The literate Führer

The Literate Führer, chapter one:
Hitler sits in his study in Landsberg prison and review his notes on the Napoleon biography. Then he shakes his head in disbelief. The British managed to hang out in the face of a central Europe united against them, and ultimately the French had their army swallowed up in Russia. He was not impressed! Napoleon had gone soft, travelled in comfort, not like the Spartan soldiers he used to admire. Hitler would not make such a mistake, not lose his will and focus. As Nietsche has told him, will would triumph over the weak. Still, a modern economy depended on trade and resources like ever before. Could Germany survive a blockade and still beat a revitalized and industrialized Russia? Why should they accept or risk a blockade. Hitler clenched his fist and feels the anger of an insult not yet received. Feels the arrogance and insult of the island nation denying Germany its place as a world power. He understood now that there was nothing peaceful about the British. Their policy was to divide and conquer to be strongest themselves. With a spark of clarity he saw the solution, Britain could be played out against the French until Germany was realized as the greatest threat. Then Germany must be ready to show both Britain and France the rise of German power. Destroying Britain will be the ultimate demonstration to the world of what he, the master strategist and beacon of will have achieved.
He smiles, the thought of the communists realizing they are next makes the though of their demise even sweeter. He knows he must be cunning and patient, but the contour of his master plan has taken shape. More than ever he know he must prevail, unite all Germans and lead them to greatness. Nobody else would prevail against all the major powers in the world, but he knows how they can be played.
The sweet thinking and daydreaming is interrupted as it knocks on the door. Hitler's assistant, Rudolf Hess enters, he has been proof-reading the last chapters of "Mein Kampf". Hitler relishes when he explain his thoughts to his assistant and sees the expression change from fear to amazement. The first names appear on a sheet of paper. The ultimate blueprint of destruction.
None of these thoughts goes into Mein Kampf. It will not be changed. It will serve its purpose as it is both strong, true and deceptive of his new plan.

The original intro has been changed. It was a try out for comments and not a time-line introduction. Couldn't delete it though?

Comments on post

The purpose of this thread is highlight some of the features Hitlers madness that made him a dramatic factor in world history. Many of the threads I have read seems to be receive highly deterministic replies. This is a very simple POD, early but realistic, and the effect on Hitler is to be expected. He has already read his Nietsche, hear of the Lebensraum concept and a few facts that brought down Napoleon will not change his resolve.
Will can triumph: I, an Austrian ,will be leader of Germany
German rise to power will result in war with France, Britain, Poland and the soviet Union. Then I will defeat them.

The situation is now similar to the spring of 1940. This war (against France) cannot be won quickly: Show me a new plan were the war is one quickly

Germany cannot defend Britain and the royal navy: I'll chose to believe the plan were it can.

Thus, from this early POD Hitler will be searching for the radical and effective answers. The major chance is only the desire to crush Britain and the resolve to deception, that will be unfolded later.
Notably, he has already.
Nevertheless, even Hitler will realize that east-west-east or west-east-east campaigns are not going to be over in a summer. He will be more focused on military planning and preparation for a three summers war.

Welcome to the board.

Time until britwankers enter threads....
3...2...1...


Jokes aside, Hitler with a long-term plan on how to deal with Great Britain is an interesting premise.


Anglo-German naval treaty. How will it be handled? It was a large stepping stone for Hitlers foreign policy and shaped in many ways both British and French foreign policy in regards to Germany.

There's no guarantee that Hitler would gain the humility and savvy to play it that way if he were more "literate".

Hitler became the nightmare he was b/c he had a profound sense of inadequacy and needed to prove himself superior to the Junkers, Jews, literati in the university who denied his genius, and others he felt had it better than him.

He had the charm and sense of purpose that many Germans felt was lost after losing WWI so horribly to draw and keep a team of guys who made the movement so much more than just his crusade to "save" Germany.

A really good AH story by Fritz Leiber "Catch That Zeppelin!" gives a look at what a slightly more successful Hitler who could accept the defeat of Germany would be like. (The Allies didn't accept armistice ITTL and ran the German Army all the way back to Berlin to butterfly the DolchstoBlegende) .

YMMDV.

