Why did Germany declare war on America during WW2? | History Matters | History Teacher Reacts

[@MrTerry]

Did Germany have good reasons to declare war on the United States at the time?

[@MalikF15]

No, it was stupid. Do you really think it’s a great idea to open a second in front of war oh wait they already tried that

[@mikitz]

When you're confident enough, everything seems like a great idea. I mean, they pretty much had the idea of taking over the world, so...

[@Swedishpolymath]

I have a feeling that Hitler was an impulsive insecure moron that could not stand the fact that the "German upper class Nazis" where "better than him" and he never learned the lesson to be humble and don't make to many enemies.

[@iKvetch558]

Bitchler's Admirals had been asking/begging him to let them go after US shipping, since for most of 1941...the period after Escort Groups were formed in March...the Kriegsmarine had been losing the tonnage war in the Battle of the Atlantic. It was only after the Germans' gloves came off after Germany declared war that the U-Boats experienced their "2nd Happy Time".

[@KE5ZZO]

My opinion Germany declared war thinking they would only fight half of us since it was at war with Japan. But it seams like us focused 100% on Germany. Then put that 100% on Japan after Germany lost

[@swag31556]

Kids in 2040 are gonna have no idea who this "H1t1er" was. They're just gonna know him as nono german or Mr mustache man cause of modern sensibilities

[@mastergentry9950]

That's why it's going to be up to us to teach them because the woke idiots are trying to delete history

[@John-nr1tu]

HTH did a video on this not to long ago. The censorship on KZbin these days is beyond ridiculous.

[@Dan1elAndrade]

Yeah, it's not like history books exist. Muaaaahh

[@swag31556]

@Dan1elAndrade except they're actively revising history books too

[@Dan1elAndrade]

@@swag31556 Yes, the deep state is after it

[@iKvetch558]

The main reason why Bitchler declared war is due to the fact that the US and Germany were already in an undeclared war at sea in the Atlantic months before Pearl Harbor, because Germany had no chance if they just allowed US ships to carry war cargo to the UK and USSR under the Lend Lease Program. In reality, war between the US and Germany became inevitable as soon as US ships and warships were participating in bringing supplies across the Atlantic under Lend Lease....eventually, Germany had to attack US ships. Not so fun fact...the first US warship sunk by Germany was the destroyer USS Reuben James on October 31, 1941...and FDR could have gone to Congress for a declaration of war then. He chose not to because he knew that between the Germans and the Japanese, something much bigger would happen that would give him a much easier case to bring to Congress. I forget whether History Matters mentions any of that.

[@gidi3250]

I have seen some mention the American sanctions on the Japanese, how bitchler saw it as an act of war/aggression on Japan thus according to the theory Japan was in his mind acting out in self defense and he was treaty bond to join Japan in the war against the supposed sanctions aggression.

[@andrewrogers3067]

It had no chance period.

[@iKvetch558]

@@andrewrogers3067 Yes...true...but Germany did not know that. They did know that they needed to beat the Allies in the tonnage war in the Atlantic. But you definitely make a valid point. 👍

[@ElizabethMcCormick-s2n]

Bitchler, good nickname!

[@IronDragon-2143]

I love Mr. Terry's channel

[@GlamorousTitanic21]

Simple. By that time Hitler was already diving headfirst into the abyss of madness. His generals were horrified when he did it. It was at that point that many of them realized that they were going to lose the war.

[@Ruosteinenknight]

He had this idea back of his head for a long time. In written but never published sequel to the Mein Kampf, Zweites Buch ("Second Book"), he outlined his view on the United States. He still emphasized that for immidieta purposes Soviet Union is their most dangerous enemy, but in long term the next dangerous potential opponent is United States.

[@karlgrimm3027]

Declaring war gave Uboats the ability to attack American ships but did nothing else for Germany.

[@ParkArchiiboi]

Germany took a huge L 😂

[@lljkgktudjlrsmygilug]

BTW, its "Man in the High Castle", not tower.

[@JonathanHowe-q6m]

They had no real choice. Something that seems to always be glossed over is that fact that Italy actually declared war before Germany (though on the same day). So the US would probably have gotten involved in the European conflict regardless of what Germany did after all both Italian and German troops were fighting in North Africa and elsewhere in the conflict.

[@55Andy555]

That combined with Italy switching sides shortly after it can be seen as a pretty cunning back stab.

[@kongism]

I don’t think I should be here yet…

[@MrTerry]

Who let you in here?!

[@sefhammer6276]

why?

[@manooxi327]

Im sure mr Terry is the kind of guy that goes: take a seat, you classmates will join u shortly 😅

[@omegamanrad]

🤔 got me thinking of the “what if-“

[@_SamuelPaz]

I thought that you'd react to the new ERB

[@tommcdonald1873]

Hitler was a glutton for punishment and underestimated the US resolve; but then, Tojo didn't bend Hitler's elbow because we became the UK and Stalin's general store (lend-lease).

[@caleblarsen5490]

Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself.

[@ii_cxplays6086]

They also made a video about wether the ussr is a union or and empire can you react to it in your next history matters reaction

[@MSTavares]

New ERB out today

[@stromecek777]

New ERB out!

