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How Hitler could have won WWII?

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herostratus:
Suppose Hitler was utterly calculating, and had a realistic appreciation of how strong the United States was...

Dec 7th 1941: Japanese attack Pearl Harbor
Dec 9th 1941: Hitler denounces Japanese act of agression; pointedly refuses to activate Japanese alliance, which is defensive only.
Dec 12 1941: Hitler expels Japan from the Axis.
Dec 13 1941: Hitler declares war on Japan.

Hmmm.  America is fighting only Japan.  Germany is also fighting Japan, so America and Germany are perforce allies, in the Pacific anyway.  But the UK (and the Netherlands) are also fighting Japan AS WELL AS Germany.  So the USA is allied with both sides in Europe, who are fighting each other... eep.

Odd man out is Russia.  They are fighting only Germany, a nominal US ally.  Hard to see any American lend-lease going there.

What if Hitler offered to send the Tirpitz to the Pacific?

Remember, Roosevelt might have had a hard time getting a declaration of war against Germany as it was.  If all this didn't keep the US off Hitler's back, it would at the least have complicated things...

Mark:
Well, hindsight is 20/20 I guess. . .it certainly would have made the execution of Rainbow a challenge for ths US and thrown a wrench into Churchhill's and Roosevelt's plans.

The game does not allow for that much flexibility.  As you alluded to, Germany very much underestimated the speed and magnitude of the ability of the US to be a major player in the European conflict.  He also assumed the conflict with Japan would consume a much greater share of American resources.  Both allowing him a much more free hand in the Battle of the Atlantic, isolating Great Britain. 

History proved him wrong, but it would have been a tough call at the time - the US had the what, 12th largest army in the world?  Even the Brits at the Arcadia conference had their doubts about the ability of the US to be much of an ally.

I guess both sides made significant blunders that we, with 60 years of history between us would not make.  The game attempts to recreate a few 'certainties' such as war between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia as inevitable as well as war between Japan and the Allies and the entry of the US in the European conflict.

CHNfromG:
Hello,

I am Christoph form Germany and some of you might know me already from the forum at Harrisgamedesign.com.

First of all: Fortunately Hitler didn´t win the war. Could he have won it?
Hardly, because his main goal, as already disclosed in „Mein Kampf“, was conquering territory in the East. He actually never wanted the war against Great Britain due to his racial point of views. And even France was only conquered to prevent a two front war that finally emerged.
Underestimating Churchill and Roosevelt was one thing, but the biggest mistake was underestimating the ressources of the USSR. Even if Hitler wouldn´t have declared war on the US, he still had no chance winning against Stalin. Of course the Red Army was crippled by Stalins purges in 1938, but in 1942 the generals in command had learned their lessons and Stalin too. While Stalins generals got more and more commanding powers (i.e. operation Uranus was not Stalins idea) Hitlers generals were replaced more and more by commanders who followed Hitler blindly. After all, he still was the „bohemian private“ as Hindenburg once put it.  
Already in 1942 the USSR alone outnumbered Germany in production figures of tanks and artillery, let alone man power. Of course it would have taken more time without heavy US lend lease support (without US beef Red Army soldiers would have had to fight with much poorer rations), but the outcome of the war would have been the same.
The US probably would have thrown more resources against Japan, killing them them first while still giving lots of lend lease support to UK. But there would have been no D-Day and no liberation of Europe. Instead pretty much of Europe would have come under soviet influence, replacing Hitlers oppression by Stalins.
Believe me, I am really grateful that it all went the other way. Changing the course of history is part of the fun playing a WWII game.
But remember: there would be no such game if the Art Academy in Vienna would have taken Hitler as a student. Unfortunately he even failed there...

Just some thoughts...

Christoph

Mark:
I wonder. . .
The question is, would have Germany lost the war even if America was not directly involved in the European conflict.
I have gone back and forth on my opinion on this, but I am not entirely sure if it is a foregone conclusion that Germany would have lost and could not have fought the Soviet Union to a standstill.  Its true that the Eastern Front consumed the vast majority of Germany's army, but without US direct involvement it may have been enough to tip the scales. It would have certainly been a closer conflict. It is true that the Soviet Union was outproducing Germany in 1942, but by 1944 Germany was producing many more tanks and planes than the Soviet Union.

Without an invasion of Italy or of France and with no daylight bombing of German industry and the drain that Western airpower had on the Luftwaffe, the Germans may have been able to fight the Soviet Union to a stalemate.  The UK and the Commonwealth, with U.S. lend lease, would have still been a thorn in the side, but would not have poised nearly the same strategic threat than that with the US added to the mix did.  I'm not saying it is a sure thing it would have resulted in some form of armistice, but it would be worth simulating. . . ;D

panzers:
Considering where America was at the time, that is a very interesting scenario, because we all know what happenned after the war... no Korea, no vietnam, no afganastan. However, we could introduce a whole other catagory that way, and, who knows, we could have had a 3rd world war eventually because of american influental dominance over the world as we see it today. They're are way too many people in this world that wishes we would just dissappear. So, looking back, when we had Russia to deal with, we genarally had most of the world on our back...Nnnot the case anymore.
Let it also be known, that I have no doubt that after Japan was gone, the U.s. would have invaded pacific Russia, and we would have easilly defeated them, then what?

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