Would Germany have won world war 2?

Question

if they had won the Battle of Britain and then invaded us? (operation Sealion)

Answer 1

if japen didn't bomb peral harbor and make us nuke them then they would have won

Answer 2

Interesting, and some good answers here. So many variables.

If I may, I'll chuck in my two pen'orth for what its worth.
I'll take the assumptions a couple of steps further, to add to what has been described above.....
So, we have the Luftwaffe overwhelming the RAF, and creating the conditions to suppress the Royal Navy and provide good cover for German Army to make good landing in Southern England. London is threatened, a weakend British Army is under too much pressure, Lord Halifax lead a coup in Parliament to force Churchill out, and negotiates with Hitler. The King legs it Canada, Churchill is shot as part of the deal, and Hitler installs a puppet government under Halifax, and Edward VIII.
Where does that leave us?

Well, say if he paused, left the Soviets alone for a couple of years, many in the US would say fair enough, leave Europe alone, lets make cars and washing machines, not tanks and planes. The Sovs were caught with their pants down in June 1941, so Hitler could have left it another year maybe?

So, we have the Empire bought off, after the UK humiliation and promises of Independance (for India and the UK's possession in Africa and the Far East).

The Sovs are being incompetant and conplaceant.

The US don't give a **** about what they see as Europe's problems.

"If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science." - Churchill 1940 Finest Hour speech

So, the world would have been in deep ****, at that point.

However, I don't think there is anyway Nazi Germany could have taken the US, even if they had left the Soviets alone. The US demostrated a determination that is unparrelled. The US production, innovation and self confidence would have overcome the Nazis. It would have meant that 1946/7 would have seen nukes bouncing around central Europe.


However, as ever, especially today, they do need a proper grown up like the UK to look after them and show them the way.

Answer 3

NO.....

Germany could easily have won the European War if it had defeated Britain, captured the Balkans and the oil fields, consolidated its power, then attacked the USSR.

But they had a nut case as a leader.

After failing to defeat Britain (because he would not listen to Goering), Hitler went and attacked the USSR, creating a two front war. Then being fully involved with a two front war, he goes and declares war on the USA, the most industrialized nation of the time. Add to that the MANY other mistakes made due to his stupidity and Germany was doomed.

(QUICK LIST OF MISTAKES BY HITLER)

#1. Driving out German Jews, including the nuclear scientists who went to England and the USA.

#2. Not going on a war footing. Even at the end, the women were stay at home housewives and they never really contributed to the war effort.

#3. Using a large part of the resources of Germany rounding up and killing Jews. Even when his planes were short of fuel, he still insisted the trains keep moving.

#4. Flip flopping on what kind of jets he wanted. Early in the war he wanted bombers, then he wanted fighters, then he wanted bombers. His flip flops put German jet production behind by at least a year, so that the jets when they finally did arrive, came too late.

#5. Ignoring his admirals who in 1933 told Hitler that battleships were of the past and they needed aircraft carriers and subs. Hitler wanted big impressive ships to show the colors. As a result, Germany had no real naval power to help defeat England.

#6. Forcing his best general (Rommel) to kill himself.

#7. In a fit of anger, ordered the German air force to attack cities instead of military targets. That more than the RAF is what caused Germany to lose the Battle of Britian.

You may like to read the book, THE FATHERLAND, which is a science fiction story about how Germany won and it and the USA were the two major powers in the world.

Answer 4

Right now if you consider exactly as you have written your question it looks like you are talking about Britain on it's own prior to the USA joining the war and the Russian invasion.
Now if this is what you mean and all Germany had to worry about was Britain then no I don't think Britain could of beaten Germany on it's own. The only thing that saved us was the English Channel otherwise we couldn't have stopped Germany they were far more prepared for war than we were. Their Army was large and very professional plus the fact that they were well led by some excellent Generals.
According to Adolf Galland (the head of the Luftwaffe fighter arm for most of WW2) in his book(forgotten the name of it for the moment) he mentions a personal meeting he had Hitler where Hitler professed not wanting to go to War with Britain as it wasn't part of Hitlers grand plan. He stated that Hitler actually admired Britain.

Answer 5

No, the military college at sandhurst ran a complex simulation in the 80's with this exact question in mind based on the complete german plans for "operation sealion" i.e the invasion of britain.
It was found that although the germans would be initailly successful creating a beachhead and pushing inland for 20 to 30 miles, they had not built up the required reserves and supplies to continue this offensive any further when compared to the available british forces in the area.
I remember something about the main british fleet arriving from scapa-flow four days after the invasion and stopping the germans from being able to reinforce their troops, which were largely paratroopers with little or no heavy equipment.
Of course no one can say for sure because there are always unpredictable results in war but based on everything running smoothly then the german forces ( some 90 000 men) would be stopped before they reached london.
This dosen't denigerate the actions of fighter command one bit, it really was "our finest hour" and a good many british lives were saved because of their heroic stand against overwhelming odds.
Lets just be grateful for how things turned out.

