If you count Japan's actions in China and Manchuria then the war started in the early 'thirties. As for Germany, Hitler declared war on the USA on the 11 Dec 41, along with Italy, as Hitler, although not legally bound to support Japan if they were the aggressor, believed that the USA would "beat him to the punch" and declare war first.
I don't know where the idea that the USA entered the war to stop the USSR invading Western Europe came from. In December 1941 Germany was deep inside Russia, and it took the combined Allied might of Great Britain, the USA and the USSR nearly four years to defeat them. The USA certainly recognised the threat that the Soviets posed to Western Europe, and the formation of NATO demonstrated both American support for Europe and it's major role in it's defence. Semper fidelis On 26 March 2016 at 13:37, deloptes <delop...@gmail.com> wrote: > Tony van der Hoff wrote: > > > On 26/03/16 01:13, Gene Heskett wrote: > > > >> Thanks Tom. Its hell for an old fart who can still remember his > >> grandfathers tears the night of Dec 7, 1941. Tears because he knew we > >> would declare war. > >> > >> And I believe thats the last war we fully intended to win. Its all been > >> downhill since. > >> > >> Cheers, Gene Heskett > >> > > > > Hmm, despite what you guys seem to think, WW2 started on 1 Sept 1939. > > The start is debatable but arround 39 is correct. He is mixing up Perl > Harbor 1941 and above all USA was involved not to defeat Germany but to > stop USSR invading whole of Western Europe. Just the same game as today. > Nothing new! > In fact the war was carried out by USSR and for obvious facts they had to > share the victory with s.c. allies, but it never worked (Cold War). Just > the same game as today. Nothing new! > > regards > >
