Hitler doesn't start WWII

[DominusNovus]

What if WWII didn't start with Hitler invading Poland? Either he backs down or he gets the corridor w/o war. Then, lets assume that he doesn't push the allies anymore and sits content with what he's got (regardless of the fact that its almost impossible that he'd do this). What happens next?

The most obvious answer is that Stalin starts some sort of war and Germany and Russia duke it out.

[Steffen]

So Germany gets the corridor and Danzig.

From my reading, hitler feared his death and so he hastened his "programm"
This leads to the question:
a) Will Hitler try to exterminate the Jews?
b) If he does, how will the german population react to genocide that happens right in one´s backyard, when evicence leaks out?
c) Will this trigger an intervention of the western allies?

[Max Sinister]

Hitler WANTED a war, and unless he dies before he can start it, there's no way you can stop him, unless you make him a completely different person. He had calculated that 1943/45 would be the last possible year to start a war, because afterwards the Allies would've had enough time to increase their armies as much as Germany did. Besides, Germany was almost broke in 1938 already. Fortunately (for Hitler), in this year he annexed Austria and forced the Jews to pay 1 billion marks, and got the Czech gold one year later. And during the "corridor crisis" he hoped that nobody would make Poland to agree again. He was quite impatient.

[DominusNovus]

Originally Posted by Max Sinister

Hitler WANTED a war, and unless he dies before he can start it, there's no way you can stop him, unless you make him a completely different person. He had calculated that 1943/45 would be the last possible year to start a war, because afterwards the Allies would've had enough time to increase their armies as much as Germany did. Besides, Germany was almost broke in 1938 already. Fortunately (for Hitler), in this year he annexed Austria and forced the Jews to pay 1 billion marks, and got the Czech gold one year later. And during the "corridor crisis" he hoped that nobody would make Poland to agree again. He was quite impatient.

I understand all this. Lets just assume for the moment that, for some reason, war is averted and he doesn't press his luck. Maybe he figures Stalin will start a war soon anyway, so that'll give him a good chance to get a war, and look good doing it.

[wkwillis]

Hitler gets the Sudetenland. Then he grabs all of Czechoslovakia, then he drops dead and deputy Fuhrer Hess trades Teschen and Ruthenia to Poland for the Correidor? The Czechs and Slovaks aren't happy, but what can they do about it even after Hess kicks them out?
No war till 1940 or 41, when Stalin attacks?

[NapoleonXIV]

Hitler's underlings didn't want to kill the Jews, at least professedly, until war and 1941. The general idea was to deport them, with Madagascar being one suggested place among others.

Here's a weird (im)possibility, Hitler doesn't start the war and Stalin doesn't either (maybe this should be in ASB). Goebbels and Goering make a deal with the Zionists (the ones founded by Nathan Birnbaum et.al. in the 1890's) to support the new state of Israel in return for a PR whitewash of their Jewish expulsion. Seeing as the alternative is the Holocaust, the Zionists agree. We end up with a Nazi state in the 60's still seen as a friend to Israel.

Yeh, ASB definitely, but the rest of the thread is here.

[Max Sinister]

But why should the Jews trust the nazis after what they've done? If the Nazis would force them "you agree or you die" maybe, but even then... after the Jews are all safe in Israel, the nazis don't have anything in their hand against them, and the Jews are ready to get their revenge, if they want...

[Adamanteus]

Apparently, Hitler had to start a war because, based on the predictions of certain historians, because of his rearmament program, Germany would've suffered an economic collapse by 1942. The whole economic upturn in Germany of the 1930's was all a farce, artificially generated by deficit spending by Hitler, mostly on military spending. I don't know if Hitler knew this but he would've certainly felt COMPELLED to go to war before 1942 for that reason.

[DominusNovus]

Yes, Nazi Germany needed war. I figure Stalin would provide one eventually, so all Hitler has to do is goad him into starting the war, which puts the Nazis in a better light (defending Europe from the ravaging hordes).

[NapoleonXIV]

Originally Posted by Max Sinister

But why should the Jews trust the nazis after what they've done? If the Nazis would force them "you agree or you die" maybe, but even then... after the Jews are all safe in Israel, the nazis don't have anything in their hand against them, and the Jews are ready to get their revenge, if they want...

The Nazis were the originals on the idea of keeping a few relatives behind to guarantee cooperation, which would also make them look even more innocent to the world.

Adamanteus, did Hitler do it with deficit spending? I thought he just looted the Jews.

[Adam Parsons]

Well, I don't think that's it's very likely Stalin would invade Western Europe. After all, the man always seemed to act on the principal that 2:1 odds in your favor isn't the recipie for success. He may go after the Japanese though, which may or may not bring the Nazis in too.