7. Hitler Seals Germany’s Fate
Japan’s going to war with America did not obligate Germany to do the same, but when Hitler learned that Japan had devastated America’s Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor, he decided to declare war on the US. Hitler loathed America, which he deemed a degenerate mongrel nation, controlled by Jewish capitalists. The US government was also avowedly anti-Axis and generously furnishing Germany’s enemies with supplies under the terms of Lend-Lease. Nonetheless, the US was not at war with Germany – and by December of 1941, the war was not looking too good for Germany. Britain, whom Hitler had expected to defeat in 1940, was still fighting. The USSR, which Hitler had expected to defeat in a few weeks, had put up a far fiercer resistance than anticipated, and Germany found herself in a protracted war of attrition against an industrial and manpower giant.
Only days before the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Soviets had launched a counteroffensive in front of Moscow, that brought the German Army Group Center to the brink of collapse. Given the preceding, Germany had nothing to gain from adding the world’s wealthiest and greatest industrial power to the ranks of its enemies. Yet, despite the opposition of his generals, Hitler, driven by emotion instead of reason, declared war against the US on December 11th, 1941. It was a rash decision that all but guaranteed Germany’s doom. At a stroke, Hitler added to his enemies a country whose GDP was nearly four times that of Germany’s, and whose factories and homeland were thousands of miles beyond the reach of German arms.
