Modern Politics - Kvetching For Nuclear War

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[–]TheJamesRocket 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Hitler was trying to turn Poland into a client state of Germany, but those plans fell by the wayside after the British gave them a guarantee. At this point, the Polish became much more aggressive towards the Germans and began openly clamoring for war. Knowing that they had the support of Britain (and France), they refused to negotiate over Danzig. That was when Hitler began preparing for an invasion of Poland. He believed (mistakenly) that he could conquer them without the risk of igniting a continental war.

[–]casparvoneverecBig tiddy respecter 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Poland wanted an alliance with Germany was but was laughed off at first. Hitler then aggressively pushed for the Danzig. The British took the opportunity and gave the guarantee to Poland. True, Poland took advantage of that, but Germany didn't need to invade Poland. It could've taken Poland out of the British camp with an alliance: It could take Lithuania and would receive Belarus and other west Ukrainian territories after a war with the Soviets.

Germany would take the rest of Ukraine, the Kuban, and the Caucasus. If he had Poland on his side, he'd have a 35-million strong nation with him. Poland could've provided him with 3 million extra soldiers for the war. Instead, in our timeline, it cost him troops and nearly 300,000 German troops had to be wasted occupying Poland.

In any case, if he truly wanted peace, he should not have invaded Poland. Danzig was simply not worth it. The real issue was that Hitler wanted to conquer Russia and gain control of its oil and agricultural resources and attain autarky.