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On December 7, 1941, the Japanese Navy's sneak attack on the anchorage of Pearl Harbor of the U.S. Pacific Fleet was seen by the public as a "major event" that changed the course of history, but it was an "accident and inevitability" in the eyes of heads of state who had a lot of information and were well versed in the laws of political operation. In the description of various types of documentary literature, we often see that the reactions of heads of state to the "Pearl Harbor incident" often have two or even three "faces".
Pearl Harbor. Source/Clip from the movie Pearl Harbor
The Germans were happy
Regarding Hitler's reaction, many people may think that he must have been furious: "Why provoke the Americans? Someone even made up a famous saying for it: "Japan is (like) a wild boar that fell into a trap!" ”
Is this indeed the case? To clarify this question, we must look at the attitude of the German people toward the United States and the strategic posture of Nazi Germany from Hitler's point of view.
Hitler and the Nazis. Source/Fragment from the documentary The Devil's End
For a long time, Germans, including Hitler, had an inexplicable liking for the United States, imagining the United States as a vast and attractive New World, the Garden of Eden in which many adventurers realized their own values, not only that, in the eyes of the elites of the German cultural circle, the United States and Germany were both "rising stars" and had common interests against the first countries such as Britain and France. The German historian Goethe once optimistically predicted the rise of the United States, saying that it was "absolutely necessary to exert influence in the corridor from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean, and I am sure they will do so."
However, as the United States defeated Spain in the Spanish-American War and established itself as an emerging power in the world, Germany's attitude toward the United States changed from "happy to see it succeed" to "envy and envy and hatred". Although Germany won the Wars of Prussia, Austria-Austria, and Franco-Prussia, and achieved national reunification, because it was located in the heart of Europe, it was ultimately unable to seize Cuba, the Philippines and other vast overseas colonies like the United States.
After the outbreak of World War I, Relations between Germany and the United States took a sharp turn for the worse. At the beginning of the war, Germany once hoped to exert the influence of German immigrants in the United States to promote the United States to join the "Allied" camp, but over time, the United States eventually sided with the Entente led by Britain and France, and with its huge population and strong basic industry, it became the "last straw" that crushed the Second German Empire.
Hitler, a veteran of World War I, had an intuitive sense of america's strength. Under the mix of mixed hatred and fear, Hitler has always been praising the United States since he came to power, and at the same time pointing fingers, among which the most critical part of the United States is racial policy.
In Hitler's view, the pioneering of the early Colonists in the United States was a spiritual model for pure whites, but the influx of blacks, Jews, Slavs, and Asians "defiled" the United States.
The Civil War, in which the black army fought for freedom and dignity. Source/Clip from the movie "Glorious Campaign"
It was on the basis of this theory that the Nazi Party, led by Hitler, began to viciously curse the United States for allowing non-Caucasians to grow in the United States, and sooner or later it would fall into decay. After the Great Depression, the U.S. economy was at a low ebb for a long time, while Nazi Germany was thriving, giving Germany the illusion.
The outbreak of the "Pearl Harbor incident" made the Nazis dare to promote their own fallacies and heresies. In the eyes of the Nazi believers, The ally Japan was no more than an inferior Asian yellow race, and now they dare to sneak into the United States, which is the result of the United States' failure to attach importance to maintaining its own racial purity.
Of course, these unscientific "self-deprecations" are nothing more than the nazis' trick of fooling the lower and middle classes. The bureaucracy with Hitler at the core has already made a detailed analysis and judgment of the war between Japan and the United States, and finally made a response policy and a comprehensive strategic deployment that they believed was most conducive to their own strategic interests.
diplomatic language
In fact, long before the "Pearl Harbor incident", the Japanese government, under the extreme diplomatic pressure of the United States, had already realized that "war against the United States is inevitable", and based on the "Triple Alliance Treaty" previously concluded by the Axis power group, Germany should follow Japan in initiating the procedure of declaring war on the United States, and "promise not to achieve a separate peace" according to the agreement.
But the problem is that the "common advance and retreat" described in the "Triple Alliance Treaty" presupposes that one country is attacked, rather than actively attacking other countries, so Japan is bottomless about whether Germany will abide by its commitments, after all, when Germany launched operation Barbarossa to attack the Soviet Union, Japan did not immediately declare war on the Soviet Union, and even when German tanks were already approaching Moscow, the Japanese Army still only held a huge "special exercise" and did not have actual military operations.
