How Germany could have won WW2!
They couldn’t! But in this article, I will show the most common assumption on how the Nazis could have won the second world war. Please be sure not to take my statements as the truth! This kind of history is highly contested because every historian has a different attempt at how certain events would have changed the course of history. So make your own opinion while reading this and let me know if you disagree or agree with something!
Hitler should have listened to his generals!
This theory assumes two things: First, that Hitler did not listen to his generals which simply wasn’t the case. And second that those decisions would have changed the course of the war. In reality, Hitler actually either listened to his generals or when he made his own decisions, actually were right. And I’m definitely not here to defend the pure evil! At the eastern campaign, Hitler’s generals hardly demanded to focus on Moscow, thinking that this would have made the Soviets capitulate. On the other side, the Caucasus was Hitler’s focus, which makes much more sense, when keeping the German Oil issues in mind. Of course, Hitler made many bad decisions, but if he only had listened to his generals, it would not have changed the outcome of the war.
Just take Moscow!
Many of Hitler’s generals believed in this assumption. This theory assumes that Germany would have the capabilities of taking the Capital, which they didn’t since the Third Reich tried to capture the city. And that the conquest would have led to a Soviet capitulation. But the history shows that this is not the case. When Napoleon tried to invade Russia in 1812 he faced similar Problems as the Germans in 1942. The Russians even used the same tactics of burned ground, leaving the enemy with no supplies. And when Napoleon managed to capture Moscow … the Russians just kept withdrawing. And yes I said withdrawing. The Russian army was much smaller than the french, and the few great battles they lost against Napoleon. Russia’s geography is a weapon. But also from an Ideological perspective, the loss of Moscow would not have led to a capitulation of the Soviet Union. Stalin was unscrupulous and did not care about losses either in the military or the civilian population. He refused to evacuate civilians from contested cities, so the Red Army had more reasons to fight. An ongoing war with the Soviet Union would probably be like in Germany in 1945, fighting till the bitter end. The problem was that Germany compared the eastern campaign with the war against France: That the loss of the capital would lead to the capitulation.
Then never attack the Soviet Union!
Even though this would have changed the course of history drastically, because in this case, Germany would have probably be able to defend an Allied invasion better than in 1944, Germany would still not be able to stand against the US economy. In reality, even the United Kingdom outperformed Germany in the production of Airplanes. Germany also could not just build more Airplanes or tanks because of their oil and manpower shortages, which could not be balanced by trade with the Soviet Union. So the battle of air supremacy would be lost by Germany. The following course of history would be similar to reality. The Allies would have razed Germany to the ground, destroying the economy and having high civilian and military losses. It was also very unlikely to not attack Russia from an Ideological perspective. Hitler saw Bolschvism as something evil, made by the Jewish. Also the creation of “Lebensraum” was an important point of the NS ideology. But even more important are the resource shortages, playing an important role in the war against the Allies. As I already mentioned, even if the Germans somehow outproduced the Allies, there would not have been enough oil or manpower to operate them. So if the Germans never attacked the Soviet Union the war definitely would have gone longer, but Germany still would have lost due to their lacking industry and resource shortages.
Okay then do not declare war on The US!
I think it is obvious that sooner or later the United States would have declared war on Germany. They have also kind of been part of the war since 1941, because they supported Great Britain and the Soviet Union with a lend-lease, and gave them loans. So it is very unlikely, that the USA would not have been part of the European war without the German declaration of war. But let’s imagine that somehow the United States fully keep their policy of isolation, not even giving lend leases to Great Britain or the Soviet Union. Surely this would have delayed the outcome of the war since the lend leases played an important role especially for the Soviets. The USA sent over 14.000 airplanes and more than 7.000 tanks to the Soviet Union. But the lend leases are not the reason why Germany lost the war. Russia would still outperform Germany in production, resources, and manpower. So the war without the USA would definitely be longer and would be connected to higher losses especially on the Soviet side, but Germany definitely would still have lost the war they started in 1939.
The conclusion
Thinking about alternative history is very interesting and fun, but the problem is that no one knows how history would have changed by a different event. You make more and more assumptions that rely on the previous assumption. What if the Germans never attacked the Soviet Union. And what if they also didn’t declare war on the US, until you basically made a fanfiction. You can only make guesses for a very short time because history has so many impacts and ways how it could change. I also only took a very small amount of the different theories. One can also argue what would have happened if Japan would have fought on the Axis side or how the “Wunderwaffen” could have changed the outcome of the war or what would have happened if the Germans invaded Great Britain. Let me know if I should do another part. Also please do not take this article for scientific use, because I only took assumptions that I thought are most likable to happen. This category of history is highly contested. I also had to break most of the aspects down. Please let me know if I should pick up some of the points and explain them in more detail. Thank you for your time and have an amazing day!
