The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich Chapter 25: The Turn of the United States Summary

As you might guess from this chapter's title, that world-changing event was the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941.
In the spring of 1941, Hitler had made a promise to Japan—one that stated plainly that if Japan ever got into conflict with U.S., Germany would come to her aid.
The promise was reckless because neither Hitler nor any of his closest advisors really understood the strength of the U.S. military.
In the first two years of the war, Hitler saw Japan's role as keeping America out of the war until Germany was ready to declare war on the U.S. But Hitler later started to hope that his Pacific ally could play a key role in Britain's defeat.
By 1941 Hitler still didn't want Japan to run the risk of provoking the United States to enter the war, but he did want his ally to strike at British interests in the Pacific—specifically, by attacking Singapore.
Although the Nazis eventually began to look to Japan for help in their war against Russia, too, the Japanese government stuck firmly to the treaty of neutrality that it had signed with the Soviet Union.

"Avoid Incidents with the U.S.A.!"

The German Navy believed that The U.S.'s neutrality wouldn't last for long.
All the same, Hitler had commanded his admirals to avoid any conflict with the U.S.
Despite escalating tensions between America and Germany throughout the summer and into the autumn of 1941, Hitler stuck to that order—although, as Shirer notes, he did eventually make it clear that he expected German vessels to defend themselves if they were attacked by American vessels.

In this section, Shirer takes a closer look at Japan's interests in the war, and examines the reasoning behind the Pacific nation's final decision to attack the U.S. rather than Britain.
Japan felt it had to take out the U.S. fleet in its backyard (Pearl Harbor) before it could take on any attack against Russia or Britain, as Hitler had hoped.
Also, Japan was interested in expanding its empire into British and Dutch-held areas of the South Pacific—another reason to consider attacking the U.S. fleet in Hawaii.
The Japanese didn't tell Germany that a carrier fleet was headed towards Pearl Harbor on November 25. The Americans had some idea that Japan was cooking up something, because they had been able to decipher Japanese codes and could translate the communications. But they didn't know what or when.
Secretary of State Cordell Hull, who'd been trying to negotiate agreements with Japan, went to the White House to warn the War Council about the possibility of a surprise attack.
Meanwhile, the Japanese wanted reassurances from Hitler that if they did get involved in a war with the United States, Germany would enter the war as well. They got them.

The Nazis waffled as they considered whether or not to put their reassurances to Japan in writing.
Limited—and in some cases downright faulty—naval intelligence kept the Americans in the dark about the fleet that was waiting just 300 miles from their coast.
The British Admiralty told the U.S. they'd see a large Japanese fleet heading eastward, but they assumed it was after Thailand or Malaya.
Roosevelt cabled the Japanese Emperor not to provoke an "unthinkable" situation.
But as Roosevelt read the latest deciphered communications from Japanese Foreign Minister Togo, he acknowledged, "This means war."

The attack at Pearl Harbor surprised the Germans as much as it did the Americans.
At this point, the Nazi agreement to join Japan hadn't yet been formally signed.
Hitler didn't declare war on the U.S. right away, although he did give orders for the navy to attack American warships whenever they spotted them.
Hitler's decisions were the result of a huge underestimation of America's military strength, and a correspondingly huge overestimation of Japan's.
Back in the U.S., Roosevelt didn't declare war on Germany and Italy just yet.
Shirer thinks that it would have been hard for the President to get Congress to agree to fight a war on two fronts.
Consumed with hatred for the U.S., which he considered a mongrel, decaying state filled with Jews and blacks, Hitler was convinced of victory against them.
Afraid that the U.S. would declare war first, he prepared his announcement.

Hitler made a speech in the Reichstag on December 11, 1941, mostly devoted to demonizing Roosevelt, claiming that he provoked war to cover up the failure of his New Deal policy. He blamed Roosevelt and the Jews for starting a world war.
Hitler was counting on those elements in American society that had also opposed Roosevelt and his policies.
He didn't realize that after the bombing at Pearl Harbor, the nation was united in their support of their country like never before.
Ribbentrop called in the American chargé d'affaires in Berlin, read him the declaration of war, and sent him packing back to the U.S.
Hitler and his top Army and Navy brass had to rethink their plans as they came to terms with the fact that a powerful new enemy had entered the war. Would the U.S. attack Germany and Italy?
But they figured that the U.S. would be tied up in the South Pacific for the time being, so they didn't give it all that much attention.