The United States' role in WWII

In Europe, in August 1941 war is raging. Germany has just begun its invasion of the Soviet Union. On the other side of the Atlantic, in the United States, there is concern about the Nazis invading country after country. There is also concern about Japan, which has invaded large parts of China. Japan could become a threat to US military bases in the Pacific...

and their strong fleet could attack the west coast of the United States. Japan has also signed a pact with Germany and Italy, where they promise to help each other politically and in war. But few Americans want the United States to be involved in another war - in Europe or Asia. They remember the First World War, in which over 100,000 Americans died and about 300,000 were wounded. Following the Great Depression of the 1930s, the United States has sought to stay out of conflicts in Europe and Asia, almost completely avoided engaging in international politics and international conflicts.

They want to avoid other countries' problems, and isolate themselves from them. They want to pursue an isolationist foreign policy, and they do so under the slogan "America First". But US President - Franklin D. Roosevelt thinks isolationism is wrong. He believes that the whole world, including the United States, has an obligation to fight the Nazis.

Roosevelt has already had the United States help the British with supplies during the German bombing of Britain in 1940. On August 14, 1941, President Roosevelt meets the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom - Churchill - on a warship out on the Atlantic. They sign an agreement - the Atlantic Charter, where it says: all people and peoples are equal and have the right to self-determination and to decide over their own future. The United States and Britain - the Western Allies - want to show that they support all the countries occupied by Germany, Italy and Japan - the Axis powers. The United States does not intend to actively enter the war; however, arms are exported, free of charge, to the UK.

And American warships accompany - escort - British merchant ships as protection against German submarines. Japan 1941 For ten years, Japan has been at war with China. Japan wants Chinese raw materials for its fast-growing industry. They also need oil, which is plentiful in Southeast Asia. But the United States, Britain and the Netherlands have colonies there, and now they put a stop on all oil exports to Japan.

The Japanese government and Prime Minister Hideki Tojo believe that the US halting the oil export is an attack, an act of aggression. Japan begins planning an attack! This, the United States finds out, with the help of its spies. The intelligence service is fairly certain that the attack will take place in the autumn, and be aimed at some American target in the Pacific area. On the island of Oahu, in Hawaii, is the US naval base Pearl Harbor, several military airfields and an army base.

They are warned early on that they could be the target of the Japanese attack, but most people consider it unlikely. The intelligence service believes instead that Japan will attack US interests in the Philippines or elsewhere in Southeast Asia. So the naval base Pearl Harbor prepares no extra defense. At 07:02 on the morning of Sunday, December 7, 1941, American radar stations discover more than 50 unknown aircraft heading towards Pearl Harbor. But since the military expects several of their own bombers to fly there from California on the same day, they do not suspect that the aircraft on the radar may be hostile.

Barely an hour later, Japanese aircraft begin dropping bombs and torpedoes on the US Pacific Fleet.