I hate to be that guy, but, in the first years, they were steamrolling Central Europe. They also humiliated the French with their blitzkrieg (and fuckloads of amphetamines), expelled the British forces from the continent and got within a few kilometers of Moscow.
If memory serves, the biggest blow to their naval power was Britain sinking the French warships after they were forced to capitulate, lest the Nazis take and use them to fight the blimeys
IMO the biggest deal here was the Royal Navy. The UK started the war still clinging on to an empire that included almost half the world. They protected that empire with the biggest navy in the world. That meant that once Germany went to war with Britain by invading Poland, Germany couldn't ship in anything via the Atlantic or via the Mediterranean. When they were allies with the Russians, that at least meant that they had access to everything Russia had in abundance, but when they did the ol' red beard thing, they were boxed in on 4 sides. Meanwhile, their enemies late in the war had become manufacturing powerhouses with access to vast amounts of natural resources.
The whole story of U-Boats in WWII is really a story of how outmatched the German navy was. Rather than going toe-to-toe with the Royal Navy, the Germans had to snipe some of the constant shipments of goods flowing into the UK from around the globe. Even at the peak of their military power, they had ceded control of the seas to the British. Their only real naval force were stealth craft that could ambush and then run away. Since the British and then the Allies controlled the seas, it allowed them to invade by sea, first Sicily and then D-Day in France.
So, without the Royal Navy, Germany would have had access to goods from around the world, and wouldn't have been vulnerable to an invasion by sea in the later stages of the war.
As for Russia, the bigger deal about getting within a few km of Moscow was that at the same time they were also getting very close to Baku. If they'd managed to control the Azerbaijani oil fields, it would have cut off oil supply to the USSR while gaining a huge oil supply for themselves.
What the Germans did in WWII was very impressive, especially considering that 15 years before the start of WWII the German economy was in such a state of collapse that inflation was running at 3 million percent per month. Prices for regular goods doubled every 2 days. Kids were playing with stacks of bills because those stacks were effectively worthless. Germany went from being the losers of WWI paying massive reparations that destroyed their economy, to being a force able to conquer virtually an entire continent. Unfortunately, that continent lacked critical natural resources and so eventually they lost because they couldn't keep up with the manufacturing powers of their enemies.
To be fair it was the strongest aryan army at the time. Unfortunately for them, the other armies weren't so concerned about everyone looking the same and had the advantage perspectives from many people from many walks of life gives to find novel ways to rain death on their enemies.
Shame Hitler had to be an asshat. Could you imagine what a charismatic man like him could do if he used his gift for good? We could live in a world where Germany led a global movement of empathy and understanding that brought on the longest period of lasting peace in earth's history? Instead he was so butt hurt that jewish people existed he did the opposite. I could be writing this post on the lunar settlement instead of the fourth Reich.
Nah, Hitler wasn't really that special. If anything he was a symptom of deeper problems in Germany at the time. If he hadn't risen to power someone else would have. And they would've been a racist shit head too, because that's how fascist movements work.
I understand what you're saying and the man himself wasn't directly controlling every aspect of his rise to power. But I think it's a disservice to history and to our present circumstances to deny that it actually does take a certain kind of charismatic sociopath/narcissist to lead a movement like the Nazis or their cover band.
If anyone could do it, it would happen much more often than it does. Hitler (and Trump) is a case of the "right" person, being in the "right" place, at the "right" time.
Maybe I'm too much of an idealist but I just wish for once, just once, someone comes along with a message of unity and mutual understanding and people actually listen.
In my imagination perhaps humanity might have focused more on exploring the solar system instead of killing each other and we'd have a lunar settlement. I'd personally want to live there because I have dreamed of leaving Earth since I was a kid.
But with any real thought, we went to the moon in the 60's because we developed the precursor technologies fighting Hitler, which probably wouldn't have happened if he wasn't a bag of dicks.
They wanted to ally with the British. They ended up fighting them and losing.
Also the price the Americans could manufacture things at really controlled the war. The Americans saved the war for the small price of: them becoming the richest country in the world, lending huge amounts of money that wouldn't be paid of for generations, completely destroying the competition including close allies in a way that's never been done before or since, changing the world order in their favour. From a "Jewified" country maybe Hitler should have expected that.
