sneakypete...
I don't remember it that way.
The way I remember it is we declared war on Japan after the Pearl Harbor attack, and pretty much immediately declared war on their allies, the Germans.
Don't let the facts bite you. When the Japanese struck at Pearl Harbor, FDR declared war the next day, on JAPAN! Not the Axis, on Japan. The fact is, the majority of Americans did NOT want to be involved in another war in Europe. It is highly likely that had Hitler not declared war on December 10th, days after Pearl Harbor, there is a good chance FDR would have been under very high pressure to focus his attention on the Pacific and JAPAN ONLY!!! But Hitler in his foolishness made it easy for FDR, never once thinking it through, knowing that Churchill would put great weight on FDR to focus on EUROPE FIRST. When Hitler declared war on the USA, there were a number of key military leaders in Germany realize at that moment that Hitler on December 10th lost the war for Germany.
The USA was, through Lend Lease, already supplying Britain and Russia with equipment, nine months before we entered the war in December, 1941. Had Hitler not declared war, I do not believe FDR would have declared war on Germany and Italy, and in fact, the dollars would have shrunk for Lend Lease which would have had a very adverse impact on the war in Europe.
And as time would have progressed with the USA focused on the Pacific only, I believe the dollars for Europe via Lend Lease may well have dried up completely. It would have been a very different war, perhaps with some very dramatic different outcomes. I believe the war would have been prolonged, and with that, both Germany and Japan would have developed atomic weapons.
Toward the end of the war, Japan had successfully tested an atomic weapon on the Korean peninsula. Germany would have had a similar experience. Plus, Japan had successfully tested bio weapons in China, and their plan was to build a HUGE bomber and blanket the western half of the USA with bio weapons. Believe me, the outcome of the war would have been dramatically different if Hitler did not declare war on the USA. DRAMATIC!!!!
Hitler's declaration of war on the USA was the single biggest mistake of the war.A lot of people do not understand the contribution the USA made to Russia to fight the Germans. It included everything to wage war. The list is long but here are some key items:
12,000 Tanks and armored vehicles
11,400 Aircraft
400,000 Heavy duty Trucks and Jeeps to move men and materials
1,977 Locomotives
35,170 Motorcycles
11,075 Railcars designed for different purposes
2.67 million tons Petroleum products (gas and oil)
1 Ford Tire plant, transported from the USA to the USSR
Uniforms
Cigarettes
Guns of all type
Boots
And everything else needed to support an army.
Food 1.75 million tons
Note: These numbers are from Wikipedia. I have seen higher numbers noted at other sources, i.e. 25,000 tanks and
25,000 aircraft.