The question that I think this POD fails to address is would Hitler still desire and pursue power. Perhaps after reading all of these books he becomes political commentator or journalist?

The biggest problem is Germany can prepare for GB or the USSR but not both. It can only strengthen its navy at the expense of its army and can only strengthen its army at the expense of its navy. German rearmament couldn't go significantly faster than it did OTL. It was basically maxed out. If it decides to build more battleships and subs , it will build less tanks and artillery. In that case Germany will have difficulty beating France not talking the British Empire or the USSR. Unless you massively change Hitler's ideology the USSR will remain enemy #1 and a big fleet won't help Germany fight Russia.

Rubicon said:

Welcome to the board.

Time until britwankers enter threads....
3...2...1...


Jokes aside, Hitler with a long-term plan on how to deal with Great Britain is an interesting premise.


Anglo-German naval treaty. How will it be handled? It was a large stepping stone for Hitlers foreign policy and shaped in many ways both British and French foreign policy in regards to Germany.

Click to expand...

Here you hit the nail on the spot. The Anglo-German naval treaty is the tool of deception central to the plot. Already before Hitler came to power the Deutschland class had received notice and Britain feared most a sub/cruiser/carrier based German navy that could really disrupt the sealanes. The anglo-german naval treaty was designed to make Germany pursue a balanced small version of the Royal Navy that could always be handled. ITTL is based upon not building more ships in Germany, but building the right ships for the task and make the royal navy build the wrong ships to counter them.

TxCoatl1970 said:

There's no guarantee that Hitler would gain the humility and savvy to play it that way if he were more "literate".

Hitler became the nightmare he was b/c he had a profound sense of inadequacy and needed to prove himself superior to the Junkers, Jews, literati in the university who denied his genius, and others he felt had it better than him.

He had the charm and sense of purpose that many Germans felt was lost after losing WWI so horribly to draw and keep a team of guys who made the movement so much more than just his crusade to "save" Germany.

A really good AH story by Fritz Leiber "Catch That Zeppelin!" gives a look at what a slightly more successful Hitler who could accept the defeat of Germany would be like. (The Allies didn't accept armistice ITTL and ran the German Army all the way back to Berlin to butterfly the DolchstoBlegende) .

YMMDV.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip, I'll consult that timeline.
Having said that, ITTL the DolchstoBlegende is most definitely reality. Regarding Hitler's Savvy (not Humility, Mein Kampf goes out as in OTL) I think it is a realistic premise. After all he was using the British to bully the French, he now simply knows that cannot be maintained.

La Rouge Beret said:

The question that I think this POD fails to address is would Hitler still desire and pursue power. Perhaps after reading all of these books he becomes political commentator or journalist?

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I think that is a given thing. After reading Nietsche his resolve will not be altered by any amount of tough reality. As in OTL.
Political commentator or journalist? Have you heard or seen his speeches (he was active in this before his imprisonment)? He relishes it, and he wants more.

Johnrankins said:

The biggest problem is Germany can prepare for GB or the USSR but not both. It can only strengthen its navy at the expense of its army and can only strengthen its army at the expense of its navy. German rearmament couldn't go significantly faster than it did OTL. It was basically maxed out. If it decides to build more battleships and subs , it will build less tanks and artillery. In that case Germany will have difficulty beating France not talking the British Empire or the USSR. Unless you massively change Hitler's ideology the USSR will remain enemy #1 and a big fleet won't help Germany fight Russia.

Click to expand...

This is the fundamental and classical counter argument for all dramatic timeline changes and one reason why I think they sometimes appear deterministic. It is true, but not unchangeable. Preparation, knowing what you want your air force, navy and army to do in advance is a major difference from our timeline. Granted, there are limits, but please see the reply about not necessarily building a bigger navy, but building the right one.

A few questions for the experts

I remember the debates about BlairWitch749 in "Der Manstein Kommt", planning to scrap the east wall fortifications to free up further resources.

Not surprisingly, ITTL, Hitler needs to ensure rapid victory by mobility and will invest much less in static defences.

ITTL, the east wall will never commence and steel and concrete works will be very limited on the west wall. I get the resources invested as worth 75-150 million reichsmark (from the Der Manstein Kommt, probably more like 75-100 million) on the east wall from 1933-1938, but how about the west wall?