Answer 6

If Hitler had taken Russia, he would have invaded America Acrooss the Bearing Straits into Alaska. That was the plan. To invade Britain would have been a sea landing and an Airborne landing. Total German manpower, 1,000,000 troops., 1,000Aircraft, and 2, 000 tanks against an army of 350,000 with very little equipment after Dunkirk. Instead the idiot invaded Russia, a country he had a non agression pact with.

Answer 7

First of all- a major assumption. The Battle of Britain was primarily fought by air- not an easy way to deploy troops. German sea power was lackluster compared to that of the Fleet- so a sea invasion on large scale would have been difficult to pull off. Even providing that the troops landed and managed to get enough equipment with them to put up an effective fight, they would still be fighting on british soil- countermeasures for just such an invasion were in place. It is unlikely that Germany could even have subdued Britian.

Further complicating the idea is Hitler's attack on the Soviets- he had been planning to take them by surprise, but we had been feeding them hints that Germany would turn on them since practically the beginning of the war, and they were ready. Fighting on two fronts divided germany, and it became unlikely that either encounter could come out good for Hitler.

But ignoring all this, we'll create a couple of scenarios in which Hitler was in a winning position.

British Defeat
If Hitler managed to somehow overwhelm the UK by force (no invasion of the USSR) then he'd still have to deal with the rest of the Empire and the Commonwealth- not something that could be done easily from his position, and it's possible that the war would have dragged on, and it could've gone either way, really. Within this scenario, if the US never entered the war, then it's likely Hitler would've ignored them near enough completely- perhaps another non-agression treaty could be made. If the US did enter, then it might tip the Empire/Nazi conflict in favour of the Empire (if they joined on that side..)
Hitler wouldn't waste much thought on a trans-atllantic landing operation.
Hitler could've won ww2 this way- but it's a long shot. America, though, was safe.

British Peace
There were origionally talks of Nazi Germany proposing a truce with Britian- possibly an alliance. If this happened, then the only logical continuation of the war (after the mopping up of eastern europe) would be in the invasion of the Soviet Union. Such a war- without British or American support dividing Germany, would have been costly but possibly winnable. Considering the the fall of the Soviet Union, and the territory falling to Germany, i believe it would've taken several years for the Nazis to properly control the vast nation- bbut after that had happened, Hitler may indeed look accross the Bering Strait to Alaska, Canada and the US. This new encounter would not be easy. Crossing into Alaska (depending on american readiness) could go reasonably smoothly, but the invasion of Canada would draw the Empire and the US into one opposing force- A long war, this would be, and i'd estimate that even if Hitler was extemely sucessful (back fighting 2 fronts, remember) it would take several more years before mainland US is threatened- though by that time the country's forces might be depleted. A long encounter here, supressing the many states, and even then the war won't be over, until somehow the Empre is pacified (peace or war). Hitler might win ww2- but it's possible he wouldn't live to see it end.

Super Germany
Taking the position as it was, with Germany divided in its encounters, it seems impossible that they could win. But if they did? it would be a combination of the previous scenarios- Hitler would be left with a vast, Eurasian empire, battling the remains of the British Empire, and probably winning. If he completed the task, then i'd see little hope for the US resisting as well as they did in the previous scenario- a more complete mainland defense, possibly, but against a much much larger and more powerful force.

I left the Japanese strike at Pearl Harbour out of my predictions here- it would leave me with too much to calclulate.

So in short- IF Germany somehow 'won' the Battle of Britian, then 2/3 scenarios predict the US may well fall- but all scenarios predict a much longer and more costly war for either side.

Answer 8

No. Before 1940, the Allies, Russia and Japan were all working against Germany in their own ways. The allies had already declared war. Russia was moving hundreds of thousands of troops from Asia to Europe every month beginning in 1938. Japan began sending spies to every nation in Europe to monitor the war about 1939 and had at least dozens in every country constantly sending back data on Germany's progress. (We know this because we had broken Japan's diplomatic codes a few years earlier and were translating everything they sent back to Tokyo).

Answer 9

No, their fatal mistake was invading the Soviet Union slighlty too late in 1941 and failing to take Moscow before the winter started. If they had managed to take Moscow and knock the USSR out of the war at the climax of Barbarossa they would probably have been unstoppable. Occupying the UK would have been useful but not essential to the ultimate Axis victory.

It would still have been very difficult for them to successfully invade the USA but by the same token the USA would have had severe difficulties counter-attacking in sufficient force to liberate occupied Europe.

Answer 10

Germany had the problem of distance even though it's only 28 miles from Calais to the mainland they also then had more fuel to expend to travel to London this give their fighter planes very little time in the air to engage the British Fighter Wing....

But let's say for histories sake they won and Invaded then the resistance would have been more trouble than it was worth every woman, man and even child would have took up the fight, life for the invaders would have been crap.....

Answer 11

I believe that they would have won!.

The British army was beaten at the time of Dunkirk, its weapons and spirit lay in the smoking ruins of northern France and Belgium!, If the Germans had invaded, at that time! - then i think the the war would have been over! very quickly.

The Americans wouldn't have bothered entering the European war because of the isolationist political policies being followed by the government at the time. its probable that the world would be a very different place to what it is today.