[AveMaria]

>>>Nope, sorry - wouldn't have happened. While we're from the South, we're not stupid. After what they did to Poland, Russian, France - and at this point it would likely be Britain as well - do you think that the South would trust anyone that made promises like that?<<<

But Russia, France and Poland were defeated, which did not give them a chance to cut a deal for true self-government.

I was thinking more along the lines of the deal that Germany made with Franco in 1936. Franco was allowed to become the leader of a truly independent Spain, although he was an ally of Germany.

I think the late Sen. Theodore Bilbo of Mississippi, the most influential unreconstructed Southerner of that era, would have jumped at the chance for another declaration of Southern Independence.

[Ten Megaton Solution]

But Russia, France and Poland were defeated, which did not give them a chance to cut a deal for true self-government.

Well, Russia wasn't defeated, so we'll leave it out of the mix. But we have a perfect example of Hitler's perfidy when we examine Czechoslovakia. After the European leaders gave eastern Europe's only democracy to Hitler on assurances that some little peice would be left, Hitler wasted no time in carving up the nation an parceling it out to friends.

Russia made Hitler's conquest of Poland possible when Stalin agreed to a non-agression pact. This was driven largely by Britain and France's unwillingness to engage in war if Hitler should invade Poland. If Russia had agreed to back up France and Britain, it would have carried almost the entire load while the westerners dithered.

The "Non-Agression Pact" didn't last very long. No. The southerner that contemplated trusting hitler would be a really stupid southerner, and he would be silenced by his more intelligent neighbors.