And that is why Nazis are the biggest losers in History.
Not only did they claim their army was the best, but their people were also the best. So losing after a single war proves their army wasn't the strongest and their people weren't the best.
They also got beaten by a combination of different countries who allow anyone to join.
Meaning, the Nazis were beaten by diversity and inclusivity.
There's also the funny story that the Germans were trying to break the allies code at the same time as the allies were trying to break enigma + all the other non-famous ones that they had
The Germans didn't have a great lot of luck though with it because they were so dismissive of anyone that wasn't normal. So basically all the intellectuals and the mathematicians were either in a prison camp or were just not allowed to join on the basis they were a bit odd. The allies employed someone who couldn't really get the hang of cups, but he was a hell of a mathematician so they put up with it
Turing was just excellent. He’s one of those guys that the more I’ve heard about the more I just want to offer a big hug. Also he was probably autistic. There’s no way in hell the Nazis would’ve let him in.
Also the axis as a whole lost a lot of brilliant people due to the fact that Jewish people had been disproportionately economically forced into educated positions and thus educated people were more likely to be Jewish or at the very least cool with Jewish people. That’s how Italy lost Fermi, he defected because his wife was Jewish.
That’s also why nazi art was shit, but also because of the oppression of gay people. Ok nazi art didn’t have a chance for a lot of reasons.
The Confederates, for the non-Americans, take challenge to that.
They were the opposing force during the American Civil War, trying to keep slavery. Their reign was so short, even a can of beans last longer than they did.
And yet that doesn't stop chucklefucks in the American South proudly showing their Confederate flag, all because America is too chicken shit to call them losers.
If the Japanese hadn’t attacked Pearl Harbour the Axis powers would have won the war. The addition of American troops in the western front was the beginning of the end for them.
If Germany hadn't turned on the Russians it would have won the war. If they'd managed to get access to the French Navy after invading France, they probably would have won the war.
That is very likely however without the support of the American people the US involvement would have been dramatically smaller and it’s unlikely Britain holds on long enough for the Americans to get troops and weaponry production up to speed.
Well, not to defend the nazis or anything, but they did manage to make considerable amounts of damage and it took multiple great powers working together to beat them back.
The Nazis based a lot of their racial laws on what was being done in the US, especially the south. Sure, the Allies included a diverse set of nations, but those nations were often incredibly racist too.
That's how Fascists work though. They pick fights with bigger and bigger opponents -- because they're invulnerable, you see -- until they lose. Their economy was absolutely insane, and required flat out pillaging their neighbours. Eventually your neighbours are too big to pillage.
Also, they successfully occupied most of the countries in western and central Europe. It's only when they tried to expand into Russia that the war started. If they didn't pick a fight with the russians, the Third Reich would have lasted much longer.
I think a major part of getting "beat" is they fought the USSR in the east and simultaneously the USA and UK in the west. I mean the war against Stalin wasn't going super smoothy. But it went on since 1941 already. And it really went south for the nazis when the USA joined WW2.
They won many wars in a row without losing. Then they just overdid it a lil bit at the end and got bonked. They couldve had a huge empire if they just stopped a bit earlier.
The European World Wars only produced losers. WW1 signaled the beginning of the end of the British Empire, the escalated decline of the French Empire, and the total collapse of the Russian Empire. WW2 obliterated a century of industrial development and squandered a generation of young people on a pointless pissing contest, only to hand the continent to a pair of foreign superpowers.
The US came out ahead in both wars primarily because they were the last to join and the only ones to escape virtually unscathed.
The political inclinations of monarchist Germany weren't anything to brag about. The German Colonial Empire was just as racist, vulgar, and blood drenched as anything the rest of the continent produced.
Nazis brought the imperial tendencies home to Berlin. They didn't invent them from whole cloth.
Everyone used to consume inorbitant amounts of hard drugs! Thats the charm of the time!
Or like are you to implying the narrative of nazi generals? That the war would have been won tups if Hitler didn’t meddle? ‘Cause thats also not true! The war rememtos are complete lies meant to convince nato to hire them as advisers, which they would have anyways. If things were to shit the fan with the ussr then they wanted the german militia…