Why were Japan and Germany allies in World War II?
Germany wanted to neutralize any threats from other powerful countries. Hitler first made Stalin sign a neutrality treaty (I don’t know if ‘treaty’ is the right term) and then invaded the Soviet Union. By siding with Japan, Germany could take France and the Netherlands, and they hoped Britain. Japan could take French Indochina and the East Indies; and British territories like Burma and Singapore and probably if the Germans invaded Britain, all of the British Empire, then stretching across the globe could be divided between the two, at least at first. I imagine Hitler thought he could eventually conquer Japan and Japanese held places for himself, but it would be a while. By getting America ‘busy’ in the Pacific, Germany also thought we would not have the means to fight them in Europe. I have heard that before the alliance with Japan, Hitler had condemned Asians like he did other races. But after Japan became his ally, the Japanese were called “Yellow Aryans”.
