Adolph Hitler's Biggest Mistake
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  Adolph Hitler's Biggest Mistake
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Question: If you had to choose one, which of these huge miscalculations proved most disastrous to Nazi Germany...
#1
Declaring War on the USA
 
#2
Invading the Soviet Union
 
#3
Failing to invade Great Britain in 1940
 
#4
Other, please specify
 
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Author Topic: Adolph Hitler's Biggest Mistake  (Read 11555 times)
J. J.
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« Reply #25 on: January 05, 2008, 03:58:09 PM »

One possibility would be to wait until the Nazis were engaged in England and attack then.
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Tetro Kornbluth
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« Reply #26 on: January 05, 2008, 04:10:49 PM »

His biggest mistake was not focusing enough on the African front; instead considering it a side show which had been brought about by Mussolini's stupidity to the main showpiece in Russia. Had Hitler been more canny he would have realized that by defeating the British Army in Egypt he would create access for him to the middle east and the resources (and often sympathetic populations..) that that would imply.

Say if Rommell had won El-Alamein and had pushed the British back to Central Arabia it would significantly increased his opportunities without even needing to invade Russia; Turkey for example might have declared for the Axis if it thought Germany would have a significant chance of winning the region. Which would of course have opened a new invasion possibility in the Russian Front - via the Cacasuas (which is what Hitler wanted anyway..)
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JSojourner
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« Reply #27 on: January 06, 2008, 08:11:50 PM »

His biggest mistake was not focusing enough on the African front; instead considering it a side show which had been brought about by Mussolini's stupidity to the main showpiece in Russia. Had Hitler been more canny he would have realized that by defeating the British Army in Egypt he would create access for him to the middle east and the resources (and often sympathetic populations..) that that would imply.

Say if Rommell had won El-Alamein and had pushed the British back to Central Arabia it would significantly increased his opportunities without even needing to invade Russia; Turkey for example might have declared for the Axis if it thought Germany would have a significant chance of winning the region. Which would of course have opened a new invasion possibility in the Russian Front - via the Cacasuas (which is what Hitler wanted anyway..)

Couple questions...

1.  Do you think Hitler could have seriously weakened the British in North Africa (and elsewhere) by making fabulous promises and guarantees to the French (Vichy), Spanish and Turks?  Something like, "you attack the Brits on land and sea and you can have XXXX."  In the case of Vichy, let them have British colonies in West Africa and the Caribbean...in the case of Spain, Gibraltar and perhaps some Atlantic Islands like St. Helena...in the case of the Turks, British-controlled Iraq and Palestine.

2.   Even if Rommel had won at Alamein, the Brits would just fall back to Alexandria...and then Cairo.  Rommel's supply lines would be stretched even thinner.  Or do you think there would be a renewed effort to reduce Malta and gain total superiority over the air and sealanes? 

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Tetro Kornbluth
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« Reply #28 on: January 06, 2008, 08:55:51 PM »

His biggest mistake was not focusing enough on the African front; instead considering it a side show which had been brought about by Mussolini's stupidity to the main showpiece in Russia. Had Hitler been more canny he would have realized that by defeating the British Army in Egypt he would create access for him to the middle east and the resources (and often sympathetic populations..) that that would imply.

Say if Rommell had won El-Alamein and had pushed the British back to Central Arabia it would significantly increased his opportunities without even needing to invade Russia; Turkey for example might have declared for the Axis if it thought Germany would have a significant chance of winning the region. Which would of course have opened a new invasion possibility in the Russian Front - via the Cacasuas (which is what Hitler wanted anyway..)

Couple questions...

1.  Do you think Hitler could have seriously weakened the British in North Africa (and elsewhere) by making fabulous promises and guarantees to the French (Vichy), Spanish and Turks?  Something like, "you attack the Brits on land and sea and you can have XXXX."  In the case of Vichy, let them have British colonies in West Africa and the Caribbean...in the case of Spain, Gibraltar and perhaps some Atlantic Islands like St. Helena...in the case of the Turks, British-controlled Iraq and Palestine.

2.   Even if Rommel had won at Alamein, the Brits would just fall back to Alexandria...and then Cairo.  Rommel's supply lines would be stretched even thinner.  Or do you think there would be a renewed effort to reduce Malta and gain total superiority over the air and sealanes? 



1. Yes. If Hitler applied his Resources away from Russia and into Africa. The colonial aspect of the war though is something I'm not particularly good on so I won't comment.

