I'm Indy Neidell and this is Out of the Foxholes, where I sit her..
Just like Ron Burgundy, if it says it on the teleprompter, I read it on the Teleprompter.
This is out of the Foxholes, where I sit her in the chair of Infinite Knowledge and answer all your questions
about the second world war.
Alii Pro asks:
How were relations between Japan and America
doing in 1939?
America had looked on cautiously when Japan
began heavily rearming and then China in the
1930s.
We made a B2W video about this; a link is
in the description.
Very briefly though: America is isolationist,
and does pretty much nothing when Japan withdraws
from disarmament deals, heavily rearms her
navy, or initiates Sino-Japanese war.
In 1937, though, Japan bombs the gunboat USS
Panay in China, causing outrage in America.
However, the United States still trades heavily
with Japan.
80% of Japanese imports come from America,
and these are major war resources like metal
and oil.
In 1939, the US slowly drops its isolationist
position.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt introduces
the cash-and-carry system for selling arms
to Britain, and US public opinion slowly turns
in the Allies' favor as the war gets going.
Roosevelt has long wished to take action against
Japan, and now he does.
He announces that America is pulling out of
their 1911 trade agreement.
The two nations' already chilly relationship
reach a new low.
Roosevelt's action sends a very clear signal:
Pull out of China or face further trade restrictions
or even a boycott.
Japan is by this time so committed in China
that there's no way they will pull out.
Instead, they start looking south for other
means of raw materials.
When the US announces a partial embargo on
shipments of oil, gasoline, and metals in
1940, Japan takes action.
They occupy Vichy French Indochina and consider
a move against the Dutch East Indies- a big
oil producer.
America is infuriated.
Japanese leaders, realizing more and more
that they cannot depend on American imports
to fuel their war effort, begins making plans
to take those resources by force.
Also realizing that such actions would probably
be straw that broke the camel's back in their
chilly relationship with US, they simultaneously
begin making plans for an attack on Pearl
Harbor.
Rui Gaspar
What were both sides doing to try and make
Portugal enter the war?
In September 1939, Portugal is ruled by the
conservative nationalist António de Oliveira
Salazar.
He is part of the Estado Novo-regime – an
authoritarian regime that has ruled Portugal
since 1933.
Salazar walks a tight line.
On the one hand, he is bound to Britain in
the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance.
This alliance dates back to 1374 and is the
oldest in the world, but he also opposes entering
the war after the dreadful consequences of
the Portuguese entry into the first.
Salazar declares Portuguese neutrality on
September 5th, 1939 since Britain do not request
Portuguese aid.
It is unknown what would have happened had
the British asked for Portuguese assistance.
Still, the way things played out, Salazar
is fully committed to neutrality, and the
British are fine with this.
Salazer is in fact so committed to neutrality,
that he signs the Pacto Iberico with Franco's
Spain.
That pact promotes cooperation and neutrality
on the Iberian Peninsula.
It is used by Francisco Franco to thwart off
German attempts for a Spanish entry into the
war.
By 1940, Portugal begins leaning a bit towards
the Allied camp.
Salazar allows Gibraltar-ian refugees to be
housed on Madeira.
Later in the war, Portuguese aircraft from
the Azores will also conduct flights in defense
of Allied shipping convoys.
Any military action is still way out of the
picture, and somewhat refreshingly, both the
Allied and Axis camps seem to respect this.
No side makes any real requests for a Portuguese
entry into the war, and Portugal enjoys a
peaceful neutrality trading heavily with both
Britain and Germany.
Thalis Kalapothakos
To what extent did the Kriegsmarine match
the Royal Navy?
In 1935, in a British effort to appease the
rearming Nazi Germany, British FM Sir Samuel
Hoare signs the Anglo-German Naval Treaty.
This treaty regulates the size of the newly
created Kriegsmarine in terms of total tonnage
to be max 35% of the Royal Navy.
A separate clause accepts the German U-boat
fleet to be 45% of the British one.
Adolf Hitler actually adheres to this treaty
right up until late 1938 when he decides that
war with Britain and France is coming and
the Kriegsmarine should be prepared and rearmed,
same as the Wehrmacht and the Luftwaffe.
Hitler and Grand Admiral Erich Raeder design
and approve a plan for a large shipbuilding
program to create a massive surface fleet
by 1944.
Important side note here: Raeder is not a
big fan of U-boats, thinking them obsolete
and prefers larger surface ships, so U-boat
construction does not feature heavily in his
shipbuilding program.
Nevertheless, when war breaks out in September
1939, the Kriegsmarine is woefully underprepared
compared to the two other service branches.
This is the state of the Kriegsmarine on the
outbreak of war: They have two battleships,
three pocket battleships, seven cruisers,
21 destroyers, 12 torpedo-boats and 57 U-boats.
They do not have any aircraft carriers.
So, the Kriegsmarine is dwarfed by the Royal
Navy: 15 battleships and pocket battleships,
seven aircraft carriers, 66 cruisers, 184
destroyers and 60 submarines.
Raeder has an advantage, though.
While the Kriegsmarine is more or less united
in Northern Germany, the Royal Navy is spread
thin throughout the world, protecting colonies,
trade routes and supply convoys.
A large part of it is in the Far East to protect
against potential Japanese aggression; another
is in the Mediterranean.
Nevertheless, the Royal Navy is a real force
to be reckoned with, protecting the Channel
from any German attacks.
The British also have the various Commonwealth
navies around the world to help them out.
In 1940 and 1941, large battleships like the
Bismarck and Tirpitz as well as other warships
are laid down, but German Naval High Command
realizes they cannot hope to match the enormous
Royal Navy.
Instead, they turn towards U-boat building
in an attempt to cut off the Allied supply
routes.
We shall see how this works out.
Well, that is it for today.
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