United Kingdom declaration of war on Japan
The government of the United Kingdom declared war on the Empire of Japan on 8 December 1941, following the Japanese attacks on British Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong on the previous day (same day Malaya and Hong Kong time) as well as in response to the bombing of the US fleet at Pearl Harbor.The Empire of Japan and Nazi Germany had signed the Anti-Comintern Pact in 1936, to counter the perceived threat of the communism of the Soviet Union.During negotiations with the administration of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had promised to declare war "within the hour" of a Japanese attack on the United States.[1] The text of his letter to the Japanese Ambassador was as follows: Sir, On the evening of December 7th His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom learned that Japanese forces without previous warning either in the form of a declaration of war or of an ultimatum with a conditional declaration of war had attempted a landing on the coast of Malaya and bombed Singapore and Hong Kong.In view of these wanton acts of unprovoked aggression committed in flagrant violation of International Law and particularly of Article I of the Third Hague Convention relative to the opening of hostilities, to which both Japan and the United Kingdom are parties, His Majesty's Ambassador at Tokyo has been instructed to inform the Imperial Japanese Government in the name of His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom that a state of war exists between our two countries.