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German declaration of war against the United States

On 11 December 1941, four days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States declaration of war against the Japanese Empire, Nazi Germany declared war against the United States, in response to what was claimed to be a "series of provocations" by the United States government when the U.S. was still officially neutral during World War II. The decision to declare war was made by Adolf Hitler, apparently offhand, almost without consultation. It has been referred to as Hitler's "most puzzling" decision of World War II.[1] Publicly, the formal declaration was made to American Chargé d'Affaires Leland B. Morris by German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop in the latter's office. Later that day, the U.S. declared war on Germany, with Germany's action having eliminated any remaining meaningful domestic isolationist opposition to the U.S. joining the European war.

Declarations of war during World War II

Diplomatic history of World War II

Kellogg–Briand Pact

Bloch, Michael (1992) Ribbentrop. New York: Crown Publishing.  0-517-59310-6.

ISBN

(1992) Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives. New York: Knopf. ISBN 0-394-58601-8

Bullock, Alan

Genoud, François ed. (1961) The Testament of Adolf Hitler: The Hitler–Bormann Documents, February–April 1945. London:Cassell

(1981) Germany and the Two World Wars Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-35322-6.

Hillgruber, Andreas

(1991). Hitler. Profiles in Power. Harlow, England: Pearson Education. ISBN 0-582-43756-3.

Kershaw, Ian

(2000) Hitler: 1936–1945: Nemesis. London: Allen Lane. ISBN 978-0393049947

Kershaw, Ian

(2007) Fateful Choices: Ten Decisions That Changed the World, 1940-1941 New York: Penguin. ISBN 978-1-59420-123-3

Kershaw, Ian

(2016). To Hell and Back: Europe 1914–1949. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-310992-1.

Kershaw, Ian

(2011). December 1941: Twelve Days that Began a World War. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-15445-0.

Mawdsley, Evan

Smyth, Howard M.; and Lambert, Margaret, eds. (1964). . London: H.M.S.O.

Documents on German Foreign Policy, 1918-1945

(13 December 1941) Department of State Bulletin. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office

United States Department of State

Weeks, Albert L. (2004), Russia's Life-Saver: Lend-Lease Aid to the U.S.S.R. in World War II, Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books,  978-0-7391-0736-2

ISBN

Media related to 11 December 1941 Reichstag speech at Wikimedia Commons