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  • 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.

  • "So, since might makes right in your ideology, you're going to admit that democracy and tolerance is the superior form of governance?"

    "No, I'm actually just going to sulk here and spread Lost Cause style myths about how the Wehrmacht Wasn't That Bad(tm)"

  • 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.

    • But sadly this world really rewards the "dark triad" personality traits. Your version of Hitler would never ever reach a hint of power.

    • why would u like to live on the moon ?

      • 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.

93 comments