alternatehistory.com

It is often pointed out how crazy it was for Hitler to declare war on Germany’s much bigger neighbor that supplied it with oil, grain and other raw materials needed by the Third Reich.

So a thought occurred to me: what if Mr. Kill-all-Slavs-Jews-and-Gypsies kicks the bucket at some point and whomever takes over the leadership of the Third Reich thinks “gee, maybe attacking the U.S.S.R. isn’t such a good idea?”.

Instead, the Third Reich pursues friendly relations with the Soviet Union, providing technical expertise to U.S.S.R. in exchange for raw resources. Although initially an equal partnership, as Soviet Union becomes more and more industrialized and self-sufficient the need for German technical support diminishes while Germany is still dependent on Soviet grain and oil. As a result, Germany is drawn into Soviet Union’s political sphere, possibly akin to the U.S.-U.K. “Special Relationship”. As Germany becomes more dependent on and influenced by Soviet Union, the National Socialist party changes bit-by-bit from a fascist to an actual socialist party in an attempt to forge better relations with its partner.

How plausible is this? What POD would need to occur for something like this to take place (assume the POD has to be after Hitler takes power in Germany)? Depending on the POD, does the partition of Poland still take place? What about invasion of France? What is the balance of power like in the world assuming there is no war between U.S.S.R. and Nazi Germany? What impact does “Red” Nazi Germany friendly to Soviet Union have on Europe and U.S.A.? How does history remember the National Socialist Party?
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