World War Two with Germany inevitable?

yourworstnightmare

Banned
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Without Hitler, but leaving Versailles and the Great Depression into place, it is extremely likely that Germany goes into a "sane" authoritarian-nationalist regime in the 1930s crisis, which pursues the irredentist objectives of Austria, Sudetenland, Danzig, and the Corridor with the same determination but rather more diplomatic tact and leaves post-Munich Czechoslovakia alone. As a result, the Polish question is dealt by in the Munich II conference, isolated Poland either submits or faces Germany alone in war. It loses Danzig, Corridor, and Upper Silesia if it doesn't fight, the 1914 territories if it does. Germany leaves rump Poland alone, the Western powers don't intervene, WWII as we know it doesn't occur. Watch out for rampages by Stalin and Japan, however.
Nah, I doubt the West would allow Germany swallow anything they want in any scenario, and Poland would definitely fight (even if they lose badly).
Japan would probably create havoc as OTL. Stalin... only with a aggressive Germany would he dare to make a move. If Western Europe are united, Stalin wouldn't be able to conuer anything, and he knew that.
 
Germany wouldnt be the cause, the Soviet Union would be! In my opinion Joseph Stalin would have invaded Poland, causing a second world war.
 

Eurofed

Banned
Nah, I doubt the West would allow Germany swallow anything they want in any scenario, and Poland would definitely fight (even if they lose badly).

Meh, with Hitler they only eventually drew a line in the sand about Poland because he betrayed Munich agreement by invading Czechia first and he left very little room for compromise during the Polish crisis (he wanted war to conquer all of Poland and turn it into a Lebensraum playground, and at Munich he had felt cheated since he wanted to conquer all of Czechia).

Without the Nazi at helm, none of that happens, almost all non-Nazi German nationalists had little interest into annexing Czechia or Poland, they wanted Austria, Danzig & the Corridor & Upper Silesia, and the Sudetenland, in that rough order, at the very very most they would claimed Posen and made Czechia and/or Poland into independent satellites if a war occured. Such claims were wholly compatible with the interests of France and Britain in the 1930s, so the Western powers would keep on with the appeasement strategy and made a Munich II over Poland.

Poland may or may not fight, but if it does, it shall do so alone. Britain and France would apply diplomatic pressure to prevent the destruction of Poland when Germany wins. But again a nationalist Germany would press the 1914 borders as maximum war aim, and the Western powers would accept such a peace. That was the last real German irredentist claim in Europe, and afterwards, tensions between Germany and the Western powers would steadily diminish. The potential for limited wars between Italy (with Hungary and Bulgaria) and Yugoslavia, or between Hungary (with Bulgaria) and Romania definitely existed, but they are nowhere likely to draw the other great powers in their midst (well likely Russia may exploit the latter to grab Bessarabia).

Japan would probably create havoc as OTL.

True, however, without Germany or Russia pinning most of Franco-British power in Europe it would face a failure even more abject than OTL.

Stalin... only with a aggressive Germany would he dare to make a move. If Western Europe are united, Stalin wouldn't be able to conuer anything, and he knew that.

Stalin was less megalomanic and a gambler than Hitler, but to assume he would never start a WWII is foolhardy. The man was prone to make bad lapses of judgement about other powers' willingness and ability to fight (Barbarossa, the Korean War, Winter War) and to see threats where none existed, as he was more paranoid than Hitler. As such, it is perfectly feasible that he starts a general war because he mistakenly thinks the Western powers are too weak or unwilling to fight, or because he thinks they are going to attack him anyway, so he goes for a pre-emptive attack. Also, one must never forget that according to his own plans, the USSR would have been ready to fight a general war in 1942-43.
 
Didn't know where to ask this so I'll just ask here.

Was World War Two inevitable? Let's say it's after the Weimar Republic has been set up and this would mean of course that the Treaty of Versailles has been signed etc.

So what if, even if a figure like Hitler hadn't come along, would Germany be the cause of a Second World War? Of course the factors are the Pride of Germany and the sheer crap-ness of the Weimar (especially with the economy.)

It more or less was due to at least one stark reality: the only power left standing intact in Central/Eastern Europe after World War I was Germany, and it was neither crushed completely nor let off with a slap on the wrist. With the Tsars and the Habsburgs gone, there was no counter-balance, and Germany was going to attempt to fill that vacuum somehow.

Whether that attempt would have come from the kind of radicalism that marked fascism, it's not necessarily easy to say. But otherwise...
 
Without Hitler, but leaving Versailles and the Great Depression into place, it is extremely likely that Germany goes into a "sane" authoritarian-nationalist regime in the 1930s crisis, which pursues the irredentist objectives of Austria, Sudetenland, Danzig, and the Corridor with the same determination but rather more diplomatic tact and leaves post-Munich Czechoslovakia alone. As a result, the Polish question is dealt by in the Munich II conference, isolated Poland either submits or faces Germany alone in war. It loses Danzig, Corridor, and Upper Silesia if it doesn't fight, the 1914 territories if it does. Germany leaves rump Poland alone, the Western powers don't intervene, WWII as we know it doesn't occur. Watch out for rampages by Stalin and Japan, however.

Nah, I doubt the West would allow Germany swallow anything they want in any scenario, and Poland would definitely fight (even if they lose badly).
Japan would probably create havoc as OTL. Stalin... only with a aggressive Germany would he dare to make a move. If Western Europe are united, Stalin wouldn't be able to conuer anything, and he knew that.

Japan was only able to create havoc with the Western powers because of the little matter of the Nazi attempt to conquer Europe. Absent such a scenario there will be no attempt to conquer the European colonies, which will make Japan's situation very difficult once its oil starts to run out.
 
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