Germany has failed its offensive on Russia, Japan is steadily being pushed back through the islands by the US, and the Italians have failed in Africa, now depending entirely on Hitler.
Was there actually any way Hitler could have come back from this? Seems pretty inevitable that he's going to be screwed sooner or later. Anything he could have done at this point in hindsight?
No, the Axis never had a realistic chance of winning. It's a miracle the war lasted more than 2 years
No, not at all. He can't even realistically sue for peace, since he's burnt so many bridges getting to where he is.
Probably the best thing he could do if you're talking late 42 or onward is to allow a coup to depose and kill him, and let that government try to surrender, they might have more credibility than he himself would.
or allow himself to be taken alive like someone who's not a total bitch
Yeah I suppose. Getting his hands into Europe as he did was kind of ridiculous in the first place.
What if he was successful on the Russian front? (somehow). Still a slow, steady burn to defeat? I suppose little of it matters after Japan brought the US into things though. Doesn't matter how much shit you lose if your production is that insanely good
That's an interesting idea, has anyone ever actually done that? It's definitely a cop-out but if you actually give a crap about your country over your pride then you'd be doing them a big favour
No, because he's a German and like a German he failed grasp nuanced and complex concepts, and in Hitlers context it was geopolitics.
Meant for
Not declaring war on the US when Japan sperged out at Pearl Harbor would have helped. Honestly though, the US would have declared war on Germany sooner or later. If anything one thing Hitler could have done would be to demand that Japan stop starting shit in the Pacific, especially with an industrial giant like the US.
A successful victory on the Eastern Front would have changed a bit but not much. You take down one giant and you have another gearing up to swing at you not to mention his other friends backing him up.
magically invent nuclear weapons right before the US starts dropping them.
The Axis, all three of them, could only win by lightning strikes and quick battles of decisive victory. Poland, France, Denmark, Norway, Yugoslavia, Singapore, Somaliland, Java and Indonesia all fell due to this.
Pearl Harbour, Barbarossa, Battle of Britain and Operazion E were all attempts at this. But when the Brits, Russians and Americans didn't sue for peace and instead opted to fight it out... The Axis were lost.
Finland
>but if you actually give a crap about your country over your pride
Well, that leaves out Hitler
This
It's not common knowledge but the US only declared war on Japan after Japan attacked them. Only then Germany declared war on the US in hopes of getting closer to Japan and perhaps get them to attack the soviets.
I'm not sure if the US would have declared war on Germany or Italy to be honest. It would have kind of made them look like an aggressor and drag them into a war they did not want to be in without any reason. Sure they were helping the british and the soviets but still.
Maybe they could have used some reason about germany sinking US ships in the atlantic but to declare a war but i don't know.
True, Germany was not prepared for a long term war. When the UK declared war on them in 1939 they immedietly switched to war economy and rationing while normal production continued in Germany well into the early 1940s, only then they switched to war economy and producing more supplies for the war.
Roman Emperor Otho commited suicide during a civil war between two emperors and told his inner circle before the act:
"It is far more just to perish one for all, than many for one"
The problem is that as long as Hitler is personally around, there are going to be worries that he's directing things even from a prison cell to his subordinates who are still loyal to him. I imagine it really will take a suicide.
So why didn't the japs attack the USSR in 41'?
Khalkhin Gol really fucked them up and it was fresh on their minds
Also Japan was NOT fit for an offensive into bloody Siberia, they invested too much in Naval
They were balls deep in China and they had no way of easily pulling out.
Who let AlternateHistoryHub in here?
Japan discarded plans of a Soviet invasion after being defeated by them in 1939. They also didn't have the resources (especially oil) and the manpower to open up another front.
did you get your entire education from christopher nolan
A certain battle and they didn't have the resources when they were still attacking China.
Why? So they could take a bunch of frozen uninhabited wilderness without anything there but a bunch of UNDISCOVERED oil and reindeer, while they ran out of oil for their navy and air force under the American blockade?
American embargo*
That is wrong, I would advise reading The Wages of Destruction which is freely available online somewhere. War rationing started in Germany when the war began, quite savagely (and material was already being constricted even before the war began due to limitations on foreign imports), and they were pouring investment into appropriate military industries for a long term battle. The idea of a delayed mobilization for morale reasons is incorrect and was spread by faulty archival research in the immediate post-war era.
It is, however, true for Italy which did not enter a war economy until much later after it declared war. If at all.