Why didn't Hitler win WWII?

Question

Do you think he could have won? If so, what did he do wrong?

Answer 1

Good question, and one that can be answered on many levels.

The guys above who have mentioned God, Sun Tzu and the Jews are all right.

But he made a series of basic errors, without each of which he may have won the war.

The main one of course was to send his troops into the Soviet Union without proper clothing at the wrong time of year, like Napoleon.

Also at this time in 1941 he had to divert troops to help out Mussolini, who was failing in the Balkans.

Stalingrad became an obsession which eventually broke his army. He should have retreated but would not countenance such a move, in spite of the obvious facts, because of the symbolism of his opponent's name.

Which brings us to the fact that he would not leave military planning to the experts, his generals.

He refused to believe that his "uncrackable" enigma code had been cracked (first by the Polish, then the British - I get thumbs down here from Americans who believe Hollywood movies). The British knew in advance everything he was planning to do, right down to each detail; they warned the USA about Pearl Harbor but Roosevelt thought Churchill was bluffing to bring America into the war. Churchill had to play a very clever game so as not to let the Gemans know their code had been cracked. Many Allied personnel and civilians lost their lives in German operations rather than risk being too obvious.

He was developing nuclear weapons but the first shipment of heavy water from Norway was sabotaged by a single British agent, and he gave up on it in spite of the enthusiasm of his scientists.

In 1940 he nearly had Britain out for the count with its airforce almost destroyed on the ground. In response to a British raid on Berlin, in spite of the counsel of his military staff, he switched to bombing civilian targets in Britain and the RAF had time to recover. This alone saved Britain, without a doubt.

He became a speedfreak, dependent on large quantities of amphetamine to keep going, was obsessed by the occult and his personality disintegrated (a just reward for his evil).


To Dirk Vermaelen, below (doesn't allow e-mail)

Are you Dutch? Probably Flemish.

I just love your word "slugfest" but what exactly does it mean? Don't rush to answer.

Answer 2

You already have a few good answers and it has nothing to do with god not being on his side.
Like a couple of other answers said, the German army under Hitler's leadership simply had too many battles in too distant areas to manage and fight. His armies were in North Africa, Eastern Europe, Greece, France, Italy, and the Russia's which is what ultimately lead to the beginning of his downfall. Just too much going on and not enough resources to stretch in all those directions... With MANPOWER when you loose a Man on the line it may seem like there are alot more that you can use to fill his space, but at some point you have lost so many men that you are left with boys, or if you use up that resource, it then takes 20 years to replace a man who has been eliminated, if you can't replace your personnel, you can't last...

Answer 3

He had to take out Russia before both Russia (building up strength, in the middle of an army modernisation and hostile) and USA would come after him. So he tried.
Stalingrad. After the winter of 1941-1942, his army was'nt strong enough to attack on three fronts (Leningrad, Moscow and southern). Allthough he made a good call to attack south (cutting the russians off most of their oil at the time, threatening the war industry that has been moved behind the Oeral), he screwed up in Stalingrad. On top, he wasted strength in Leningrad and at the central front.
------
He gave the Russians the time to turn it into a slugfest and learn from their mistakes.
-------
On other fronts, other mistakes were beeing made.
- it has been said that, if they would have kept bombing airforce factories and airfields instead of switching to cities to break enemy morale, the RAF might have been broken in the battle of Britain
-If the codes weren't broken, and the Germans had a naval airforce (two aircarriers were beeing ordered before the war, but naval command turned them into battleships), etc etc...the battle of the Atlantic could have lasted longer, buying time to finish of the russians.
-If he would have sent 1 or 2 divisions extra to the south, the oilrich middle-east probably would have fallen. Instead, the germans had to do with some small Rumanian fields.

....There are many reasons why he was defeated. The main reason would still be the Russia: the vasteness of the country, the mud in the autumn and the russian winter, the tenacy of the russians, and yet again:
He gave the Russians the time to turn it into a slugfest and learn from their mistakes.
----
The second, western front, only came when the russians were allready driving the germans back. It has shortened the war, but it wasn't decisive.

Answer 4

you have already got some good solutions and it has no longer something to do with god no longer being on his area. Like a pair of different solutions stated, the German military under Hitler's management purely had too many battles in too distant factors to administration and combat. His armies have been in North Africa, eastern Europe, Greece, France, Italy, and the Russia's that's what finally bring about the beginning up of his downfall. purely too plenty occurring and not adequate materials to stretch in all those guidelines... With MANPOWER once you unfastened a guy on the line it may look like there are alot extra so you might use to fill his area, yet faster or later you have lost such lots of adult adult males which you're left with boys, or in case you dissipate that source, it then takes twenty years to replace a guy who has been eradicated, in case you may no longer replace your workers, you may no longer final...

