The day Argentina declared war on the Axis

Late. Better late than never (some said). “Too little, too late,” as one foreign correspondent summed it up. Exactly 80 years ago this week, the day came and Argentina finally took a stand in the great global conflict by declaring war on the Axis, who at that stage were almost defeated.

On March 27 of the year in which the country made a historic turnaround, de facto president Edelmiro Farrell signed the accord that 20 Latin American countries inked at Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City. Argentina was now at a “state of war” with the bloc that Nazi Germany, fascist Italy and the Empire of Japan had created during World War II.

These were times in which the United States was overtaking the United Kingdom in terms of political and economic hegemony. Argentina had not yet adjusted to the new situation. It had defied the northern power by not joining the side of the Allies when the US entered the conflict in full force after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Nor was it whimsical. The main factor forcing neutrality was the pressure exerted by the British to secure Argentine exports to the UK during the conflict. At the time, the European power depended on Argentina for 40 per cent of its total meat supply.

Argentina had been left alone in the Americas. Some 20 nations had severed relations with the Axis and seven of them had declared war on it in the middle of the conflict.

With the new regime installed after the 1943 coup, a policy of neutrality was maintained. It was not until the following year, when isolation was no longer tenable, that then-president Pedro Ramírez broke formal ties with the Axis countries.

But Argentina remained outside a war in which “except for a few fanatical ‘ally-philes,’ nobody wanted Argentina to get involved,” as historian Félix Luna wrote in his book El 45. For the author, neutrality “was purely juridical” because “all Argentines had their little hearts set on one side or the other.”

When the outcome of the great struggle was already certain, the decision came. Decree 6945, made public on March 27, 1945, stated that:

Article 1: The Government of the Nation accepts the invitation extended to it by the 20 American republics participating in the Conferencia Interamericana sobre Problemas de la Guerra y de la Paz, and adheres to the Final Act of the same.

Article 2: In order to identify the policy of the Nation with the common policy of the other American Republics and to show solidarity with them in the face of threats or acts of aggression by any country against an American State, a state of war is hereby declared between the Argentine Republic on the one hand, and the Empire of Japan on the other.

Article 3: A state of war is also declared between the Argentine Republic and Germany, in view of the latter’s status as an ally of Japan.

Argentina was thus entitled to participate in the San Francisco Conference, which took place between April and July 1945 and saw the founding of the United Nations.

The nation had suffered from isolation, for example, with the ban on buying US armaments, although the context of the war had led to the creation of the Dirección General de Fabricaciones Militares, headed by General Manuel Savio, with self-sufficiency as its main objective.

One of the figures who most influenced the change in Argentina’s position was Juan Domingo Perón. He saw what was coming and in August 1944, when he was war minister, he promoted the creation of the Consejo Nacional de Posguerra to analyse future scenarios following the global conflict.

Among the things “seen” by Perón was something more concrete. By abandoning neutrality, Argentina was entitled to seize assets and property in the country. This materialised with the formation of the Junta de Vigilancia y Disposición final de la Propiedad Enemiga, which confiscated German- and Japanese-owned companies and banks. 

Later, as the Dirección Nacional de Industrias del Estado, a team would administer a large number of industrial enterprises, many in the petrochemical and pharmaceutical sectors.

Over time, the idea has prevailed that Argentina remained neutral in the war. This was passed down through the generations and it is true that the decision to change its mind at the end of the war was seen by many in a poor light.

In the words of the aforementioned Félix Luna, “mistaken or not, inopportune or not, Argentina’s independent position was a Creole compadrada (“Creole compromise”) that had been maintained for almost five years against the powerful of the world; and that was a source of pride for a country that was in an accelerated process of growth and maturation.”