I don’t think the Japanese had a choice about going to war with the US.
The embargo on oil and scrap steel was absolutely devastating to the Japanese economy. They needed to grab resources like oil, rubber, and iron, and force us to end the embargo.
It just didn’t go very well for them. The US had more industry on just the West Coast than existed in all of Japan, and the Japanese never managed to exploit their conquests very well.
When Britain also declared War on Japan, now the US was freed up to give Britain all the supplies she needed, both for Europe and Asia.
Hitler knew that for all intents and purposes, when the US declared war on Japan, it pretty much was a declaration of War on Germany.
Even had Hitler not declared war on the US, it only would have been a matter of time before Germany sunk a US vessel, providing the Casus Belli for the US to declare war on Germany.
[I don’t think the Japanese had a choice about going to war with the US.
The embargo on oil and scrap steel was absolutely devastating to the Japanese economy. They needed to grab resources like oil, rubber, and iron, and force us to end the embargo.
It just didn’t go very well for them. The US had more industry on just the West Coast than existed in all of Japan, and the Japanese never managed to exploit their conquests very well.]