Would the German Reich go bankrupt without Barbarossa?

There is no way to avoid a collapse of the Reich with its OTL leadership. With or without Slav exploitation.
 

Cook

Banned
No, just the opposite; Germany was getting everything it needed from Russia and at bargain prices.

And they now owned Western Europe and, thanks to an exchange rate that had the occupied countries currencies pegged very low in relation to the Riechsmark, were getting goods from there at ridiculous prices too. It was a subtle form of plunder to go along with the less than subtle and rather blatant plundering that they did too.
 
No, just the opposite; Germany was getting everything it needed from Russia and at bargain prices.

And they now owned Western Europe and, thanks to an exchange rate that had the occupied countries currencies pegged very low in relation to the Riechsmark, were getting goods from there at ridiculous prices too. It was a subtle form of plunder to go along with the less than subtle and rather blatant plundering that they did too.

But would this last? As in, would the Nazis remain content with something that actually worked, or would they find a way to plunder the civilian economy to fuel a military not quite strong enough to conquer all its foes and go into a new war?
 
But would this last? As in, would the Nazis remain content with something that actually worked, or would they find a way to plunder the civilian economy to fuel a military not quite strong enough to conquer all its foes and go into a new war?

Hitler and his cronies from OTL? No.

A Heydrich or (just skirting on maybe) a Goering, or analogues thereof in charge? Perhaps.
 
Yes, they would.

By mid 1941 the Russians were getting nasty about the Germans actually paying for all those raw materials. They'd been getting way with it, but that wasnt going to last much longer.

Since germany has no other source for them, they are in a (continuing) dependency on Stalins goodwill, and once hes finished rebuilding his army thats likely to be in a diminishing reply.

Having the rest of Europe under your control really doesnt help, as they dont have the major items you want (grain, oil, etc). Indeed, in many cases they are a drain on German resources...
 
Yes, they would.

By mid 1941 the Russians were getting nasty about the Germans actually paying for all those raw materials. They'd been getting way with it, but that wasnt going to last much longer.

Since germany has no other source for them, they are in a (continuing) dependency on Stalins goodwill, and once hes finished rebuilding his army thats likely to be in a diminishing reply.

Having the rest of Europe under your control really doesnt help, as they dont have the major items you want (grain, oil, etc). Indeed, in many cases they are a drain on German resources...

/thread

In many ways, the only thing Europe ever did for Germany in a strategic sense is provide resource stocks and provide a cushion so that when Germany got rolled back, the Reich didn't immediately get overrun. However, a lot of this was offset by providing for an economy that couldn't possibly produce to full potential due to being cut off from world markets by the Royal Navy.

I'll say it again, after 1940 there's literally no plausible strategic option that doesn't end in German defeat; the only difference is the scale of said defeat.

The Nazis had Western Europe and an almost unlimited willingness to exploit land and peopel and potentilaly starve them

Europe could not feed itself without Russian grain shipments. Once those are gone it's Barbarossa or bust.
 
Yes, they would.

By mid 1941 the Russians were getting nasty about the Germans actually paying for all those raw materials. They'd been getting way with it, but that wasnt going to last much longer.

Since germany has no other source for them, they are in a (continuing) dependency on Stalins goodwill, and once hes finished rebuilding his army thats likely to be in a diminishing reply.

Having the rest of Europe under your control really doesnt help, as they dont have the major items you want (grain, oil, etc). Indeed, in many cases they are a drain on German resources...

Germany also needed certain Russian minerals (nickel and manganese, IIRC). Russia had ceased to supply Germany on credit, which was the proximate cause for Barbarossa. See "Pattern of Conquest" by Joseph Harsch (1941) in which he thoroughly describes (in May) the reasons that will force Hitler to invade Russia.
 
There is no way to avoid a collapse of the Reich with its OTL leadership. With or without Slav exploitation.

Indeed.

Nazi Germany was a cross between North Korea and any Third World kleptocracey you’d care to name. In the short term it was an immense danger to the world. In the long-term it’d be a tragic joke.

Left alone Nazi Germany slowly rot within it's own borders and screw up the occupied nations to boot. When Hitler dies the whole rotten structure wouldnt last long....Of course by that time Germany would be so f***ed up they'd need to invent a new word to describe how f***ed up Nazi Germany would be.
 
Top