What’s the best deal territorywise that Germany could have realistically gotten after WWII?

Personally, I think Oder-Bober and keeping Stettin, with Poland then keeping Lwów. Keeping Breslau is probably not realistic because it would double the length of the German-Polish border

And please, give Glatz to Czechoslovakia, not Poland, to avoid that weird dip in the border.

(I would have preferred a reversion to 1933 borders, but with Stalin, that’s not realistic)
 
Ummm...?
OTL, it's not like they were really in a position to make a deal bro...
Defining your ATL position for Germany at the end of the war would be helpful.
 
Tbh the deal they got otl was the best available. Considering the crimes the Nazis committed, Germany was lucky to not be split into more than two countries.
 
Tbh the deal they got otl was the best available. Considering the crimes the Nazis committed, Germany was lucky to not be split into more than two countries.

They could have easily kept Stettin and the Land west of the Bober, if America and Britain had held firm.
 
Then read the first sentence after I wrote after Umm...
They had Zero chance of dictating (or begging, or pleading) anything, with regards to future European borders.
They were absolutely destroyed as both a political entity, and as a Nation.

Edit: And please note that you did add the qualifier:"realistically" in your thread title.

End thread/
 
Personally, I think Oder-Bober and keeping Stettin, with Poland then keeping Lwów. Keeping Breslau is probably not realistic because it would double the length of the German-Polish border

And please, give Glatz to Czechoslovakia, not Poland, to avoid that weird dip in the border.

(I would have preferred a reversion to 1933 borders, but with Stalin, that’s not realistic)
A deal implys that they had a true hand in the borders, like Iron said they had literally no say in those borders, they might be able to get a border based on the Oder river.
 
They could have easily kept Stettin and the Land west of the Bober, if America and Britain had held firm.
Two words: Morgenthau. Plan. The Nazis had destroyed Germany in their mad war. If Germany kept trying to hold on to Stettin in the peace talks, the Allies would’ve most likely said “okay, no more Mr. Nice Guy” and split it into even smaller countries with no industry whatsoever.
 
Two words: Morgenthau. Plan. The Nazis had destroyed Germany in their mad war. If Germany kept trying to hold on to Stettin in the peace talks, the Allies would’ve most likely said “okay, no more Mr. Nice Guy” and split it into even smaller countries with no industry whatsoever.
The western allies shouldn’t have caved to Stalin’s demands.
 
The western allies shouldn’t have caved to Stalin’s demands.
And Hitler shouldn’t have thought that fighting three powers that were far stronger than his Germany was a good idea. Given the fact that by war’s end there were Russians buying souvenir shirts in Berlin and Americans taking Rhine river cruises, Germany was in no position to do anything but roll over and accept the terms offered.
 
I think a possible way to have Germany keep further eastern lands is to divide it into smaller states and have the Allies might put their foot down more as these nations on their own wouldn't pose as much of a threat if Germany reunifies, then when they later unite this Re-unified Germany would then still have large parts of it's eastern lands.
 
The western allies shouldn’t have caved to Stalin’s demands.
That's on FDR. What's done is done.
GERMANY herself had no way of changing the historical outcome. That is what you asked. If you rephrased this as "what is the best deal the WAllies could have got with regards to the eastern German borders" then that's an entirely different question.
Germany was impotent.
 
There were a variety of proposed boundaries following WWII OTL.

The most generous to Germany would have been "Line D" below. Germany loses East Prussia, Danzig, the easternmost portion of Pomerania, and Upper Silesia.

Vertreibungsgebiet.jpg




In hindsight, it was likely a strategic blunder on the part of the Soviets not to leave East Germany larger considering how strong the East German economy was and how crucial it was to the eastern bloc.

There's a joke: Mao calls up Stalin in 1950 and starts making asks...

Mao: We need 10,000 Trucks.
Stalin: No problem, you've got it.
Mao: We also need 100,000 radios
Stalin: No problem, you've got it.
Mao: Wow! Can we get 200,000 bags of rice too?
Stalin: That we can't do.
Mao: Really? Why is that?
Stalin: Rice doesn't grow in East Germany.
 
There were a variety of proposed boundaries following WWII OTL.

The most generous to Germany would have been "Line D" below. Germany loses East Prussia, Danzig, the easternmost portion of Pomerania, and Upper Silesia.

Vertreibungsgebiet.jpg




In hindsight, it was likely a strategic blunder on the part of the Soviets not to leave East Germany larger considering how strong the East German economy was and how crucial it was to the eastern bloc.

There's a joke: Mao calls up Stalin in 1950 and starts making asks...

Mao: We need 10,000 Trucks.
Stalin: No problem, you've got it.
Mao: We also need 100,000 radios
Stalin: No problem, you've got it.
Mao: Wow! Can we get 200,000 bags of rice too?
Stalin: That we can't do.
Mao: Really? Why is that?
Stalin: Rice doesn't grow in East Germany.

(my bold) And that about sums it up.
Stalin would have fought tooth and nail to give up anything that FDR agreed to give him. He never had any idea to release the economies in Eastern Europe back to their indigenous Governments. They paid the price (in blood) to destroy Hitler, and to the victor go the spoils.
 
After reunification there was some fear in Eastern Europe that the Germans were going to buy back the lands, few trusted their governments to not take the money. There's an often repeated claim that Kohl was willing to pay the Soviets 100 billion DM for the go ahead for reunification, how public that "offer" was i dont know. So for this thread suppose they do go ahead and try to buy it, would Poland/Russia/Lithuania take the offer? Are they desperate enough?
 

Deleted member 94680

The absolute best they could get would be neutralisation and no division. Neither West or East were interested in that though, so you need a PoD in the WAllies and Soviet leadership to achieve this.
 
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