Prior to Pearl Harbour, USA under Roosevelt repeatedly made known its intention not to fight in the war.
It also shot at German ships unprovoked on two seperate occasions in the summer of '41 and this was the standing policy. Roosevelt was pro-war at a time he could not quite sell the war to the American public; hence this and the Lend-Lease stuff in general.
Roosevelt's views are subject to debate - his discussions with Churchill don't paint him as a resolute pro-war supporter; quite the contrary, on occasions.
USA's position prior to Pearl Harbour (expressed through its governing apparatus), on the other hand, is NOT amenable to controversy.
That's becasue it was clearly established on multiple occasions - USA did not want to enter the war.
Prior to Pearl Harbour, USA under Roosevelt repeatedly made known its intention not to fight in the war.
Even after Pearl Harbour, USA only declared war on Japan, intentionally leaving Germany/etc out of its declaration of war.
It was Hitler who declared war on USA - yet another stupid move on his part.
It is quite likely that, without Pearl Harbour, USA wouldn't have joined the war effort against the Axis.
Yeah, but the claim was Germany would have won the war and that's simply not true. I think the United States was invaluable, but it was through material supplies to the Soviet Union that the push east took place. It might have been delayed a year or two, since the Western Front did put a nail in the coffin, but Germany would not have won. He was facing too many men (USSR) and material (USA).
I did NOT claim that Germany would have won the war without USA entering the battle, Jinglebell JaRock.
I claimed that, without Pearl Harbour, USA, almost certainly, would have stayed out of the war.
As for the claim about Germany not wining even without USA intervention - it is highly debatable.
I think it severely underestimates the strength of the german war machine. England was on the verge of losing its air war, with or without american materiel support. Russia suffered ENOURMOUS losses - in hardware, but especially in irreplaceable personnel.
Without USA entering the war, it's possible, for example, that England would have shortly fallen, enabling the germans to concentrate all their attention on Russia.
And that's only one of a multitude of 'what if' possible scenarios that would end with Germany either winning or achieving a stalemate.
And, of course, USA didn't enter the war to fight tyranny or anything so idealistic. The first years of WW2 more than proved that it put pragmatism above such ideas.
USA entered the war because Japan and then Germany dragged it into the war, overcoming the strong anti-war faction's opposition at home.
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