure your European mindset won’t allow such thinking. Don’t forget to schedule the next booster. Bwahahaha
@@MilitaryHistoryVisualized the Dunkirk situation was confirmed by a Wehrmacht junior officer in Rommels command. Rommel was not happy and knew it would be a mistake not destroying the British professional army.
Is this over british long term happiness ideologies?
By 12/8/41 there had been hundreds of cartoons of Hitler printed in American newspapers there are only a number of these he could have seen and not get pissed off!
So the better question would be on why Hitler hated the UK so much? because I believe whatever resentment Hitler got for the US was just by extension for helping the UK during the early years of the year (a country the US was supposed to be independent from) while he was trying to destroy UK.
Becouse uk declared war on germany when it invaded poland. Also, sending tones of weapons and equpement dosn't make US neutral, just not directly involved. And they did that becouse 1) leaders saw the threat of germany 2) populus needed a VERY good reason for war, especialy after ww1 losses and the great depression.
Hitler did not hate the UK and gave them multiple peace offers early on but the UK due to its century old Foreign Policy did not want Peace with Germany.
There is no evidence that Hitler held contempt for Britain; he was rather vociferous on extolling the greatness of Britain and of wanting to keep peace with her. That is, up until a years worth of refuted peace offers, bombing of populated German city centers, and diplomatic ridicule on the behest of Churchill.
@@tehice23you mean when Germany called for British intervention in Polish killings of German civilians but no one did nothing?
Is it true that Amenrican boats were allowed to shot at axis members around 1936~ ?
Quite convincing