Hitler Dies in 1940

In June 1940 Adolf Hitler is at the Wolfs Lair when he abruptly suffers from a heart attack and dies in the arms of his mistress Eva Brown. With Hitler dead how is the war affected?

Remember as well that no senior Nazi liked any other senior Nazi due to Hitler having played them off against each other for his favour ever since the Nazi's ascended to power.
 

nbcman

Donor
In June 1940 Adolf Hitler is at the Wolfs Lair when he abruptly suffers from a heart attack and dies in the arms of his mistress Eva Brown. With Hitler dead how is the war affected?

Remember as well that no senior Nazi liked any other senior Nazi due to Hitler having played them off against each other for his favour ever since the Nazi's ascended to power.

There are other Hitler Dies discussions on the board. Additionally, construction on Wolfsschanze did not begin until the fall of 1940 so he couldn't have died there in June of '40.
 

Geon

Donor
Hitler Greatest German Hero

In the TV documentary "The Seduction of Adolf Hitler", a former Hitler Youth member and historian noted that if Hitler had died in 1940, before the Holocaust, he would be considered the greatest German leader since Bismarck. I have heard several different voices from other sources echoing this thought.

Hitler's death at this time makes him a hero with the German people since by this time France is being humbled. Indeed Hitler's mystique by his death at this time would be boosted in the same way that President Franklin D. Roosevelt's was since Roosevelt died just short of victory. In the same way Hitler dies just short of seeing the French, hereditary enemy of Germany, humbled.

My humble guess is that a triumvirate forms to lead the Reich led by Hess, Goering, and Himmler. It is Goering and not Hitler that gets to gloat at Compeign and receive the French surrender. Given Goering's arrogance I would also say the Battle of Britain also occurs pretty much as it did in OTL.

Hess does not make his famous flight to England. Rather he tries to persuade the other two in the triumvirate that it is to their best interests to negotiate with Britain while preparing for the war with Russia. This may delay but not stop Barbarossa by several months to a year, allowing the generals to develop slightly better plans.

Barbarossa kicks off in 1942 rather then 1941 due to Hess's insistence on attempting to get a separate peace with Britain. Both Germany and Russia are better prepared for the war. Whether Germany still aids Mussolini in his bungled attempts to take Greece and in North Africa is up in the air. None of the triumvirate would have felt particularly disposed to aid Mussolini on the other hand leaving the Balkan front exposed would not be acceptable. I leave these areas of consideration for others on this thread to consider.

In any case, I see the war lasting longer and possibly ending more along the lines of Calbear's scenario in the Anglo/Nazi war TL. There is one major difference, it is Himmler, Goering, and their "gang" that get the blame for the holocaust. As far as the German people will be concerned, Hitler remains an untarnished hero (shudder!! :eek:)

And THAT is a truly frightening prospect!

Geon
 
I'd personally think that the British would be happier to conclude an armistice with Goering, and that Nazi Germany continues in its rapprochment with the USSR rather than helter-skeltering towards Barbarossa.

Best Regards
Grey Wolf
 

Geon

Donor
Armistice with Goering

Gray Wolf

I have to disagree with you.

First Churchill was nothing if not pugnacious. I don't see Goering offering any different peace terms then Hitler did. Unless Goering has some very tempting offer for the British other then, we keep what we've got and you keep what you've got, which was essentially the offer Hitler made following the fall of France, Churchill is still not going to go for it and will continue the war.

As for Russia, Nazi dogma practically demanded an eventual show-down with the Soviet Union. It was not a matter of "if" there was going to be a confrontation, it was simply a matter of "when".

Geon
 
In the TV documentary "The Seduction of Adolf Hitler", a former Hitler Youth member and historian noted that if Hitler had died in 1940, before the Holocaust, he would be considered the greatest German leader since Bismarck. I have heard several different voices from other sources echoing this thought.

There may not be a Holocaust but there were already concentration camps and ghettoes. Hitler has still got them into an unwinnable war as well.
 

abc123

Banned
Anthrax, but I digress.

You're presuming that this removes American and Soviet intervention.

Sarin, Soman and Tabun, but I digress...

You're presuming that things will go like OTL, even with so large butterfly...

;)
 
Sarin, Soman and Tabun, but I digress...

Very deadly gases, which can linger for a few weeks if I'm not mistaken. Anthrax, on the other hand, can continue to infect an area for decades.

You're presuming that things will go like OTL, even with so large butterfly...

I'm not presuming things will go like OTL, I do believe in the inevitability of a Nazi-Soviet conflict however, unless they've been forced into alliance with each other and FDR's still going to try and help in every way he can.
 
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