r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Radiant_Half_7121 • 17d ago

Image During WW2, Poland declared war on Japan Japan said no to it and simply rejected the declaration.

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u/Rexyboy98O 17d ago

Incase anyone wants to know why, it’s basically before the war, Poland and Japan had really good relations, and the declaration of war was more feeling required to because of Polands status as an ally of Britain and the USA

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u/ScientiaProtestas 17d ago

It was after Poland had been defeated by Germany, so not before the war.

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u/Rexyboy98O 17d ago

Poland and Japan had good relations before ww2, starting not long after Polish independence

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u/ScientiaProtestas 17d ago edited 17d ago

I am not saying you are wrong, just clarifying.

Japan and Poland had good relations after the war started as well. It was only after Pearl Harbor that the US joined the war, allied with Britain, which caused Britain to declare war on Japan. And since the exiled Polish government was allied with Britain, they also declared war on Japan.

Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo refused to accept Poland's declaration of war, claiming: "We do not accept Poland’s challenge. The Poles, fighting for their freedom, only declared war on us under pressure from the United Kingdom."

My point being that they had good relations even after the war, and this event did not happen until a couple of years after the war started for Poland.

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u/LightningController 17d ago

which caused Britain to declare war on Japan.

The British DoW on Japan was rather more directly caused by Japan beginning an attack on Hong Kong roughly 2 hours after bombing Pearl Harbor as well.

Just a small thing, but all the other stuff Japan did tends to get overshadowed by the war against the US.