What is the maximum territorial expansion Germany can achieve in Europe WITHOUT triggering WW2? (Assuming WW1 goes as OTL)

[RedSword12]

He was in persuit of war is true, though I disagree it would be in persuit of a war with the West, or specifically that annexation of Bohemia Moravia only made sense in persuit of war with the West. As for the economy, the economy absolutely experienced a downturn on the Ruhr, I believe in terms of coal extraction, in the first quarter of 1939. Whether it would lead to collapse, would it lead to collapse, probably not, but Hitler was working without the benefit of hindsight, he annexed the rump, took the gold, reorganised the industries, and it seems to have bought him time. As for Hitler himself, it's possible that Scheubner-Richter living after the Munich Putsch could push Hitler to more grand strategy, or perhaps some other POD can do it, you don't necessarily need to remove him.

I'm not saying Hitler was pursuing war with the West. I'm saying that annexing Czechoslovakia was counterproductive for avoiding it. Hitler wanted above all else a war with the Soviet Union, undisturbed by the Western Allies. Would Germany have been in a worse economic situation if they hadn't annexed it? Sure, but they also would not have found themselves staring down the barrel of an Anglo-Franco-Polish alliance. If you want to fight the Soviet Union eventually, it makes more sense to not annex Czechoslovakia, and to convince the Polish government that if they don't hop on board, they will be partitioned with the Soviets. The Polish government's biggest mistake in the aftermath of Munich was failing to discern that they would have to pick a side, or be invaded by both.
At any rate, Munich more or less brought the Balkans into Germany's economic orbit, with the clear economic benefits that entailed.

 

[skarosianlifeform]

If Hitler's able to bait stalin into sparking off WWII instead, the germans can get their goals in the east _without_ sparking a war. IDK if this technically counts since it'd be just them advantage of the soviets' starting a war and being able to be on the *allied side.

Which wouldn't happen. Stalin only preyed on weak isolated countries when the other great powers were busy, or if he hoped to peacefully get away with it. He took a bit more risks in 46-48 (Iran, Berlin) but did back down when the USA stood firm

So in 38-41, if Germans don't start a war first, Stalin will sit tight in Moscow

 

[GuildedAgeNostalgia]

The Germans could get:

- Rhineland
- Austria
- Czechoslovakia
- Small parts of Poland/Lithuania through good diplomacy.
- Maybe the southern part of the Jutland which they lost to Denmark after WW1.

 

[mianfei]

Hitler stops after Czechoslovakia.

The logical answer. People must remember how hostile the ruling classes of Britain were to democracy, as noted by Clement Leibovitz in his book In Our Time: The Chamberlain–Hitler Collusion. Indeed, a 2010 article about Herman Wouk titled ‘The First Neoconservative’, notes that:

…the aims of Hitler’s Munich collaborators (as Clement Leibovitz calls them in his book In Our Time: The Chamberlain–Hitler Collusion 1998) were precisely the containment of not just communism, but socialism and liberalism as well. Upper class groups in England, France and the United States viewed Hitler’s regime in a positive manner. They saw fascism and Nazism as a[ ]way to protect their privileges and property from radical social change.

Thus, once Czechoslovakia, the only remaining democracy away from the North Atlantic rim, was destroyed and replaced by Nazi rule in the west and the clerical fascism of the Slovak State under Father Jozef Tiso in the east, the ruling classes in the West would have to some extent gained what they had always desired. They might have turned toward focusing on overthrowing the democratic gains of the working classes at home over the preceding century.

The problem is that even if the Western ruling elites were satisfied they had achieved all they had to with the complete disappearance of democracy from Europe outside the North Atlantic rim, there remained two basic problems:

1. what to do with the USSR, where Hitler always insisted he sought Lebensraum
2. how would Hitler avoid the conflicts he already had with the authoritarian regimes of Eastern Europe