AH: Tandey kills Hitler in 1918

I found this little tidbit off of TV Tropes, and I found it the most interesting what if of the day:

During the battle of Marcoing, a wounded German soldier walked into Pvt. Henry Tandey's line of fire, but he couldn't bring himself to shoot the man, so he let him go. That soldier was later found out to be Adolf Hitler.
So what if he killed him instead?

 
That depends it might butterfly WW2 as we know it, thes Nazi's as we know them and the holocaust. However Anti-Semitism would still be around in Germany. If there is a communist threat, and the great depression still happens Germany could be for some uncertain times.
 
Anti-Semitism would still be around everywhere, with Germany likely not even the worst.
Nazism would definitely be butterflied away, though; without Hitler's Charisma to draw in both the masses and high-standing individuals to provide the party with members, money and connections/influence, it's very unlikely they'd ever rise the way they did OTL.

I'm more sceptical about WW2 being butterflied away, though. Because the german population will want revanche more likely than not, and whoever ends up controlling germany in place of Hitler might very well end up giving in, whether out of public pressure or individual desire.

- Kelenas
 
I'm more sceptical about WW2 being butterflied away, though. Because the german population will want revanche more likely than not, and whoever ends up controlling germany in place of Hitler might very well end up giving in, whether out of public pressure or individual desire.

Some of the German public wanted revanche. Very little of it wanted revanche badly enough to start a second war.

World War I was a disaster for Germany. It killed over 2M German soldiers, and left hundreds of thousands mutilated. By the end of the war, the German people were starving. Then the army collapsed under massive Allied attack. And this despite knocking Russia out of the war, and nearly defeating France in 1918. They lost, and they knew it. (The dolchstosslegende was a stick to beat the SDs with.) And afterwards the country was bankrupt - even before they were loaded with reparation debt.

Britain had less than half as many dead, out of 2/3 the population. And they won. Yet Britain was so traumatized that its intellectual establishment became practically pacifist. ("This House will not fight for King and Country.")

The leadership of the German army were very dubious about starting another war. So was the business elite - they would have to pay for it. The Communists and Social Democrats were opposed. Even many of the Nazis didn't want to jump into another general war; they wanted Germany to re-arm, assert itself as a Great Power, and gain some revision of the Versailles settlements - but by negotiation, not war if possible.

Hitler was the great gambler - and once he was in power, nobody argued with the Fuhrer. Especially after his gambles in the Rhineland, Austria, and Sudetenland all paid off.

Even then, the German people were very quiet about the actual start of the war - there were no parades like in 1914.

After the spectacular victories over Poland, Norway, and France, attitudes changed of course. But that was later.
 
Even if the Ntional Socilaist Party is butterflied away, a definite possibility exists that a similar (right wing) movement will exist. Just like the Italian Fascist and the Austrians (which developed independently from the GErman version).

Revanchist movements might exist.

THe German industry migth at some point demand that GErmany is again allowed to produce weapons (and export them).

Even before 1933 Germany did weapons research and weapomns development (often abroad - Russia, but with German personell).

The later Wehrmacht built on the earlier Reichswehr, so you can assume Germany could expand its army rather quickly even without OTLs political system.

But I still think Germany would be "less" agressive than OTL. I also assume that at one time during the 30s we will get a Socialist government (not communist).


but

Germany will (at one time)

1. restablish territorial sovereignity (Rhineland)
2. reverse Versailles limitations on the military (it did when it renegotiated the naval part with the UK alone)
3. try to "solve" territorial problems with neighbours (AL is a no go and GErmany knows this, but Danzig, status of the corridor and the Sudeten question might be "negotiable in a limited way)

Anti semitism might be as strong as OTLs antisemitism in France, but will not lead to the OTLs holocaust.

Germany will be on better trems with France, UK and the smaller Western and Northern States.

Depending obn the above mentuioned territorial problems the relations to Poland and Czechoslovakia might be better or equally bad. Russia will be viewed as a trading partner (and a possibilty to conduct secret research).

Germany might continue good relations with China and side with the US and the othern Western states when (and if) Japan expands to China.

Italy will be much more isolated if it attacks Abyssinia and the Spanish civil war will be won by the republican side (probably). But there might be the possibilty that afterwards the Communist will try to overthrow a republican government which might be the spark for a wider conflict.

At one time Russia might go to war with Poland again - this too might be another spark for a larger conflict, but overall the wars in Europe might be more local.

maybe Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia might split at some time.
 
During the battle of Marcoing, a wounded German soldier walked into Pvt. Henry Tandey's line of fire, but he couldn't bring himself to shoot the man, so he let him go. That soldier was later found out to be Adolf Hitler.

Interesting story (at first I thought you must be referencing a Twilight Zone ep:D) though from a quick search the only citation I can find is for a UK tabloid article published in 1940; personally, I'd want to see some confirmation of the allegations that Hitler did believe this story during the thirties, and/or that he did tell Chamberlain about it in their meeting at the Berchtesgaden.
 
Those noting anti-semitism existing in various locations in Europe after the Great War are quite right: in Inside Europe, written in the late '30s by John Gunther, the author notes prevalent anti-semitism in Poland, for example. Hence, you'd likely have an endemic condition leading to more emigration to the New World (imagine, say, Sigmund Freud emigrating not to London but perhaps New York?).

It seems to me that those noting the unwillingness to foot the bill (both the butcher and financially) for another war are on to something. That suggests a revanchist sense in Germany, but one that's largely leaderless. If so, we'd see Europe descending into a proto-cold war similar to that which existed in the first decade of the 20th century albeit with the lines redrawn somewhat: Germany and France would still be looking daggers at each other; the Soviet Union might be casting covetous eyes on Poland, Finland and the Baltic republics; the targets of Soviet chop-licking might form a cold-soldered coalition of sorts against the Soviets.
 
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