Obsessed with the idea of the superiority of the pure German race, which he called "Aryan", Hitler believed that war was the only way to achieve the "Lebensraum", that is, the vital space necessary for the German race to expand. This living space was planned by the Greater German Reich , and it narrowed in the east until it reached the Urals, in Russia. In addition, this expansion included the General Plan for the East, a secret genocide and ethnic cleansing plan.
But the area that Nazi Germany actually occupied was slightly different, as they did not occupy Sweden, but France and other regions of Europe did. Germany went from occupying 469,000 square kilometers in 1925, under the Weimar Republic, to occupying 824,000 square kilometers in 1940, as Nazi Germany. But if we also take into account the territories occupied civilly and militarily during the war, the total area would be close to 2,700,000 square km, which would place it in the tenth largest country in the world.
Today, Germany has even less territory than in 1925, and is in position number 64, with 358,000 square km. Germany suffered from various troubles and mistakes that condemned it to defeat in World War II. Among them we can highlight: insufficient war economy in the early years, starting a war on two fronts, weak supply lines on the Russian front, mistakes in key battles such as Kursk or Stalingrad, and declaring war on the United States.
Furthermore, compared to its main rivals, Germany did not have large numbers. While it was not far behind the Soviet Union in terms of GDP, the British Empire and the US had more than double that. In addition, its three rivals had much more population, and gigantic areas from which to draw resources.
And one of the key products in the war was in short supply in Germany, while they were plentiful in countries like the US and also in the Soviet Union. But if these problems had not existed . .
. What would have happened if the Nazis had won the war? This hypothetical axis victory has already been explored very extensively over the coming decades.
At least 35 novels have been written, 5 films have been shot, 6 video games released and 5 series have been shot on this theme, the most famous being the Amazon series "The Man in the High Castle", in Spain: "El hombre en el Castillo". But let's analyze the situation before the start of the German defeat. The fact that Britain is an island meant that the Nazi invasion would have been difficult, without it having air and sea superiority.
But if the Germans had won in the Battle of Britain and in the evacuation of Dunkirk, it could have altered the end result, whereby an invasion or a negotiated peace might have been possible. The invasion of the Soviet Union was Hitler's worst mistake And while it is true that the initial phase of Operation Barbarossa was smooth sailing for the Nazis, the geography, population and oil production were firmly against the Nazis. Germans.
Despite this, they managed to capture a huge swath of territory. Things that Germany could have done better, would have been to bring adequate clothing and winter supplies, make better use of the people they called "racially inferior" in the captured areas (who also happened to hate the Soviet Union, as is the case with the Ukrainians) and finally making the seizure of the Caucasus oil fields a top priority goal. But even fixing these details, the odds of Nazi victory were low, but not impossible.
It would all depend on how the cards were played. The last big stumbling block for the Germans would be the US With the exception of the Nazis developing atomic weapons before them, there is no way Germany could have realistically defeated the US . It had a larger economy than all the Axis powers combined at its peak, and it also had a much larger population than Germany.
In addition, it had enough oil to supply its own army, navy, and air force. Declaring war on the US was Hitler's last shot in the foot. Therefore, the best scenario for Germany would have been a stalemate that will resemble the Cold War.
With World War II now over, Hitler would have the perfect setting to execute his General Eastern Plan and eliminate what he considered "savage Slavs. " These are the percentages to be eliminated from each nation. In total they planned to murder about 110 million people, 15 million would be deported to Siberia, and the remaining 54 million would have to be duly "Germanized" to provide bonded labor, or else they would also be deported.
Both he and Himmler estimated that: "Within 25 years, some 10 million Germans will colonize the new lands. " But the worst luck would be the Jews. Hitler's plan was to completely exterminate them, and this situation in many countries was already advanced.
In countries like Poland, Greece, Lithuania and Yugoslavia they had already exterminated more than 80% of the Jews. In total, 60% of the Jews living in these countries were murdered. With the Nazi victory, the almost four million remaining Jews would have met the same end, that added to the Slavs, the extra death toll caused by the German victory would have risen to 114 million people.
For comparison, the estimated death toll in WWII is 80 million, which was 3 percent of the world's population. One third of those deaths were military and two thirds were civilians. And continuing with the comparisons, this has been the bloodiest war in history.
There have only been five diseases that have killed more people throughout history. Therefore, the question would be: who would win the cold war between the US and Nazi Germany? The US would finance and train Russian partisans to fight the Germans.
In the 70s, a time of sexual revolution, hippies and modern art, none of this would be seen in Nazi Europe, which would become part of an illegal suburban movement. The Cuban missile crisis could have its replacement in Iceland, which would enter the realm of the Germans to install mid-range missiles that could reach the US and Canada. Wandering far beyond in time is pure fantasy, as the different possibilities are endless.
But if I had to opt, I would bet on a US victory in the cold war and the fall of the Nazi regime, thus returning the free market and individual freedom to Europe . Let's imagine that today's Germany had kept the territories acquired during the war, taking into account its maximum expansion with the territories occupied civilly and militarily in the war. We have already counted that by extension it would go from number 64 to being the tenth largest country.
The population jump would be smaller, since it would go from having 83 million in the 17th position to being the fourth most populous in the world, only behind China, India and the US The 5 most populated metropolitan areas would be Paris, Berlin, Stuttgart , Frankfurt and Katowice, three of which are in Germany. When it comes to GDP, China would feel it being approached from behind, as Germany would have about $ 9 trillion, far surpassing Japan on the way. The thing changes with the GDP per capita, which would fall from 48,200 to 33,400 dollars per year, an annual income reduced by countries such as Ukraine or Belarus.
Christianity would be the dominant religion , with 73% of the population, of which 14% would be Protestant, 40% Catholic, 15% Orthodox, and 4% other. There would also be 4% of Muslims, 1% of other religions and 21% would be atheists and agnostics. In military spending, it would rise from number 9 to third, again behind the US and China, but far behind Saudi Arabia.
This spending would only represent 15% of its GDP, the lowest percentage of the first seven. On the other hand, the German army would jump 20 positions, from 27 to 7, with 819,000 active soldiers, very close to Russia. Although if we take into account the military in reserve, it would go down one position, but it would be placed ahead of the US and would be close to China.
In terms of oil production, Norway's occupation would take them to number 14, as Norway would produce 84% of 1,960,000 barrels per day. An estimated 300 million soldiers from around the world fought in World War II. Do you have a family member who participated?
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