PlasmaTorch
Banned
The Nazi economy was dependent on looting the territory of each nation it conquered. Without Czech resources, most particularly their gold reserves, the Reich's economy probably collapses before Hitler can invade.
Lots of people claim this on other threads, but they never seem to cite a source. Do you have any? While its true that germany had an employment rate of over 100% (too many jobs and not enough workers), that doesn't necessarily mean they were destined for a collapse.
The other problem is that the Germans crucially needed Czech industry for their war effort. The factories of companies like Skoda and the well-developed Czech military-industrial complex were critical to building up the Wehrmacht. Without it, they would be in far worse shape militarily. The OTL Nazi invasion of Poland was actually a more even fight than many assume; they took heavy casualties. Without the Czech population and economy, it would be even more so.
You are correct about the contributions that czechslovakia made to the reichs war effort, of course. But poland, an even fight? It was nothing of the sort. The poles fought better on a man for man basis than the soviets did in barbarossa, but their defeat was never in question.
Did you know that 95% of germanys war deaths only came after they invaded the USSR? Their victorys in poland, denmark, norway, france, the low countrys, greece, and yugoslavia came at an astonishingly small price. The battle of poland could be twice as bloody as OTL and it still wouldn't affect them.
Even if Britain and France didn't declare war, they would look very negatively on this and would probably heavily sanction Germany, putting further pressure on their economy. Given that the Nazis didn't have enough motor transport in OTL, that 70% of what they did have was captured during the Battle of France, that they not only don't have that but also don't have Czech industry, and that they probably took worse losses in Poland, any chance of Barbarossa succeeding, slim enough IOTL, is DOA in this TL.
Another big question is if this butterflies the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact somehow. That would make the Nazi position even worse.
Going after poland before czechslovakia would be a bad move, true. Maybe a worse strategy than OTL when you take everything into consideration.