[@dracogaming13]

Why did some country do during a war? Napleon invading Russia Japan attacking Pearl Harbor They thought they'd win

[@ElizabethMcCormick-s2n]

And they ended up losing! BADLY!

[@Q9wihsioa]

You should do a video on some of tik histories videos. He has some great ww2 videos specifically on ideology of facism and Nazism expaling in clear detail that actually makes sense how and why Hitler did what he did and the failures of logistics in Germany and how oil shaped the war effort.

[@MalikF15]

Better question is why did they invade the Soviet Union? I know the reason but it’s still stupid.

[@iKvetch558]

Oil...they needed ALL of it...not just the amount the Soviets would sell them. Also, food...for much the same reason of needing more than Soviets could give. At least those are the practical reasons.

[@mikitz]

For any long-term Civilization player, it definitely didn't seem like such a stupid idea at the time.

[@ElizabethMcCormick-s2n]

Lebensraum!

[@Lombwolf]

It was literally the whole point of the war, it was their main objective, to manifest destiny in the East.

[@ElizabethMcCormick-s2n]

I don't know why i added that g!

[@Swedishpolymath]

I have been increasingly interested in WW2 history after being bored of it for a while. I am mostly interested in people like Heydrich, Goebbels, Eichmann and Speer.

[@anathardayaldar]

Why does he put that same music on all his outros?

[@jdotoz]

"Mustache Man was right" -Mr. Terry, 2024 j/k

[@Merennulli]

I have always wondered what would happen if Germany didn't. Obviously it doesn't save Germany from defeat, but I don't know if the US focuses on Japan first by itself earlier. The Pacific timetable was pretty heavily dictated by ship repairs and opportunities that were available to the US, so I still feel that lasts until 1945 and ends with the same two blasts. But I can't imagine the US staying out of Europe. Would they have reached an agreement with the British to join on all fronts?

[@iKvetch558]

War between the US and Germany became inevitable as soon as US ships and warships were participating in bringing supplies across the Atlantic under Lend Lease....eventually, Germany had to attack US ships. By the time of Pearl Harbor, war between the US and Germany was at most 2 or 3 months away.

[@JonathanHowe-q6m]

@@Merennulli German defeat was not obvious and US victory in the pacific wasn't either. In 42 US had few bases remaining and was reliant on using Allied bases in the Pacific which they might not have been allowed access to if they hadn't formally joined the allies. The los alamos nuclear programme would also not have had access to a number of scientists who were part of the British Mission and might have instead been part of German development plans if the UK had surrended. Also the US would have had the same problem that Germany had in the Atlantic as it had few bases. The results at Coral Sea might have been a lot worse if the US couldn't base and refuel in Australia. Japan actually had a base close to Alaska after taking the Attu islands so maybe if the Axis had developed nukes first then perhaps that might have been used to drop nukes on the US instead or an invasion through Canada. Russia would also have probably fallen without access to American lend lease which was reliant on UK Naval bases. So worse case Axis would have total control over all of western europe,eastern europe, Africa, most of Asia and possibly Australasia and all of the the resources that entailed. Not sure where America got its rubber from. Maybe Brazil? But most of the world supply would have been in access contol and planes and trucks need tyres.

[@Merennulli]

​@@JonathanHowe-q6m Japan declared war on Britain at the same time it did the US, and the US was Britain's largest supplier. They were never going to be denied access to those bases and support. If the British tried to stay out of the Pacific war, they would have just been handing their assets in the Pacific to the US because, yes, it was inevitable that the US would defeat Japan. Even the Japanese realized it, they were gambling on the US appetite for war being low enough that they could sue for peace while in an advantageous position. With its access to resources and protected industrial base deeper in the continent, the US was only ever going to grow stronger while Japan burned its resources in the war. And while the Manhattan project started in 1942, the cooperation started months before Japan struck Pearl Harbor. The Axis was in no position to develop its own. Germany didn't have enough uranium and they didn't have the plutonium production process that the US developed after it was first isolated at the University of California in February of 1941. Japan was still having difficulty enriching uranium in 1945 and lacked the ore to work with, having to request it from Germany (look up the story of U-234 delivering U235 if you're curious, it's an interesting story). Most of the necessary cooperation for the war was already happening before Japan brought the US into the war and the way Japan did it (attacking British possessions and declaring war the same day as Pearl Harbor) ensured that cooperation would continue. The British would, of course, pressure the US to enter the war in Europe even if Germany didn't make it easier by declaring war first, so that's where the real question lies. Does the US declare war anyway. It definitely is likely with US leadership already in support of it and using every trick to prepare for the war quietly, and the alliance between Japan and Germany makes the argument all that much easier for Congress to go along with it. If they didn't, Europe largely goes to Soviet control. The German invasion of Russia had already started that chain of dominoes falling, and the Battle of Britain had already weakened the Luftwaffe to the point where an eastern pivot was no longer feasible. Germany just didn't have the resources to maintain what it had gained, and the Soviet war machine was already responding in a way that wouldn't be altered by the US staying out of Europe. The US would indeed be cut off from natural rubber, but that happened historically in February of 1942 by the Japanese invasion of Singapore so that's not a change to history. The US government partnered with industry to fill in that loss with synthetic rubber.

[@55Andy555]

It's pretty crazy that Germany thought it was going to cross the Atlantic with an invasion fleet when they couldn't even cross the english channel.