What if Hitler died AFTER rising to power but BEFORE invading Poland?

I can't recall the historian (Shirer maybe) who said that if Hitler had died in 1936 he would've gone down in history as one of Germany's, possibly Europe's greatest leaders. Austria, Sudetenland, Kristallnacht and Czechoslovakia blew that even before Poland.

It's hard to tell. I'd like to think that the bitter rivalry between the men below Hitler would've torn the party apart; perhaps an army coup would've ended the Third Reich and without the driving force of Hitler the generals would've settled down and there wouldn't have been a war. Or the SS and Himmler could've ended up in charge and history would've followed a similar course. I'd like to think the former.

I believe it was Rudolph Hoess, the commandant of Auschwitz who said before his execution though, "Hitler was the fate of Germany, and that fate could not be stayed."

It's hard to tell. I'd like to think that the bitter rivalry between the men below Hitler would've torn the party apart; perhaps an army coup would've ended the Third Reich and without the driving force of Hitler the generals would've settled down and there wouldn't have been a war.

There still would have been a war in Europe, and indeed, it might have been longer and darker. Remember that the main opposition to Hitler to fill the power vacuum created by the Allies at the end of WWI were the Communists.
Imagine German ingenuity and organizational skills becoming part of the Soviet war machine. The only thing that would have stopped Stalin would have been the same thing that stopped Hitler, the British Navy. The question would be if the
RN could hold off long enough for help from the US and Canada, given the Soviet's will to win at ANY cost. I could see Stalin working millions to death to build up the Red Navy to the point were a reliable challenge to the RN and invasion of the UK could be made. Remember, the US would still fight the war in the Pacific, and after the bloody invasion and occupation of Japan, would the
war-weary American public be willing to get involved in "Europe's Problems"
without direct provocation, such as the conventional or even worse, nuclear bombing of either NYC or Washington?

It's like the dude said, the German Army would have taken over.
It was the army that took over after WW1, and held free elections.
And not anyone in the military wanted another war. None. And
as far as Stalin is concern neither did he. Never did he want to
start a world war.

--Every man's death diminishes me...because I am involved in mankind--

And
as far as Stalin is concern neither did he. Never did he want to
start a world war.


Then why didn't he withdraw from the other countries, such as Poland, at the end of WWII? Why invade Hungary and Czechoslovakia after the war?

Then why didn't he withdraw from the other countries, such as Poland, at the end of WWII? Why invade Hungary and Czechoslovakia after the war?
Because he knew he could keep them without having to go to war for them.

Imagine German ingenuity and organizational skills becoming part of the Soviet war machine.
The first hurdle would be jetting Upper class German generals to submit with people they really, really hate. They wouldn't be inclined to permit a significant number of Soviet troops into Western Europe, nor did they need them in the East. IN fact, they agreed with Hitler and the Nazis that the Soviet Union should be conquered once convenient. There would be no more cooperation in their nuclear programs than there was between Germany and Japan* - and they liked each other.

While the USSR might, after some years of work, build their shipbuilding industry to the point where it could threaten the UK, it could not out-build both Britain and the United States or even the United States on its own.
Remember, the US would still fight the war in the Pacific,
That's certainly not certain given the massive change a German-Soviet alliance would make in international affairs. At any rate, the US was quite aware that while Japan was a serious nuisance, Germany and the USSR represented existential threats. Like in real life, the most likely American strategy would be Europe-First.


*Japan was actually closer to developing a nuclear weapon than Germany. At least they had the theory right. Of course, by the time they might have got one, the Soviets and Americans would have had them for years.

That's certainly not certain given the massive change a German-Soviet alliance would make in international affairs. At any rate, the US was quite aware that while Japan was a serious nuisance, Germany and the USSR represented existential threats. Like in real life, the most likely American strategy would be Europe-First.


But the acts which precipitated the war between the US and Japan began in 1931
with the invasion of China. This resulted in the oil and scrap-metal embargos,
or what we would call today trade sanctions, that ultimately lead to Pearl Harbor. But the truth is that the war in the Pacific could have started in 1937
with the Panay Incident. And how could the US go with a Europe First strategy if there was no alliance between Japan and Germany that required Hitler to
declare war on the US? It was the combination of that and Pearl Harbor that silenced the Isolationists.

But the acts which precipitated the war between the US and Japan began in 1931 with the invasion of China. This resulted in the oil and scrap-metal embargos
Sanctions were not imposed until after Japan invaded French Indochina in 1940.
that the war in the Pacific could have started in 1937
But it didn't and a German-Soviet alliance (assuming such an impossible thing came to pass) would not change that. It just wasn't a serious enough incident to provoke a major war at that time.
And how could the US go with a Europe First strategy if there was no alliance between Japan and Germany that required Hitler to
declare war on the US?
Europe First was decided months before Pearl Harbor. By the 1940 election, the American public was convinced that the US should support the Allied cause and both parties and presidential candidates agreed.