Greatest Mistakes of World War 2

YES, YES, YES, SIMONR!!!

I think you have just given us the REAL answer why Hitler HAD to attack Poland in 1939 - way before he was really ready for a major war.

I was waiting for THIS explanation for a long time (in my subconscious).
So, in other words, as soon as Hitler came to power, the destiny of Germany was decided: a final ruinous defeat.....

 

yes, starting the war has to be the biggest mistake. And I think the argument Simon puts forward is also right. The Nazi's were mortaging the future of Germany to make themselves look good and that this could not be sustained.

 

It was a sort of "New Deal" - German style. :lol:

 

Must have worked. They whole country was re-built and modernized when they were through

 

The funny thing is that the war has probably also saved FDR´s enterprise.

I hope we hear some instructive comment about it from Grieg.

 

No, it was called national socialism.

Just another way to try to get an economy out of the Depression. Most of their solutions involved nationalization of industries, as well as barter... The New Deal (IIRC) was mostly just an increase in government expenditures to help the economy get back on its feet through demanding labour and providing incomes.

 

In the last instance, both countries´economies boomed because of rearmaments. That´s the main thing about both economies´boom.

The main difference:
Germans produced for own needs only and got their country physically destroyed while US economy produced partly also for export and earned colossal sums out of it). The net result for average taxpayer was probably not very painful, also because the country was rich in natural resources and, also, after the war there was a big demand on their products for the sake of reconstruction of Europe.

Without WW2 New Deal would probably have been severely judged by history (or so say many respected economists).