Furthermore, the german heavy cruiser programme was technologically very advanced and used a double propulsion system. Any guesses on the extra cost of this and any comments on how much was invested in Seydlitz and Lützow by ~march 1940?

So your premise is that Hitler reads a book, has a "ahh perfidious albion" moment which changes him from an empire admirer to a it must be part of the reich by conquest but I am so cunning I will use the ultimate maskirovka by building a sealion fleet and supply fleet and luftwaffe and heer to invade GB which no one will ever suspect and I'll hoodwink France and Britain into falling out and I'll get the Abwher to fool the RN into building the wrong fleet.
I think you're either 6 months early or 6 months late

Byzer Bob said:

So your premise is that Hitler reads a book, has a "ahh perfidious albion" moment which changes him from an empire admirer to a it must be part of the reich by conquest but I am so cunning I will use the ultimate maskirovka by building a sealion fleet and supply fleet and luftwaffe and heer to invade GB which no one will ever suspect and I'll hoodwink France and Britain into falling out and I'll get the Abwher to fool the RN into building the wrong fleet.
I think you're either 6 months early or 6 months late

Click to expand...

I don't think it's out of the question that the German leader ship, or if we want to condense it to one person, Hitler, realizes prior to WWII that Britain will not simply accept German hegemony on the continent. There is the example of WWI to learn from, after all.

Of course, that doesn't mean that suddenly everything goes Germany's way, why would it? A change in strategic outlook does not suddenly make Hitler a brilliant strategist, and the personal opinions of various men in positions in power shaped the German's idea of war and their equipment. Plus the way the German industry is run is a major issue in how the Germans do.

Byzer Bob said:

So your premise is that Hitler reads a book, has a "ahh perfidious albion" moment which changes him from an empire admirer to a it must be part of the reich by conquest but I am so cunning I will use the ultimate maskirovka by building a sealion fleet and supply fleet and luftwaffe and heer to invade GB which no one will ever suspect and I'll hoodwink France and Britain into falling out and I'll get the Abwher to fool the RN into building the wrong fleet.
I think you're either 6 months early or 6 months late

Click to expand...

The only real POD so far that can be criticized is that Hitler realizes that Britain might stand in the way of Germanys rise to power - and that he takes offense against those standing in his way. The latter is hardly a POD. The only I have stated so far is that Hitler thinks he has a good plan for removing impossibly strong opposition (which I guess can never be a POD either). Yes, it will involve deception, first as in OTL using Britain against France and then against Britain. You'll have to wait and see what the deception is before you can really say it wouldn't work.

Chapter 2, rise to the center stage of politics 1924-1930

Following the release from prison Hitler set out to reorganize the shambles of his party, remove opposition and rise as ultimate leader. Hitler would organize the NSDAP as a mirror image of the government with subgroups specialized in economics, industry etc. (this is not a POD, see for example http://www.johndclare.net/Rempel_Hitler7.htm). The only difference from OTL, Hitler was to busy getting in power, was a closer early affiliation with Herman Göring. Herman Göring would claim that air power, not navy or land forces would be the decisive factor in the future and Hitler would meet with Göring and Rudolf Hess and late night sessions and discuss how the air power could be developed and used to throttle naval superiority and influence the outcome on the battlefield.

Through repeated discussions and genuine interest, Hitler would obtain a basic understanding of what a future air power would require (eg. engines, airframe, aerodynamics, guns and bombs), and would clench his fists when hearing of the progress obtained in other countries not bound by the Versailles treaty.

The first major changes occurred following the successes of the NSDAP in 1929 and 1930 that dramatically change the scale of the party organization. An actual rearmaments department was formed and given Hitlers personal attention, tasked to investigate rearmaments strategies by the future German Reich. A given priority, was to develop a concept that could provide fast and decisive victories. Through contacts from NSDAP members within the German army, Hitler was notified of the talks and radical concepts proposed by a junior officer Heinz Guderian. Hitler went to one of Guderians talks at the Berlin War Academy in 1930 and immediately became eager for more. For the first time he saw a man offering exactly what he needed and he would return the favor.
Guderian would henceforth on some occasions join the inner circle including Rudolf Hess, Göring and Hitler.
No such luck was obtained within the German naval leadership and Hitler had to face that no eminent theorists would provide the solution he craved. He organized a sub-department tasked with profiling senior naval officers intent on finding or bending the human material needed for his task. The newly appointed head of the Navy would soon be asked to answer for the long-term perspective of pocket battleships and other worthless trinkets only fit for sinking merchant ships.

