Quote:
Originally Posted by CliffFletcher
A Nazi Germany that didn’t invade Russia wouldn’t be Nazi Germany. Lebensraum in the East was a core element of the program from the outset.
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I think an interesting "what if" scenario is considering what if
Ernst Röhm had won the battle for power within the Nazi party instead of Hitler.
It's really hard to speculate how likely this could have been, but it certainly wasn't impossible, considering Röhm was also one of the early members of the Nazi-party and the commander of the SA, at that point a million men strong.
You can read the wiki for yourself, but the key difference between Hitler and Röhm was that the latter was not just a power hungry militant racist, but also an actual socialist (of sorts), who longed for an anti-capitalist revolution. (Hitler of course only cared about socialist ideals if they happened to benefit his rise to power.)
What if Röhm had gotten rid of Hitler and his supporters within the Nazi party, instead of the other way around? Could he have gotten the same absolute hold over the country? (I'd argue likely yes.)
If
der Führer had been Röhm instead of Hitler, WW2 likely still happens, but maybe, even more likely, Germany and USSR would have been allies instead of enemies. That's a very different war.
(Röhm also wanted to purge the German army leadership of Prussian aristocrats. The Who's Who of WW2 Germans would have a very different list.)