In WW2, 8 nations formally declared war on the United States *before* the US formally declared on them. I have a question about the American response.

by NortheastPhilly

Nations that declared war on us first: (I leave Japan out because our formal declaration, while in response to an obvious act of war, was technically the first official declaration)

  1. Nazi Germany

  2. Italy

  3. Romania

  4. Bulgaria

  5. Hungary

  6. Croatia

  7. Albania

  8. The Philippines

Of those 8 nations, we responded by declaring war on 5 of them: Germany, Italy, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary

Are there particular reasons why we didn’t declare war on the other 3?

jar2010

Just as an added question: I believe FDR wanted to declare war on Japan for obvious reasons. So he could have used the Philippines declaring war on the US as an excuse to declare war on Japan without waiting for Pearl Harbor to happen?