2. Malta? Oh Absolutely. Its survival was miracle and was mainly down to the excessive focus on the Eastern Front by Hitler. Had he been smart he would have waited and not try to fight so many wars at once.
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bgwah
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« Reply #29 on: January 06, 2008, 09:48:01 PM »

Playing around with time-traveling Portuguese boys.
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Michael Z
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« Reply #30 on: January 15, 2008, 09:41:30 AM »
« Edited: January 15, 2008, 09:43:36 AM by Michael Z »

Hitler's racial hatred could also make the list as his insane policies robbed the Third Reich of hundreds of thousands of potential soldiers and other supporters.  Many of whom were brilliant. But I just listed the big three. 

I think this is the key, even including the greatest error, the invasion of the Soviet Union.

He had the idea that the slaves were so inferior that the couldn't fight the Wehrmacht.

Interestingly, had he goaded the Soviets into attacking, he may have one.  From what I understand, the Soviets were in an offensive posture on June 21, 1941.

The Nazis got perilously close though. They were literally at the gates of Moscow before they got thrown back. Equally, in the South, they had invaded the Caucan region and were already drawing up plans for a separation of Asia between the German- and Japanese empires, which obviously never got off the drawing table.

I suspect that the invasion of Russia would have succeeded had Hitler been able to invade Britain and establish the Reichskommisariat Grossbritannien in 40/41; I'm not sure how much weight I am to give this, but according to some historians there were plans to ship English males to fight on the western front, which doubtlessly would have helped Hitler's effort.

However, thankfully all this didn't happen - Hitler ended up fighting on two fronts, and the greater German Empire never came to full fruition. Had he succeeded, the consequences for eastern Europe would have been nothing short of catastrophic, since it's not entirely inconceivable that we would have seen a genocide on a scale of, or even perhaps exceeding that of, the Holocaust, with the Slavonic people either worked to death or sent straight to concentration camps in Siberia.
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opebo
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« Reply #31 on: January 15, 2008, 09:51:17 AM »

Invading Po-land.
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defe07
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« Reply #32 on: January 17, 2008, 03:51:57 PM »


One of the larger missed opportunities in my mind that generally goes unnoticed (although it ties in with what J.J. and others are saying)...is that he messed up the political message of the invasion of the Soviet Union entirely, mainly due to his racial policies.  There was a lot of discontent in the Soviet Union, especially amongst ethnic minorities, and he might have done better had he played into that.  Even despite Germany's rhetoric, there was still a fair deal of support for the Germans--in the Baltic States for example.

He probably could have gotten the bulk of Ukraine on his side; Ukraine was initially willing to colaborate.  The Baltic republics, ditto.

The Holocaust drained Nazi resources after 1942, that could have been used in the USSR.  Had  Hitler decided to win the war before the mass murder of the Jews, history might have changed.

Likewise, had Germany never descended lower that the Nuremberg Laws, the might have had a willing Jewish population to help them.

Well, with Ukraine, all hopes died I think when the Ukranians saw how players of Dynamo Kiev, Ukraine's most popular soccer (football) team, were executed by a team made up of military soccer players I guess. Then, they wanted nothing to do with the Nazis. When the Nazis declared war on us, it was constitutional and we did the right thing. An attack on home soil equals war when Congress officially declares war. WWII was one of the last declared wars people, that's why the country was united so much. The Nazis had to be destroyed after what they did to millions of people. And they, the Japanese and Italians messed with the sleeping giant at that time. Hitler wanted to control the world in time.
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J. J.
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« Reply #33 on: January 17, 2008, 06:38:39 PM »


One of the larger missed opportunities in my mind that generally goes unnoticed (although it ties in with what J.J. and others are saying)...is that he messed up the political message of the invasion of the Soviet Union entirely, mainly due to his racial policies.  There was a lot of discontent in the Soviet Union, especially amongst ethnic minorities, and he might have done better had he played into that.  Even despite Germany's rhetoric, there was still a fair deal of support for the Germans--in the Baltic States for example.

He probably could have gotten the bulk of Ukraine on his side; Ukraine was initially willing to colaborate.  The Baltic republics, ditto.

The Holocaust drained Nazi resources after 1942, that could have been used in the USSR.  Had  Hitler decided to win the war before the mass murder of the Jews, history might have changed.

Likewise, had Germany never descended lower that the Nuremberg Laws, the might have had a willing Jewish population to help them.

Well, with Ukraine, all hopes died I think when the Ukranians saw how players of Dynamo Kiev, Ukraine's most popular soccer (football) team, were executed by a team made up of military soccer players I guess. Then, they wanted nothing to do with the Nazis. When the Nazis declared war on us, it was constitutional and we did the right thing. An attack on home soil equals war when Congress officially declares war. WWII was one of the last declared wars people, that's why the country was united so much. The Nazis had to be destroyed after what they did to millions of people. And they, the Japanese and Italians messed with the sleeping giant at that time. Hitler wanted to control the world in time.

I don't think there too much argument against fighting the Nazis.
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