The speech where Adolf Hitler declared war on the USA, 1941

On December 11, 1941, several days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States declaration of war against the Japanese Empire, Nazi Germany declared war on the United States, in response to what was claimed to be a series of provocations by the United States government when the US was formally neutral during World War II.

The decision to declare war was made almost entirely by Adolf Hitler, without consultation. Hitler had received no advance notice from the Japanese about the attack on Pearl Harbor. Although he and his Foreign Minister Ribbentrop had verbally indicated a willingness to join Japan in war against America however it broke out, Hitler had absolutely no formal treaty obligation to declare war on the United States. Such a treaty had in fact been drafted and circulated in the weeks prior to Pearl Harbor, but it remained unsigned.

The bombing of Pearl Harbor surprised even Germany. Although Hitler had made an oral agreement with his Axis partner Japan that Germany would join a war against the United States, he was uncertain as to how the war would be engaged. Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor answered that question. On December 8, Japanese Ambassador Oshima went to German Foreign Minister von Ribbentrop to nail the Germans down on a formal declaration of war against America. Von Ribbentrop stalled for time; he knew that Germany was under no obligation to do this under the terms of the Tripartite Pact, which promised help if Japan was attacked, but not if Japan was the aggressor. Von Ribbentrop feared that the addition of another antagonist, the United States, would overwhelm the German war effort.

Hitler assumed that war with the United States was inevitable. He was completely right. The USA was neutral in name only at that point and was going to join the war on Britain's side sooner or later. So Hitler decided that the best move would be to declare war on the USA in December 1941 both to show solidarity with the Japanese/strengthen the ties of the Axis and to hit the USA right after their Pacific fleet had been dealt a massive (though crucially not a crippling) blow. What Hitler got wrong (which was the exact same thing that the Japanese high command got wrong) was he completely underestimated the production power of the United States as well as the country's willingness to shift the vast majority of that production over to wartime needs.

Regardless of Hitler's reasons for the declaration, the decision is generally seen as an enormous strategic blunder on his part, as it allowed the United States to enter the European war in support of the United Kingdom and the Allies without much public opposition, while still facing the Japanese threat in the Pacific.

-The speech to the Reichstag was originally planned for December 10, but it was delayed for a day so the German and Italian Embassies in Washington had time to burn their cables.

-Hitler's declaration of war came as a great relief to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who feared the possibility of two parallel disconnected wars (UK and Soviet Union versus Germany in Europe, US versus Japan in the Pacific). With Nazi Germany's declaration against the United States in force, American assistance for Britain in both theaters of war as a full ally was assured.

-The reason Hermann Goering's chair is bigger is because he was Reichstagspresident which means president of the Reichstag. In this position it was his duty to overwatch discussions and such, that's why he's sitting above the others. It is similar to how the US House is set up during State of the Union, with the Speaker and Vice-President (who serves as President of the Senate) sitting behind the President, and in normal days whoever is presiding officer would be seated there. It's a standard for Parliaments and Congresses.

-The eagle background is quite a feat, its sharp edges and predatory posture impose power, discipline, order and fear. Everything Nazi was basically made to impress and especially to intimidate. Selling an image is easier than selling an ideology, especially in the environment Germany was in during that time.

The “armband system” was instituted by the Nazi Party in 1939 at the same time that the political leadership ranks were expanded into their final form. The purpose of the armband system was to denote positional titles within the Nazi Party in contrast to a party member’s political rank.[1]

There were three groupings of armbands, classified as “operational”, “administrative”, and “command”. The operational armbands were used by Nazi Party political leaders on the local and county levels and were worn by those Party leaders directly engaged in implementing Party policies to the public. During World War II, this was most often associated with food rationing, war relief efforts, and civil defense.

The administrative armbands were worn by office staffs across all levels of the party, although mostly were used by the regional staffs of the Gauleiters. The third, and least common of the armbands, were the command armbands worn by the Deputy Gauleiters, Gauleiters, and Reichsleiters.

The Nazi Party armbands were intended for immediate implementation upon the outbreak of World War II in 1939, although it was not until 1943 that the system was in total effect. Even then, photographic evidence reveals it was not uncommon for some political leaders to simply wear the pre-1939 bare swastika armband, with some photographs as late as 1945 revealing political leaders failing to wear the appropriate Nazi positional armband.

By pairing up a wearer’s political collar tabs and armband, it was possible to determine exactly what their position and responsibilities were within the Nazi Party political leadership corps; the armband system was also used to differentiate between Party leaders who may have held the same political ranks, but were entrusted with vastly different responsibilities. For instance, a Hauptbereichsleiter who was serving as the Kreisleiter of a German county, would wear a more elaborate armband than a Nazi Party member of the same rank who was on the administrative staff of a Gauleitung.

On the local level of the Nazi Party, political armbands were often used to denote those Nazis holding the positions of Blockleiter and Zellenleiter. A further political position, unique only to the local level of the Nazi Party, was that of Betriebsobmann which was a type of Shop Steward position. At the top tier of the operational armbands was a unique armband worn by both the Ortsgruppenleiter and the Kreisleiter

Administrative armbands were used across all levels of the Nazi Party, beginning with the position of Mitarbeiter which was a catch all staff position encompassing a wide variety of duties. Mitarbeiter had itself been a political rank prior to 1939, after which time the rank was phased out of the Nazi Party but survived as a political position. Leadership administrative armbands were worn by Office Leaders (Amtsleiters and Stellenleiters), of which there were eight levels of hierarchy. In all, the Nazi political offices, denoted by special armbands, were as follows:

Hilfssachgebiet - Auxiliary Administrative Area
Sachgebiet - Administrative Area
Hilfsstelle - Auxiliary Area
Stelle - Area
Hauptstelle - Head Area
Amtes - Office
Hauptamtes- Head Office
Oberst Amtes - Supreme Office
A leader of a political office was known as a Leiter followed by the office name. For instance, Leiter eines Sachgebietes would indicate the leader of an administrative area office.

Command armbands matched up directly with the positions of Gauleiter and Reichsleiter, each of which was denoted by its own unique armband. The political position of Deputy Gauleiter (Stellvertreter Gauleiter) was phased out as a political rank in 1939 (explaining why there was no “one leaf” Gauleiter insignia during World War II), bur survived as a political armband denoting status as a Deputy Regional Leader.

Display of armbands at link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranks_and_insignia_of_the_Nazi_Party

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