United Kingdom declaration of war on Japan

Last updated

The government of the United Kingdom declared war on the Empire of Japan on 8 December 1941, following the Japanese attacks on British Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong on the previous day (same day Malaya and Hong Kong time) as well as in response to the bombing of the US fleet at Pearl Harbor.

Contents

Background

The United Kingdom declared war on Nazi Germany on September 3, 1939 two days after the outbreak of war in Europe. The Empire of Japan and Nazi Germany had signed the Anti-Comintern Pact in 1936, to counter the perceived threat of the communism of the Soviet Union. During negotiations with the administration of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had promised to declare war "within the hour" of a Japanese attack on the United States. [1]

On 7/8 December 1941, Japan attacked British and American territories in Southeast Asia and the Central Pacific with near-simultaneous offensives including an attack on the US fleet at Pearl Harbor. [2]

Decision and communication

News of the attack on Pearl Harbor reached London first. Realizing that President Roosevelt would go through the formal process of asking the United States Congress for a declaration of war, Churchill began making preparations to deliver the UK's own declaration of war immediately after Congress had formally declared war. After learning British territory had also been attacked, the British Prime Minister decided there was no need to wait for Congress to act and promptly summoned the Japanese Ambassador to Britain.

The British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Anthony Eden, was in transit to Moscow at the time, so Churchill was in charge of the Foreign Office. Churchill instructed the British Ambassador to Japan to inform the Japanese government that a state of war exists between the two countries and drafted a letter to the Ambassador of Japan to the United Kingdom to inform him of this. Of the letter, Churchill later wrote: "Some people did not like this ceremonial style. But after all when you have to kill a man it costs nothing to be polite." [3]

The United Kingdom declared war on Japan nine hours before the U.S. The earlier declaration by the UK was due to the Japanese attacks on the British colonies of Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong, and also due to the fact that the British did not have the American constitutional tradition of requiring the consent of its own national legislature to declare war - the British cabinet could declare war without consulting Parliament, and therefore could act more quickly. [1]

Text of Churchill's letter

The text of his letter to the Japanese Ambassador was as follows:

Sir,

On the evening of December 7th His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom learned that Japanese forces without previous warning either in the form of a declaration of war or of an ultimatum with a conditional declaration of war had attempted a landing on the coast of Malaya and bombed Singapore and Hong Kong.

In view of these wanton acts of unprovoked aggression committed in flagrant violation of International Law and particularly of Article I of the Third Hague Convention relative to the opening of hostilities, to which both Japan and the United Kingdom are parties, His Majesty's Ambassador at Tokyo has been instructed to inform the Imperial Japanese Government in the name of His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom that a state of war exists between our two countries.

I have the honour to be, with high consideration,

Sir,
Your obedient servant,
Winston S. Churchill [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Attack on Pearl Harbor</span> 1941 surprise attack by Japan on the US military base in Hawaii

The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the American naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii, just before 8:00 a.m. on Sunday, December 7, 1941. The United States was a neutral country at the time; the attack led the U.S. to formally enter World War II on the side of the Allies the following day. The Japanese military leadership referred to the attack as the Hawaii Operation and Operation AI, and as Operation Z during its planning.

The Hull note, officially the Outline of Proposed Basis for Agreement Between the United States and Japan, was the final proposal delivered to the Empire of Japan by the United States of America before the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Japanese declaration of war. The note, delivered on November 26, 1941, is named for Secretary of State Cordell Hull. It was the diplomatic culmination of a series of events leading to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Notably, its text repeats previous American demands for Japan to withdraw from China and from French Indochina. No further American proposals were made before the attack on Pearl Harbor, as the US government had received intelligence that Japan was preparing an invasion of Thailand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1941 in Canada</span> Canada-related events during the year of 1941

Events from the year 1941 in Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South-East Asian theatre of World War II</span> Campaigns of the Pacific War in Southeast Asia

The South-East Asian Theatre of World War II consisted of the campaigns of the Pacific War in the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Indochina, Burma, India, Malaya and Singapore between 1941 and 1945.

The First Washington Conference, also known as the Arcadia Conference, was held in Washington, D.C., from December 22, 1941, to January 14, 1942. President Roosevelt of the United States and Prime Minister Churchill of the United Kingdom attended the conference, where they discussed a future United Nations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allies of World War II</span> Grouping of the victorious countries of the war

The Allies, formally referred to as the United Nations from 1942, were an international military coalition formed during World War II (1939–1945) to oppose the Axis powers, led by Nazi Germany, the Empire of Japan, and the Kingdom of Italy. Its principal members by the end of 1941 were the "Big Four" - United Kingdom, United States, Soviet Union, and China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Japanese invasion of Thailand</span> 1941 brief attempt at invading Thailand by Imperial Japan

The Japanese invasion of Thailand occurred on 8 December 1941. It was briefly fought between the Kingdom of Thailand and the Empire of Japan. Despite fierce fighting in Southern Thailand, the fighting lasted only five hours before ending in a ceasefire. Thailand and Japan then formed an alliance making Thailand part of the Axis alliance until the end of World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">December 1941</span> Month of 1941