In 1940, Germany, Italy, and Japan signed the Triple Alliance Treaty. Source/Episode of the show "Archives"
It was on the basis of such concerns that the Japanese side gently revealed the news of the preparation for a declaration of war on the United States to the German ambassador to Japan, Eugen Ott, and the information quickly reached the ears of German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop. On such a major matter, Ribbentrop, after consulting the supreme leader of the Third Reich, instructed Eugen-Ott to tell the Japanese side: "Marshal Goering believes that if one side of Germany or Japan is already in war with the United States, the other side will certainly not achieve a separate peace." ”
Ribbentrop is The German Foreign Minister. Source/Screenshot of the movie Battlefield
Apparently, Nazi Germany did not want to speak to death at this time, and did not explicitly release Hitler's orders. However, after the Delay in Japanese Action, Ribbentrop could not resist, and met with the Japanese ambassador to Germany on November 28, 1941, and assured the other side: "If Japan goes to war with the United States, Germany will help, and under no circumstances will Germany achieve a separate peace with the United States." ”
Ribbentrop thought that when it came to this, Japan should dispel all its worries and let it go. But a week later, there seemed to be no signs of war between Japan and the United States, but instead two special envoys sent by the Japanese side, Nomura Yoshizaburo and Raisu Saburo, continued negotiations with U.S. Secretary of State Hull in Washington. The United States said that it had carefully studied Japan's November 20 proposal and was still difficult to agree to, and immediately gave a new proposal from the United States, that is, the "Basic Outline of the United States and Japan's Inter-State Agreement", commonly known as Japan's "Hull Note".
Will Japan choose to give up at the last minute? Based on these concerns, Ribbentrop arrived at the Eastern Front Command on 4 December to meet Hitler, hoping that he would agree to sign a supplementary agreement between Germany, Italy and Japan on the basis of the Triple Alliance Treaty, which clearly stipulated that either side would go to war as the United States, and that the other two would immediately think that they were also at war with the United States.
From Hitler's point of view, however, Ribbentrop's approach was superfluous.
As early as the spring of 1941, when the Japanese foreign minister visited Berlin, Hitler said: "If Japan goes to war against the United States, Germany will immediately assume responsibility." Although Hitler's statement was mainly to cover up the upcoming "Barbarossa" operation diplomatically, prompting Japan to put aside its concerns about sanctions by the United States and launch an east-west attack on the Soviet Union. But Hitler did not have much hope, he always believed that Germany could solve the Soviet Union on its own, but it was more favorable to Germany because of the bad relations between Japan and the United States.
In Hitler's view, Japan's attack on the United States had at least three advantages: it could tie the United States to the Pacific, and it could weaken Britain, after all, once the war broke out, Japan would certainly not spare Britain's colonies in the Far East. Of course, the most direct impact is also that it can help Germany cut off American aid to the Soviet Union, which will help the German army quickly eliminate the Soviet resistance.
Hitler. Source/Fragment from the documentary "Heavenly Punishment : A Complete Documentary of World War II"
Indeed, after the Soviet-German war was in full swing, the United States continued to increase its assistance to the Soviet Union and Britain. On June 22, 1941, the day Germany attacked the Soviet Union, the United States announced the thawing of Soviet assets, and in July 1941, the United States took over Iceland, took on the task of escorting in the Atlantic, and increased its assistance to Britain. In September 1941, Roosevelt also asked the U.S. Navy to launch a pre-emptive strike against German submarines in the Atlantic.
On June 22, 1941, Germany attacked the Soviet Union. Source/ Liaoning Satellite TV program "Top Secret Past" clip
At this time, Hitler, who was fighting on two fronts, learned the lessons of World War I and chose to be patient. Hitler was the first to restrict the movement of the German Navy's submarine forces in the Atlantic, and asked Goebbels not to incite anti-American sentiment in Germany for the time being. However, Hitler's attitude was limited to the premise that the Soviet-German war was in a stalemate situation and Japan did not explicitly declare war on the United States, and once one of the above two issues was solved, Hitler would not hesitate to declare war on the United States.
Hitler was not angry
According to the person's recollection, when the news of the Japanese Navy's "attack on Pearl Harbor" came, the German Army's Eastern Front Command was full of jubilation, and everyone seemed to have forgotten the defeat of the Wehrmacht in Moscow and Leningrad. The conversation at lunch that day revolved around the fighting power of the Americans. Halder jokingly deduced from his experience in World War I that the U.S. army could not compete with Prussian officers. He said U.S. officers were uniformed businessmen who only knew how to escape for their lives, and their tactics were not worth mentioning.
