Yes, I have given that some thought as well. In my opinion, Hitler made many, many errors of judgement. But his 2 biggest mistakes were: attacking Russia and declaring war on the U.S. Hitler had signed the Triparte Pact in which Germany would declare war on any nation who had attacked Japan, BUT the Triparte Pact did NOT require Germany to go to war if Japan attacked any other nation FIRST. Hitler did not understand the tremendous industrial capacity of the U.S. Not only to protect itself , BUT for the entire allied war effort. Roosevelt spoke many times about America as the "Arsenal of Democracy." Yes, Churchill was very much relieved that Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. At the time, Great Britain was in dire straits, due largely to the Atlantic war and the U-boat menace. Once America was in the war, that U-boat menace began to decline.
Given strong anti-Jewish sentiment among a large part of the population in the United States, and the popularity of eugenics here, Hitler had hopes, early on, that the United States would either remain neutral or even enter into support for Germany.
There certainly was significant support for Germany among the American populace. People like Errol Flynn, Charles Lindberg, and others felt a figure like Hitler could remedy many of the ills in American society at the time. Hitler's eugenics program has the same roots as Planned Parenthood, so it was believed by Hitler that those who supported Margret Sanger and her friends would also support his movement. I think Hitler knew full well the power of American industry since he attributed America's entry into WWI to be the deciding factor in Germany's defeat in that war. He hoped to keep the U.S. out of the war until Britain and the Soviet Union were defeated but accepted what happened. Both Japan and Germany thought that America would sue for peace to stay out of the war, but things didn't work out that way.
Some Americans could have lost their citizenship and jailed for fighting for the British side in 1940. Interesting article. A Few Americans in the Battle of Britain (historynet.com)
I wouldn't say that a LARGE PART of the U.S. population were anti-semitic. In Feb, 1939 the German-American Bund held a rally in Madison Square Garden and a crowd of 100,000 protested outside. Even today, there are a tiny number of anti-Jewish nut cases, called the Alt-Right, who hold rallies.
I didn't say the largest part, I said a large part, and I believe that is correct. Eugenics was a big thing here, and some pretty powerful people were antisemitic.
Yes, there were some pretty powerful people who were anti-semitic. Regarding LARGE, I suppose it depends on what we define as LARGE.
At the end of WW1, France and Great Britain forced Germany to sign the Treaty of Versailles. In that treaty, Germany had to demilitarize what was known as the Rhineland. This served as a future buffer between Germany and France. However, most notably, Germany was not allowed to develop any fighter OR bomber aircraft. Also it was not allowed to develop any submarines or tanks. From 1933 onward Hitler began to slowly flaunt terms of the Treaty of Versailles and proceeded to develop weapons . At first, Hitler proceeded secretly, by training future pilots in gliders (with no engines). Hitler also came to an agreement with the Soviet Union to develop and train men, in the use of tanks. Hitler thought that the allies would not find out this fact, but it soon became known to all. Only Winston Churchill spoke out against this German build up of arms. As Hitler gained ever more power, he began to openly develop advanced military aircraft. The Luftwaffe was soon to become the most powerful air force in the entire world. In 1936, Hitler issued orders to send troops into the Rhineland in defiance of the Treaty of Versailles. Hitler had issued orders that if German troops met any resistance, they were supposed to withdraw. But, not a shot was fired and Germany gained it's first great success. Now, it is important to note that France had a far, far greater military power at this point. It COULD have marched into Germany and put a stop to this German build up. But it failed to do so. If France had acted, it COULD have stopped WW2 before it even started and 50 million lives would have been spared. Over and over again Hitler pushed for ever greater demands. Also ,in defiance of the Treaty of Versailles, marched into Austria and it became part of Greater Germany. Yet still France sat on its hands and did not a thing to stop Hitler. such is the lesson of appeasement.
I am hoping to start a discussion about WW2. Feel free to jump right in with your thoughts and/or questions. Few people realize that the overwhelming percentage of Americans wanted to keep the heck out of WW 2 , until the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. (Dec 7th, 1941). The war had been raging in both Europe since 1939 and in Asia. They, the Americans didn't even want to help a struggling Great Britain.
We were still isolationist, although the Roosevelt Administration certainly wanted us to join the war. I don't know what you wish to discuss here. The topic is too broad. Pick out specific topics or areas to discuss.
I am open to discussing any aspect of WW2. I'll leave that up to anyone who wants to jump in. I had previously started a thread on how France and Great Britain COULD have stopped Hitler during the mid to late 1930's when he began breaking the Treaty of Versailles. BUT, I got not single one reply.
I don't believe I saw that thread, as I don't see everything posted. France and Great Britain could have stopped Hitler in his tracks early on, but both nations were anxious to avoid war at all costs having been decimated by WWI, a war they initially believed would last less than a year. Chamberlain's surrender of Czechoslovakia was the key that made Hitler believe that he could do anything and get away with it, as there would be no response from Britain or France.
Yes, And even before that Hitler ordered the German Army of occupy the Rhineland in 1936. He had given orders that if they were fired upon by the French, they were to withdraw. Hitler's occupation of the Rhineland was a clear violation of the Treaty of Versailles. In 1936 France had a vastly superior armed forces. They could have stopped Hitler dead in his tracks IF they only had the will to do so.
One thing about WW2 that most people don't know is that Great Britain , thru the work of Allen Turing , broke the supposedly unbreakable secret code which the Germans called Enigma. The English named the operation, Ultra. As in ultra secret. Thus the English were able to read most but not all German wireless communications. Thus the English knew in advance what the German's were going to do, BEFORE it happened. How difficult was the German code to break ? Every German wireless message had 59 million, million, million possible decryptions. That's 59 with 18 zero after it. Side note: There is a movie about this code breaking called: The Imitation Game.