U.S. BRANDS AS FALSE NAZI DOCUMENTS CHARGING WE FOSTERED WAR IN EUROPE (3/30/40)

The war was always about Russia, from Hitler's point of view. That's where the Lebensraum was, and where, in his opinion, the future of Germany lay. Almost everything done diplomatically by Germany in the latter half of the ‘30s was done to that end, including a rebuffed offer to prewar Poland to join the Axis, in return for Danzig, the Corridor, and free passage for German troops to the Soviet Union.

Hitler ordered the initial preparations for BARBAROSSA in June of 1940, BEFORE the French sued for an armistice. So Russia was always going to be a war objective.

As for the U.S, Hitler probably initially saw that as a more distant opponent, after victory in Europe, consolidation, and further rearmament. But U.S actions, and belligerence [in practice] no doubt moved his calculations forward, and Japan's initial surge probably tipped the scales for then as opposed to later.

"Hitler though saw what the plan said and I feel that is what prompted him to declare war on the 11th. This was a great error on his part because he was under no obligation to do so and had he not, the United States probably could not have declared war on Germany. "

Based on his March 1940 propaganda, and other points mentioned by posters today, I think in Hitler's mind, the US was already at war with Axis powers in all but name.
And what did that name matter anyway? Can you name any other countries that Hitler officially declared war on?
So why make a big deal of declaring war on the US?

Answers:
A) Moral support for his Japanese allies, and
B) to release his U-boats for unrestricted sinkings along the US coastline.

But if Hitler declaring war on the US in December 1941 was a "mistake," was it not of a kind with invading the Soviet Union that June?
Both in hindsight seem reckless and premature.
Would he not have been better off to wait a year, just as Stalin expected he would?

Instead, Hitler's mindset in 1941 concluded that time was not on his side -- so he must invade now, declare war now, because a year later the forces against Germany would no longer be as weak.

Is that true?
Would Hitler have been better off to wait a year before invading Russia and declaring war on the US?

Answer:
Yes, possibly, but if and only if Hitler had been willing to do in 1940 and '41 what he ended up doing in 1943 & '44 -- appoint an Albert Speer to bring in all of conquered & axis Europe as suppliers to the German war industry.
But such a move was inconceivable ideologically, and only attempted after Hitler's dreams of quick-easy victories had thoroughly evaporated.

"My understanding is that Hitler believed that the “final struggle” of the war would be between the Third Reich and the United States of America, “a mongrel nation”. "

Yes, I think you have the right answer.

Like you, for many years I've read about Hitler's two books, but never actually read either one. My understanding is they are rambling and difficult to follow, not to mention thoroughly repulsive. So I've been satisfied to read extensive excerpts.

But the key point is that war with America was part of Hitler's plan from the beginning.

Among the pieces of evidence for this were the Amerika Bomber projects:

"Possibly the first public reference to the Amerika Bomber was on July 8, 1938 in a speech by Hermann Göring saying,

"I completely lack the bombers capable of round-trip flights to New York with a 4.5-tonne bomb load. I would be extremely happy to possess such a bomber which would at last stuff the mouth of arrogance across the sea."[1]

"Canadian historian Holger H. Herwig[2] claims the plan started as a result of discussions by Hitler in November of 1940 and May of 1941 when he stated his need to “deploy long-range bombers against American cities from the Azores.”"

Finally, we should note, the idea of invading the US was part of German General Staff war planning since around 1900.
So Hitler was not an original thinker on this matter (or any other matter I can think of).

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