Could Germany have won the war?

[Tinkerpeach]

Obviously Hitler made many mistakes but would it have been possible for Germany to have conquered all of Europe and Russia?

[Tranquillus in Exile]

Possibly, if he had first secured British neutrality.

He was confident of them coming to terms in 1940. When they didn't, he made a halfhearted attempt to force it. When that failed, he decided to ignore them.

That was his big mistake.


Added: His second big mistake was declaring war on the US after Pearl Harbor. He didn't have to.

[Mason Michaels]

Obviously Hitler made many mistakes but would it have been possible for Germany to have conquered all of Europe and Russia?

Hitler should have left Russia alone,and settled for Western Europe!

[Mason Michaels]

Possibly, if he had first secured British neutrality.

He was confident of them coming to terms in 1940. When they didn't, he made a halfhearted attempt to force it. When that failed, he decided to ignore them.

That was his big mistake.


Added: His second big mistake was declaring war on the US after Pearl Harbor. He didn't have to.

Like we wouldn't have just declared war on Germany!
Hitler's downfall was attacking Russia!

[Nordberg]

If they developed the A bomb, they might have won.

[Cypress]

Obviously Hitler made many mistakes

What you call mistakes, I call crimes against humanity, genocide, and industrial-scale mass murder.

[Tinkerpeach]

What you call mistakes, I call crimes against humanity, genocide, and industrial-scale mass murder.

That had no impact on the actual war

[Cypress]

That had no impact on the actual war

Incorrect.

Germany devoted considerable resources and manpower to hunting Jews and other undesirables, constructing death camps and supporting infrastructure, and assigning soldiers to the task of guarding and murdering Jews

Resources and soldiers which could have been directed to contesting the Red Army on the front lines.

The Nazi policy of mass murder and ethnic cleansing also convinced many Soviet citizens to resist harder and never be tempted to surrender

[Tinkerpeach]

Like we wouldn't have just declared war on Germany!
Hitler's downfall was attacking Russia!

He didn’t really have a choice since Russia was building up their forces and could out produce Germany

They were also developing technology that could rival Germany so the longer Germany waited the harder it would have gotten

[Tranquillus in Exile]

Like we wouldn't have just declared war on Germany!

It's not at all obvious that the US would have declared war on Germany, at least until the Pacific War was over.

With little or no war material coming from America, and no need to keep large forces in Western Europe, Hitler would have had a chance of smashing Russia.

And THAT - the Drang nach Osten - is what it was all about, if you know anything of his world view.

[Mason Michaels]

He didn’t really have a choice since Russia was building up their forces and could out produce Germany

They were also developing technology that could rival Germany so the longer Germany waited the harder it would have gotten

He could have sucked Stalin's cock!

[Mason Michaels]

It's not at all obvious that the US would have declared war on Germany, at least until the Pacific War was over.

With little or no war material coming from America, and no need to keep large forces in Western Europe, Hitler would have had a chance of smashing Russia.

And THAT - the Drang nach Osten - is what it was all about, if you know anything of his world view.

Hitler never had a chance to to defeat Russia! Russian winter is undeafeated! Cue 1812 overture

[Tinkerpeach]

Incorrect.

Germany devoted considerable resources and manpower to hunting Jews and other undesirables, constructing death camps and supporting infrastructure, and assigning soldiers to the task of guarding and murdering Jews

Resources and soldiers which could have been directed to contesting the Red Army on the front lines.

The Nazi policy of mass murder and ethnic cleansing also convinced many Soviet citizens to resist harder and never be tempted to surrender

Germany never had a manpower shortage.

The SA and SS both had small numbers relative to Germanys overall military force.

While the SS did eventually create military units they were initially created to serve as protection for Hitler

[Tinkerpeach]

Hitler never had a chance to to defeat Russia! Russian winter is undeafeated! Cue 1812 overture

Some say that if he had pushed through Moscow and engaged Russia’s forces they could have defeated Russia.

Instead he turned south to capture oil fields

[Mason Michaels]

Some say that if he had pushed through Moscow and engaged Russia’s forces they could have defeated Russia.

Instead he turned south to capture oil fields

Russian winter hit early ,and his armies were in no way prepared! Hitler over extended in a two front war!