The following events occurred in December 1941:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Consequences of the attack on Pearl Harbor</span>

Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor took place on December 7, 1941. The United States military suffered 19 ships damaged or sunk, and 2,403 people were killed. Its most significant consequence was the entrance of the United States into World War II. The US had previously been officially neutral but subsequently entered the Pacific War, and after Italy's declaration of war and Germany's declaration of war shortly after the attack, the Battle of the Atlantic and the European theatre of war. Following the attack, the US interned 120,000 Japanese Americans, 11,000 German Americans, and 3,000 Italian Americans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Japanese declaration of war on the United States and the British Empire</span> War declaration

The Imperial edict of declaration of war by the Empire of Japan on the United States and the British Empire was published on December 8, 1941, 7.5 hours after Japanese forces started an attack on the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor and attacks on British forces in Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong. The declaration of war was printed on the front page of all Japanese newspapers' evening editions on December 8. The document was subsequently printed again on the eighth day of each month throughout the war, to re-affirm the resolve for the war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australian home front during World War II</span> History of domestic conditions of Australia during World War II

Although most Australian civilians lived far from the front line, the Australian home front during World War II played a significant role in the Allied victory and led to permanent changes to Australian society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Empire in World War II</span> Participation of British Empire and Commonwealth in World War II

When the United Kingdom declared war on Nazi Germany in September 1939 at the start of World War II, it controlled to varying degrees numerous crown colonies, protectorates, and India. It also maintained unique political ties to four of the five independent Dominions—Australia, Canada, South Africa, and New Zealand—as co-members of the then "British Commonwealth". In 1939 the British Empire and the Commonwealth together comprised a global power, with direct or de facto political and economic control of 25% of the world's population, and of 30% of its land mass.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States declaration of war on Japan</span> 1941 US declaration of war in response to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor

On December 8, 1941 at 12:30 PM ET the United States Congress declared war, on the Empire of Japan in response to its surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and subsequent declaration of war the prior day. The Joint Resolution Declaring that a state of war exists between the Imperial Government of Japan and the Government and the people of the United States and making provisions to prosecute the same was formulated an hour after the Infamy Speech of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Following the U.S. declaration, Japan's allies, Germany and Italy, declared war on the United States, bringing the United States fully into World War II. The Japanese government had originally intended to deliver the declaration thirty minutes before the attack, but the Japanese embassy in Washington took too long to decode the 5,000-word document.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Singapore strategy</span> Defence policy of the British Empire (1919–1941)

The Singapore strategy was a naval defence policy of the United Kingdom that evolved in a series of war plans from 1919 to 1941. It aimed to deter aggression by Japan by providing a base for a fleet of the Royal Navy in the Far East, able to intercept and defeat a Japanese force heading south towards India or Australia. To be effective it required a well-equipped base. Singapore, at the eastern end of the Strait of Malacca, was chosen in 1919 as the location of this base; work continued on this naval base and its defences over the next two decades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Curtin government</span>

The Curtin government was the federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister John Curtin. It was made up of members of the Australian Labor Party in the Australian Parliament from 1941 to 1945.

A declaration of war by Canada is a formal declaration issued by the Government of Canada indicating that a state of war exists between Canada and another nation. It is an exercise of the royal prerogative on the constitutional advice of the ministers of the Crown in Cabinet and does not require the direct approval of the Parliament of Canada, though such can be sought by the government. Since gaining the authority to declare war as a consequence of the Statute of Westminster, 1931, Canada has done so only during the Second World War.

The diplomatic history of World War II includes the major foreign policies and interactions inside the opposing coalitions, the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers, between 1939 and 1945.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">German declaration of war against the United States</span> 1941 German war declaration in response to alleged provocations from 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. 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.

The following is a timeline of the first premiership of Winston Churchill, who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. Churchill served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the bulk of World War II. His speeches and radio broadcasts helped inspire British resistance, especially during the difficult days of 1940–41 when the British Commonwealth and Empire stood almost alone in its active opposition to Nazi Germany. He led Britain as Prime Minister until victory over Nazi Germany had been secured.

Japan during World War II refers to the history of the Empire of Japan during World War II. This includes the invasion of the Republic of China, the annexation of French Indochina and the subsequent invasion of British India, the Pacific War and the surrender of Japan.

References

  1. 1 2 Staff (15 December 1941) "The U.S. At War, The Last Stage" Time
  2. Wohlstetter 1962 , pp. 341–43.
  3. Churchill, Winston S., The Second World War, Vol. 3: The Grand Alliance. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston (1950): 611. Also quoted in LIFE magazine 27 sep 1954.
  4. Mr. Churchill, The Prime Minister (8 December 1941). "PRIME MINISTER'S DECLARATION.". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) . Vol. 376. House of Commons. col. 1358–1359.

Sources