Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and Slovak Republic in no WW2 TL?

Hey guys,

After the annexation of the rump Czech state by Nazi Germany, let's say that Hitler dies. This can either be from natural causes or an assassination, either way he's not Führer anymore and a more calm, less war-obsessed person takes over. This would obviously stop the Invasion of Poland, and thus no Second World War would begin (or at least not one from the invasion of Poland).

What would this calmer and more logical Führer (or Chancellor if they separate the jobs again) do with the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia? I mean they've just annexed it, but now the Western European states have lost all trust in Germany. So does this new Chancellor grant the Czech rump state independence? If so would the Czechs and Slovaks re-unite, or might Germany keep them apart?

If Germany doesn't give it independence, then what happens in the Slovak State that's simply a client state to Germany?
 

cumbria

Banned
Hey guys,

After the annexation of the rump Czech state by Nazi Germany, let's say that Hitler dies. This can either be from natural causes or an assassination, either way he's not Führer anymore and a more calm, less war-obsessed person takes over. This would obviously stop the Invasion of Poland, and thus no Second World War would begin (or at least not one from the invasion of Poland).

What would this calmer and more logical Führer (or Chancellor if they separate the jobs again) do with the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia? I mean they've just annexed it, but now the Western European states have lost all trust in Germany. So does this new Chancellor grant the Czech rump state independence? If so would the Czechs and Slovaks re-unite, or might Germany keep them apart?

If Germany doesn't give it independence, then what happens in the Slovak State that's simply a client state to Germany?

Goring favoured the Czech rump state to be a client state along Slovak lines rather than be incorporated into the Reich.
If he takes over after Hitler which is likely he may offer it that status to appease the West.
Which in turn may drop its guarantee to Poland which may make Poland more pliable but I doubt it.
If it does so there is less likelihood of a Nazi-Soviet pact.
If then Goring still decides to invade Poland I would think he would re-claim its 1914 borders and create a Polish rump state.
Which may be acceptable to the West.
 
Germany wouldn't just pull out just because Hitler has died (though the whole occupation thing was largely his wish). They'd appear weak if they did that, and the Czechs wouldn't really be any friendlier towards Germany after all that.

They could set up a puppet regime, but would they find suitable accomplices? The pre-occupation regime in rump Czechoslovakia (we call it the 2nd republic) was about the most pro-German (or rather, German-appeasing) in history, and they ruined the last remnants of its credibility when they occupied the country.

I think the "protectorate" would stay, though perhaps without Hitler it wouldn't be as bad as it was in OTL. People often underestimate its economic importance for Germany, so they'd likely keep it.

Speaking of the economy, the rump Czechoslovakia was hardly viable. Crucial transportation lines (railways, roads) were severed* and many business chains were broken when the products and raw materials stopped flowing freely from the borderlands to the interior. Slovakia was an economic non-entity, so the Germans might just as well let Hungary take all of it - in time.

* - My grandmother once told me how it was to travel from her native village in the southern Moravia to Brno (Brünn). The train had to cross the newly annexed territory and the Germans really loved to prolong the whole process of border checks as much as they could. A trip that had previously took about 2 hours suddenly took 4 or more hours, which really complicated the lives of the villagers who had to travel to Brno to sell their produce. Now imagine what it must have done to large industries, which in addition to that lost subsidiaries and business partners in Sudetenland.
 
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cumbria

Banned
Germany wouldn't just pull out just because Hitler has died (though the whole occupation thing was largely his wish). They'd appear weak if they did that, and the Czechs wouldn't really be any friendlier towards Germany after all that.

They could set up a puppet regime, but would they find suitable accomplices? The pre-occupation regime in rump Czechoslovakia (we call it the 2nd republic) was about the most pro-German (or rather, German-appeasing) in history, and they ruined the last remnants of its credibility when they occupied the country.

I think the "protectorate" would stay, though perhaps without Hitler it wouldn't be as bad as it was in OTL. People often underestimate its economic importance for Germany, so they'd likely keep it.

Speaking of the economy, the rump Czechoslovakia was hardly viable. Crucial transportation lines (railways, roads) were severed and many business chains were broken when the products and raw materials stopped flowing freely from the borderlands to the interior. Slovakia was an economic non-entity, so the Germans might just as well let Hungary take all of it - in time.

I didnt suggest they would pull out.
 
Slovakia was an economic non-entity, so the Germans might just as well let Hungary take all of it - in time.

Actually, economy of WWII Slovak republic in ITL was pretty good. Export to Germany, Italy and Switzerland far more exceed the import. No need for food imports, minimal food rationing.
A lot of factories were built shortly before 1938 but even after A-H dissolved in 1918, Slovakia was one of most industrialized parts of Hungary. Of course after 1918 when it lost markets in former Hungarian parts of A-H, economy went down.
 
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