Hitler, while listening to the latest news from the front, also specifically asked the military aide-de-camp to highlight the german submarines in the Atlantic in the report. He also said: "How beneficial it is for us [Japan] to openly declare war on the United States, and now we can let go of our hands and feet." Hitler stressed that the Americans were now pinned down in the Pacific Theater, and German submarines were more effective in destroying U.S. supplies to Britain. He then noted that U.S. cars had never won in international competitions. American planes look good, but their engines are worthless. This proves that the much-lauded American industry is overestimated. It has no other ability, it is just overrated.
Hitler's stance toward the army proved to be restrained. According to some relevant biographies, after the "Pearl Harbor incident", Hitler called Goebbels for the first time to express his excitement, perhaps for Hitler, this is an opportunity for propaganda, which can sweep away the haze caused by various defeats on the Soviet battlefield.
Goebbels was the propaganda minister of Nazi Germany and later chancellor of Nazi Germany. Source/screenshot of the show "Archives"
Japan wanted Germany to follow suit immediately, and Ribbentrop told the Japanese that Hitler was looking for the best time to declare war on the United States. Hitler's speech was postponed until December 11. Hitler's speech lasted an hour and a half, and Hitler claimed that "the conflict in East Asia is a good gift to us" because "we simply cannot lose this war, and our present Allied forces have not been conquered for 3,000 years." As a result of the war between Japan and the United States, the world pattern has undergone complete changes. The United States now cannot take care of the Soviet Union, and it is difficult to send valuable supplies to Britain." Hitler then launched a lengthy attack on Roosevelt, accusing him of being supported by "devilishly cunning" Jews. Finally, at the climax of his speech, he formally declared war on the United States and read out the trilateral agreement signed with Japan and Italy.
However, Hitler misjudged the situation, and the United States was not dragged in the Pacific, but adopted a strategy of first Europe and then Asia, intending to solve Germany first and then deal with Japan. Hitler's speech did not boost the morale of the German people, but on the contrary made morale even lower, because Germany had another powerful opponent.
The next day, he had to admit that the situation on the Eastern Front was not good and began to preach that the people were ready for sacrifice.
A few joys and a few sorrows
Aside from Germany, how do other heads of state view Pearl Harbor? On the British side, this matter was already in the calculations of then-Prime Minister Churchill, the only difference being that Churchill once believed that the Japanese army would attack the British colonies in Southeast Asia first.
Churchill. Source/Screenshot of "Multifaceted Prime Minister Churchill" from the program Classic Human Geography
Churchill took great pains to drag the United States into war, and now his wish has finally come true. At 3 p.m. on the 8th, Churchill officially declared Britain's declaration of war on Japan in the House of Commons, two hours earlier than the Declaration of War by the United States. Churchill wrote in his diary: "Hitler's fate has been decided, Mussolini's fate has been decided. As for the Japanese, they were destined to be crushed into powder. The British Empire, the Soviet Union, and now the United States, we will work together to live and die together. ”
For the Republic of China government, someone described Chiang Kai-shek's reaction when he learned of the "Pearl Harbor incident": he "suddenly bounced off his seat." Then Chiang Kai-shek, who always had a serious expression, played "Wanfu Maria" on a phonograph and danced around the room several times. He knew that the fate of China's War of Resistance would change from then on, and Chiang Kai-shek, who was struggling to survive, saw the dawn of victory in the sea of pearl harbor. At noon that day, Chiang Kai-shek made an exception and ate an extra bowl of rice. ”
Chiang Kai-shek. Source/Fragment from the documentary "Heavenly Punishment : A Complete Documentary of World War II"
In fact, according to Chiang Kai-shek's own records, at 4 a.m. on December 7, he received a phone call to learn of the "Pearl Harbor incident," got up and prayed morning prayer as usual, and then returned to downtown Chongqing. In his diary, Chiang claimed that his first reaction to pearl harbor was to regret that he should not have urged the United States to take a tough stance on Japan earlier, so that Japan lost the patience to negotiate and was determined to launch an attack.
Judging from the trend of the Sino-Japanese war situation after the "Pearl Harbor Incident", with the influx of Japanese troops into Southeast Asia, patriotic overseas Chinese who had long supported the War of Resistance were persecuted, and the Burma Road, the main artery of the War of Resistance, was completely cut off. Many of the warlord forces that had been wobbly fell to the buffs because of Japan's triumph in the Pacific, and the Chinese War of Resistance entered a period of its darkest.
Oh yes, we almost missed a country – Italy. As one of the Axis members, Mussolini reacted most negatively: "We're done!" ”
However, according to italian custom, he may have eaten two bowls of pasta and pressed down.
Screenshot of a fragment of Mussolini's speech. Source/Good Looking Video @BRTV Archive Screening Room
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Author 丨 Zhao Kai