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Caleb Nicholson
Kyle Warner
ENG 111
March 21, 2011
Cause and Effects
The Second World War was one of the worst wars fought in history. It lasted from the
late 1930’s to 1945. Approximately 56 million total people died in World War II. There are
many reasons why America became involved in the Second World War: Japan's invasion of
China and Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, Germany and Italy's declaration of war against us, the
millions of Jews that Hitler was killing, and Hitler’s violation of the Treaty of Versailles.
When talking about the reasons why the United States got involved in Second World
War, one could talk separately about why the United States became involved in the war in the
Pacific theater, and why they became involved in the war in Europe. One of the first reasons why
we started getting upset with Japan was when they invaded China in 1931. When China was
invaded they were in the middle of a depression, which caused them to be easily overtaken.
During the beginning of World War II, we were allies with Russia. When Japan invaded China it
offended the Russians, which in turn caused us to be upset with Japan. It was also a violation of
the Kellogg-Briand Pact, which stated that the two countries would no longer fight. Because of
the violation of the pact, the United States said that if Japan did not get out of China they would
cut off all oil that was being sent to them.
Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor came as a complete surprise. Everyone knew what was
happening in Europe and China, but few expected any of that to come to the United States. On
December 7, 1941, when Japan their bombers to destroy America’s island of Hawaii, it was the
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last straw. Shortly after the attack, America declared war on Japan. Franklin Roosevelt had
wanted to join the war for a long time. However, the general population was determined to stay
neutral, even though we were technically at war already, being that we had cut off all oil from
Japan and we were giving the English and French uncountable amounts of money in aid. After
the attack, Roosevelt got his way. People were fired up and ready for revenge (World War II in
Europe...). The people wanted to destroy Japan for what they had done. They arrived at the
recruiter’s offices by the thousands, and were excited at the thought of being soldier who fought
for their country; they were excited at being heros.
Three days after the United States declared war on Japan, both Italy and Germany
declared war on the United States. America immediately did the same thing to both Axis powers.
Hitler claimed that he had not wanted to fight directly against the United States, but since he had
signed the Tripartite Pact, he had to help defend Japan. The Tripartite Pact was an agreement that
all three Axis Powers signed (Germany, Italy, and Japan). The Pact stated that if any one of the
countries was attacked by another country that was not already in the war, the other to Axis
Powers would have to come to their aid (1941: Germany…). This is why both the Germans and
the Italians declared war on America; not necessarily because they had plans to dominate the
United States, but because they were forced to. There are multiple reasons why we got involved
in the war with Germany, but the fact that they declared war on us first is by far the greatest
because it left us with no choice but to declare war on them as well.
During this war, not only did soldiers die, but many Jews did also. At least six million
Jews died during World War II from either concentration camps or from starvation or disease in
the ghettos. America had known that Germany was killing the Jews, but they had no idea of the
severity of the situation. In 1941, when Britain and the United States received information from
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the Polish Underground about how bad things really were, they were forced to take action. The
final reason why we declared war on Germany would be Hitler’s violation of the Treaty of
Versailles. The Treaty of Versailles was the treaty that ended World War One. It put major
restrictions on the size of Germany’s military. Germany could have no more than 100,000
service members in its military; they could not have any submarines; and they could no longer
use heavy artillery, tanks, gas, or aircraft. This treaty not only took away their military power, it
also took away a lot of their land. It took away all of Germany’s land that was overseas as well
as some of their bordering land. Hitler violated this treaty when he introduced military
conscription -- meaning that he was recruiting people to be in the military; whether they wanted
to be or not. Germany obviously did not want to sign the treaty, but the French and British
generals threatened to keep fighting if they did not. Germany was running out of materials, such
as food and soldiers, so they were left with no choice. They had to sign it. Since this was a treaty
signed by both the United States and Germany, we had no choice but to enforce it (Duffy).
There are many reasons for the United States’ joining in the Second World War. It does
not matter whether one is talking about the Pacific or European theater. There is Japan’s
invading of China, which aggravated us, while their bombing of Pearl Harbor was the last straw
in pulling us into the war in the Pacific Theater. In Europe, there is Germany’s violation of the
Treaty of Versailles which, like Japan’s invading of China, made us start to become upset with
the Germans; then Germany’s killing of millions of Jews, which appalled almost every
American; and lastly, Germany and Italy’s Declaration of War on us which left us with no choice
other than to fight back and stand up for ourselves. All these things add up to why we got
involved in the war, and why they general republic could no longer stand neutral; they had to
right for what they knew was right.
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Works Cited
Duffy, Michael. " Primary Documents - Treaty of Versailles, 28 June 1919."
FirstWorldWar.com. N.P. 22 Aug. 2009. Web. 23 Mar. 2011.
"World War 2 - China." History. History.com, N.D. Web. 27 Mar. 2011.
"World War II in Europe." The History Place. N.P., 1996. Web. 23 Mar. 2011.
"1941: Germany and Italy Declare War on US." BBC News. N.P. 2008. Web. 27 Mar. 2011.
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