[samtheman]

I don’t think any “deal” between Hitler and England was in the cards. Not even close.

[ozzymandus]

As I said, Churchill knew Roosevelt was going to save him. Without that ace in the hole, who knows. As the saying goes, the winners write the history books.

[dfwgator]

I wonder in the mid-30s how many in Britain would have supported a deal with Hitler.

Remember, at that time, Bolshevism was the bigger concern than the Nazis, Churchill was practically the only one who was speaking out against Hitler, and he was ridiculed for it, especially within his own party.

[sinsofsolarempirefan]

It is a known fact that Hitler was an anglophile who admired the British Empire and viewed Britain’s Indian Raj as a model for his planned rule of Russia.
Hitler would have loved to have gotten the Brits on side. That the Brits refused and sacrificed their prosperity and Empire to stop him is of enormous credit to Britain, who might have come out better if they had just sat by and watched the two equally wicked ideologies of Nazism and Communism fight each other to a standstill over in the East...

[Vanders9]

There was never any chance at all of a deal between Hitler and Churchill, irrespective of Roosevelt's intentions. Churchill was convinced of the evil of the Nazi regime and was determined to fight it, come what may.

Would Britain have made a deal if Churchill had been out of the picture? Impossible to be certain of course, but I think we probably would have. There was certainly enough political support for such a move - even in 1940 25% of the British public would have accepted "peace at any price". Hitler certainly thought Britain would come to the negotiating table. It was, after all, the smart move.

Hitler's objective was "lebensraum" - living room in the East - and the dismantling of the Bolshevick Russian state. War with the old enemy France was a neccesary precursor for that, but he had no ambitions against Britain and her empire. In fact he rather admired us. Besides, Britain's military situation in 1940 wasn't good. Although ultimately we would have had to lock horns with the Nazi's, a peace now would have given us a breather to build up our strength.

All of which proves how important Churchill was to the successful prosecution of World War II.

[Joe 6-pack]

"I don’t think any “deal” between Hitler and England was in the cards."

Yeah, right. Such a thing would have been unheard of.

Had it not been for Sir Winston, things would have been a lot more problematic.