I the Japanese had never attacked Pearl Harbor would we have ever joined the war?

Question

We were pretty hesitant to join the war from what I remember and it was only after Pearl that we did join. So what would have happened if the Japanese never attacked Pearl Harbor?

Answer 1

It is possible if the Japanese hadn't attacked, we might have stayed neutral, but we were helping England with Lend Lease.

Without the US, it is possible England would have lost to Germany.

Answer 2

we probably would've joined a worser war somewhere else...this stupid country will be punished one day..always starting stuff..Iraq is God's land

Answer 3

yeah, Pearl Harbor was a trigger. the Japanese would have invaded the Philipinnes as it was in their plan. also there was too much pressure from the UK and the USSR.

Answer 4

YES IF NOT PEARL HARBOR THEN SOMETHING ELSE. THE POWERS THAT BE WERE DETERMINED.

Answer 5

You apparently haven't studied the history of the war. Not only had the US Navy and Germany's Kriegsmarine been shooting at each other clandestinely for months, but the American oil embargo meant that Japan only had two or three months' oil reserves at hand and had to take the Dutch oil fields in the southwest Pacific, and the US Pacific Fleet had been moved from home to Pearl precisely to sail against the forced invasion. Moreover, a couple of weeks BEFORE the Pearl Harbor attack, General Marshall gave a secret briefing to select members of the Washington press corps in which he outlined the US strategy in the war against Japan. The general public may have been oblivious, but the leadership all knew the war was coming, and knew that it had to be in December, or at least before March at the very latest. And this is all well-documented, not some oddball conspiracy theory.

Answer 6

Soviet Union would have captured the entire mainland europe.

Japanese would have had control over most of Asia.

Answer 7

In all matters of this grave importance, destiny has already been determined. If not Pearl Harbor, then something else.

Answer 8

We probably would've gotten into it somehow. If they hadn't attacked Pearl Harbor, they would've eventually attacked elsewhere, like California or somewhere I think.

Answer 9

If not for Pearl Harbor, then the US would not have been involved in the war...in the Pacific.  In Europe, likely the US would repeat her role in WWI (It is very hard to stay neutral in a global conflict), that is, entering the fray late in the Western front.  It's hard to imagine the Allies against Germany wouldn't win this one.

As for Japan?  Remember that she attacked Pearl Harbor in the hopes of getting the US to drop her embargo of Japan, as she was already running out of material resources for the war - Her steel industry, especially, being very dependent on the US.  The fanatic Japanese war machine would probably continue until she found herself over-extended, leading to a long and costly war in China---Probably, lasting over a decade; with resource-poor Japan the eventual loser.

Answer 10

It might have taken considerably longer, but I don't doubt we would have ended up in the war anyway.  The US was on a collision course with Japan over its invasion of China, and the US Navy had been trading shots with the German Kriegsmarine for quite some time when Pearl Harbor happened.  The Lend_Lease act had placed us on a collision course with Germany, as well, and since the Germans were not pretending to respect the neutrality of US shipping, it seems to me that it was only a matter of time.

Answer 11

we would have ended up in it anyway. germany was raising to much havoc in europe...country after coutry was falling under german control. as far as the soviet union goes, we were also supplying them with materials. then they tried to take the u.k. you've also got to remember that german u-boats were operating up and down the east coast....sinking ships.

even if japan hadn't attacked pearl harbor, look at how many countries they had invaded and occupied or were trying to. it really wasn't a matter of would we have entered the war...it was more of when were we going to.

Answer 12

Although the isolationists held the sway of fighting in this war, the people were turning toward the English who  were desperately holding their own and were making strides in North Africa. But the British were basically by themselves and the Russians were defending their homeland aagainst the German war machine that the US would have eventually enter the war so our greatest ally, Britain would not have to go it alone any longer.

Answer 13

Yes. The government felt the need to enter the war and aid the allies, yet they couldn't for fear of what the American people would say. Look at the Lend-Lease Act for example. We were helping the Allies because we felt that they were on the right side, but we didn't directly enter the war. Pearl Harbor was the catalyst that allowed us to declare war and have the support of the peaople at the same time.

Pearl Harbor was just the first attack on America by the Japanese. There were a number of other assaults that go unnoticed, yet they could have also been the trigger for us entering the war. Examples of other attacks on America are the Ellwood Shelling, the Battle of the Aleutian Islands, the Estevan Point lighthouse attack, the Fort Stevens attack, the Lookout air raid, and Japanese fireballoons.