Wrong Lesson???

It seems to me that a German account of Napoleon* would likely have emphasized that it was the Germans (or at least the Prussians**) who standing shoulder to shoulder with the British beat the then bogeyman of Europe in 1815. And also what doughty allies, etc, etc and how useful that they are to have on your side, the British are.
Edit:
Having raised which point I will bow out of this thread, which apparently has taken a different view.
Edit 2:
* Well, a German account of that sort likely to appeal to Hitler, which would (it seems to me - I might be in error on this) likely appeal in the first place by focusing on the Prussian/German role in the business.
** And of course the British king's German troops & allies from Hanover, etc,etc.

Gudestein said:

This is the fundamental and classical counter argument for all dramatic timeline changes and one reason why I think they sometimes appear deterministic. It is true, but not unchangeable. Preparation, knowing what you want your air force, navy and army to do in advance is a major difference from our timeline. Granted, there are limits, but please see the reply about not necessarily building a bigger navy, but building the right one.

Click to expand...

The problem is that the British will react. Build more subs? The Brits build more destroyers. Build more battleships? The Brits build more to match. The British people aren't stupid and will move to counter German moves. That is the problem.

Look More Closely Later said:

It seems to me that a German account of Napoleon* would likely have emphasized that it was the Germans (or at least the Prussians**) who standing shoulder to shoulder with the British beat the then bogeyman of Europe in 1815. And also what doughty allies, etc, etc and how useful that they are to have on your side, the British are.
Edit:
Having raised which point I will bow out of this thread, which apparently has taken a different view.
Edit 2:
* Well, a German account of that sort likely to appeal to Hitler, which would (it seems to me - I might be in error on this) likely appeal in the first place by focusing on the Prussian/German role in the business.
** And of course the British king's German troops & allies from Hanover, etc,etc.

Click to expand...

The view that the British are nice to have on our (German) side were the interpretation of OTL so it is certainly valid. The comment on the last war does bring the alternative view close to mind. Reading Napoleon would - at least to the Literate Führer - bring about the conclusion that the British goal is not to allow any one power, german or French to be all dominant. That is probably the right interpretation and that is the POD.
An additional point which I think is valid: This Hitler is likely to see a side of himself in the Napoleon figure - man of history, action, genious - and therefore see the british as an obstacle also relevant for him.

Chapter three- the plan takes form

The plan that had emerged in Hitlers mind while imprisoned was not detailed are in any way thought, but simply consisted of the realization that the british must be beaten, and that he had understood how long they could be played as an ally and when they could not. He instinctly felt -knew! - that this could be exploited to bring about the british downfall. With the alliance with Guderian and the assurances from Göring, he had the assurances of the rapid and decisive warfare he needed. Still, a clear picture, the action plan he needed had not materialized. With the landslide election victories of July 1932 and his ability to control a force much larger than the german army he knew power was at hand. His uncertainty as to how to use it became a major source of frustration. Ultimately, in a rare quiet moment in august 1932, the head of the german navy, Erich Raeder was invited to a clandestine meeting.

Curiously he entered the Berlin restaurant - a gloomy place serving heavy traditional german food- and was shown to the basement and a secluded serving room by a muscular giant . Present was Hitler, Hess and Göring.

Raeder was briefly introduced and food was brought in. They ate in silence for a few minutes until the silence became truly unnerving.
Hitler cleaned his chin with a handkerchief and took the word.
"My Dearest Admiral. I know you have not expressed any fondness of the German nationalsocialistic workers party, but you are certainly a known patriot of Germany and not a communist.
Please explain to me how you see the role of the German navy after we reject the shackles of Versailles? How can the naval forces contribute to Germanys rise to power once again?"
Raeder turned pale.... This was his worst nightmare come true...The exact question he had been faced with every day and incredibly hard to answer....He had to do something: "It depends....on the circumstances.. " He started out - franticly trying to regain his confidence.