alternatehistory.com

As we all know, after Hitler died in July 1941 by a sudden heart attack Goring took over Nazi Germany.

This had huge a huge impact, the new Fuhrer was not a fan of Barbarossa and in November 1941, just months after the operation started, he signed with Stalin an improved repeat of the Brest Litovsk treaty, ending the invasion but gaining huge tracks of land and resources.

The consequences of this were huge, the fact that Germany managed to gain such a clear victory over the Soviets shocked the British morale, this only got worse with Goring declaring war on Japan after condemning the attacks at Pear Harbor and blaming Britain's belligerence on keeping Germany from being able to help the US at fighting Japan. All of this combined with Goring's efforts to clean Germany's image in the west made Churchill unable to convince the British to keep the war going and after being forced out of office Britain finally made peace with Germany in early 1942 in exchange of restoring France's autonomy.

In the Soviet Union such a crushing defeat heavily undermined the faith in the Communist Party, this prompted Stalin to initiate another great purge of the army, which was his undoing as the army was no longer willing to tolerate him and he was finally sacked and executed. These events ensured that the Soviet system would not last beyond the 50s, ending the communist state.

The rosy times soon ended for Germany however, since the Nazi economy was heavily dependant on war and looting after a few years of peace Germany fell into an economic crisis, controversial accusations that the Nazi early period of brutality was an universal effort rather than the sole blame of the purged SS arised and eventually the Nazi Party was forced out of power.

Yet as we know Germany was able to rise from the crisis as a solid democracy and clearly the war victories eventually paid off, indeed today Germany along with the US are the only world superpowers.

However, what if this didnt happened?

As we know this was a very controversial choice, the original plan for Barbarossa called for much greater territorial gains, gaining everything all the way up to the Urals and indeed the German Army was destroying the Red Army left and right, in fact the only reason Goring was able to extort Stalin into such an agreement was because of how bad the Soviets were doing against the Germans. There were very strong calls to halt the agreement and some sources go as far as to claim that a coup was about to happen, many saw in Goring a cowardly traitor to Hitler's legacy. Yet, the powerful fact that the war with Britain was ongoing as well as some generals being skeptical that this rate of victory would keep going all the way to the Urals allowed Goring to get his way.

But what if Goring succumbed to the pressure from the pro war faction and stuck to Hitler's original plans?

The Germans were pounding the Soviets really bad so, do you think Goring missed a great chance by settling for what he got? Could Germany had actually conquered everything all the way to the Urals? Or at least get greater gains than in OTL?

Would such gains be enough to prevent the crisis and perhaps boost Germany to the point that by now it would had surpassed the US as a superpower rather than the rivalry of today?

Was Goring's shot for a quick end to Barbarossa a logical choice? Or the act of a chickened out man that settled for way less than he could?

How would the current world look as a result?

I would like to hear your opinions on this.
Top