Argh! I can't continue to sit on the sidelines. This whole thread seems to have the opinion that the USA declared war on Germany first. In the OTL that I'm aware of, it was Germany and Italy that declared war on the USA. It seems to me that the best way to keep the USA out of the European war is to not declare war on the USA.
Perhaps I'm merely confused about this thread. It just seems to me that one important point, everyone is arguing about what shade of green the sky is.
dilvish
Germany declared war, yes. That doesn't mean the USA did not want war with Germany. At the very least the USA were doing anything short of war in order to support Britain, and that disregarding the risk of war. Another way of seeing it is that the USA were _provoking_ Germany. The USA were gearing up for war, and a war with a Europe first policy. Assuming no German declaration of war, my bet is a US declaration of war on Germany by mid 1942.