Answer 5

I agree with Dr Adams (mainly). Whether or not the 2 ideaologys,facism and communisum could not abide each other???????????? Hitler did believe Russia was going to attack Germany and he beat them to the punch. But I think it was all in his head. But this isn't the whole reason Hitler attacked Russia. Between the wars the communist party tried to make inroads in Germany at the same time the Facist party was doing the same thing. Hitler got it into his mind that Communism and the Jews were Germany's 2 biggest enemies and he decided to make it his goal in life to get rid of both. This brings us to his 1st Big mistake, invading Poland. Poland stood between him and the Soviet Union (geographically). Poland also had a large Jewish population. Whether the Jews had any bearing on his decision to invade Poland, I don't know. But once Poland was conquered, he went right to work on the Jews. The problem with attacking Poland is by doing so he was attacking France and England too (Poland, France and Britain were allies). When all he wanted to do was fight the USSR. Sure, I believe in his screwed up mind, he had plans for France. After all, the conditions imposed on Germany due mainly to France's insistance at the treaty of Versailles (reparations, limitations etc) hurt and shamed Germany tremendously between the wars. Although Hitler didn't much conform to the Versailles Treaty after he came to power in 33. Dr Adams is correct that Hitler hoped to not have to fight Britian. He thought he could get them to back down. If it hadn't been for Churchill, England might have backed down. Stalin was actually aiding Germany as well as being under a treaty of nonaggressioin with them when Germany invaded. Germany's rapid successes at the start of the invasion also argues that Stalin had no plans to invade Germany any time soon. So, I say Hitler made a mistake invading Poland. Russia and Poland were not the best of friends. He might have done better to try and talk Poland into helping him in his aim to attack Russia. Dr Adams is a smart cookie. How come in real life one doesn't run into women this knowledgable and bright?

Answer 6

Because he was only one man. Seriously, though, he miscalculated. He thought that by bumping Britain, the English would stand aside cowering while he took care of Job #1 - eradicating Communism. Nazism and Communism are similar ideologies that despise each other: both worship the state, but one steps on the people to do it (Communism) while the other convinces them to do it (Nazis). They're so similar that each thought that the other had no right to exist; each was planning to eradicate the other. Hitler struck first, and pacified the rest of Europe to make sure that he'd succeed. He would have, too, if 1) Japan hadn't attacked the U.S., forcing Germany to divert resources to defending Western Europe from invasion, and 2) the Italians hadn't needed saving in Africa, again diverting German resources when they were needed elsewhere. Russia BARELY hung on during the winter of 1941-42 and summer of 1942. 20 Million Russians died during WWII. Yes, 20 MILLION. In contrast, 400,000 Americans died, give or take. The Russians took it in the chops to put Hitler down.

Answer 7

Let's make it simple:
The United States and the Soviet Union were marching into Berlin from both sides, Hitler thought it would be useless to fight and shot himself.
What could he have done to win: He should have never invaded the Soviet Union, he made the same mistake Napolean did. By trying to invade the Soviet Union he lost many troops during the cold winter and breached the pact he had made with Stalin causing the Soviet Union to enter the war and later out of fear of Communism spreading the U.S entered also....and poof Germany could have won.

Answer 8

If Hitler had concentrated on one front at a time, he most likely would have been unstoppable. Dividing his forces between the Soviets in the East, and the US, Britain, France and Canada on the west ultimately spelled his doom.

Some people claim that he lost his mind (yes, he was a psycho murderer but a genius as well) because of syphillis. This made him make suicidal military decisions in the latter part of the war.

Answer 9

Attacked Russia. That's it. Same mistake as Bonaparte. The Russian strategy was the same as well. Scorched earth. Burn all the crops, evacuate and destroy houses, bridges and all facilities. Let the enemy starve and freeze.

Someone mentioned V2s. These probably did more economic damage to Germany than they did to the British.

They cost enormous amounts to make and carried just one ton of high explosive. The V1 was cheaper to make and carried the same payload. The British made sure that German intelligence was deceived about where the weapons actually fell. The Germans therefore moved their aiming points, with the result that many of both types of V weapons fell on open country or in the Thames estuary where they did little damage. Cost to Germany - tens of thousands. Cost to Britain - nothing, or next to it.

Answer 10

Hitler undid himself. The same psychotic sturdiness that brought him to power undid him. In France at Dunkirk in 1940 for some reason he let the British Army cross back to England, he had an opportunity to destroy this army and a possibility to cross the channel and invade England. He failed to make any real attempt to defeat England.
He invaded Delayed the Invasion of Russia in-order to support Italy in Greece. He interfered with the Russian campaign and sent the armored spear head of Army Group Center to Army Group South preventing the capture of Moscow.
Whole Russian Army Units surrendered with weapons and were willing to join the Germans to liberate Russia for Stalin, Hitler felt that the Slavic race was inferior and imprisoned them and treated the Russian worst then Stalin.
After the bombing of pearl harbor he declared war on the US.

Had he destroyed the British Army, Invaded England, Postponed the Russian Campaign until England is out of the war, treated the Russian Campaign as a liberation, and forced the US to declare war on Germany. He might have not lost. But he did not listen to anyone but himself, he did not heed the advice of Generals.
Hitler rose to power on his own and fell on hiss own, and he took about 60 million people with him.