What if no nazism (but war anyway) in German?

To understand what might have been we must trace back to the point of departure and constrast this with what historically happened so discussions involving Hitlers Germany are unavoidable.

The rearmament drive started in 1928 before Hitler even got close to the reigns of power. Even before that limited rearmament had begun. It was all kicked off by the threat possed by the Polish-Soviet war of 1920. In 1928 discussions were underway looking at what situations Germany should go to war. Risks were being calculated based on the assumption of a war begining with Poland and/or France and then erupting into a wider European war.

All early 1930s rearmament was based on an evolving strategy that built the German industry , resource base and military instep with each other from a purely 'defensive limited war' capability to a 'total war offensive mechanised' capability. This force structure would have been based on ~ 70 divisions by the end of the 1930s instead of the ~100 divisions, they actually started the war with. But at that point mass production would have started systematically replacing the widespread use of civilian based armaments with
selective mass produceable military armaments. This was to creat an defensive force with a much more offensive capability.

The next phase through the early 1940s envisaged expanding mass production capabily to include a total war production of advanced weaponary to transform the largely defensive wehrmacht into an offensive hi tech mechanised force.

 

By this time, Rearmament was in its infancy and only thanks to Russia

While you are pointing out what might have very well been on paper, you still need a leader which would be able to accomplish all of this. It is easy to blame Hitler for Germany's total defeat and short comings as he was the leader, however my question remains un answered....

What other individual in Germany would be capable of uniting the German people in a common cause which gave them not only pride, hope and unity, but at the same time turning a once defeated and humiliated Germany into the strongest European country in such a short time?

 

You have hit upon a very vexing question and i can say that taking Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party out of the equastion there is no one in Germany that could garner a nation to that level of nationalism, and that Germany would be a bit player.

 

Power abhors a vacuum. So I believe that somebody would've stepped up to lead pre-World War II Germany.

It would be hard to identify which one among the political figures would be the "one" because of the very fluid political situation prevailing at that time.
In the government, administration replaced administration one-after-another so no really powerful figures there.
Outside the government, I would have to concede that without the Nazi Party, it would've to be the Communists who would have taken the upper hand. However, the majority of the German military would be against this as they are, as I see it, a very right-of-center organization. Correct me if I'm wrong but most European military organizations hold conservative values and that implies that communism is probably out.

Okay, without identifying who the leader is, let's assume there is one to unify Germany. I'd say this would probably a conservative with a military background, probably supported by the tycoons. That's the only formula I could think of for a leader in such times.
He'd be a more amenable person who can work with the British and French and probably could've convinced the British and French to modify the Versailles treaty reparations, thus removing a big financial burden on Germany. This improves the fiscal position of the German govt and its credibility to its citizens. The economy is tooled up, thus paving the way for the rearming of Germany,

Since negotiations have worked, this German govt moves for better access to the Polish Corridor. The Poles are stubborn and don't agree. National passions heat up and the border is militarized. France and England would try to cool things a bit but with the heavy casualties of World War I in their minds, would rather not have a direct hand in what is largely viewed as Polish-German problem.

At this time, Russia also enjoys good ties with Germany and with Stalin eyeing Polish territory, secretly starts talks with Germany about Poland.
Germany and Stalin signs a pact and partitions Poland.
France and England, aghast at such an action, belatedly mobilizes and declares war on Germany. Stalin, seeing a political opportunity, sides with Germany. Italy wisely stays out of the conflict.

Thus, at this stage, it's Germany and Russia vs. France and the UK.
Germany has the initial advantage because of the late mobilization.

On the other side of the globe, the US is forced to work with the Japanese because of the Russian threat to the UK and France. With the talks between them, (since Japan and US has a need for each other), US avoids getting into the war but convinces Japan to turn against Russia to open another front with US promising oil and supplies. The UK welcomes the Japanese move, since the Japanese and UK navies have historically strong ties.

With Russia distracted, the Chinese takes on the Communists and following the dictum of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend," adopts a live and let live policy against the Japanese for the time being. A cease fire is in place and the status quo is maintained.

Another powerbloc to look at this situation is what would Spain and Italy really do. I'd think that these two would probably side with the Allies, I think.
A German-Russian alliance in World War II would've been a very formidable combination. They would have the advantage of interior lines, supplies, natural resources, large landmass and population.

That's as far as I can speculate. It's getting large and giving me a headache.

 

Right wing parties were already coallesing in the early 1930s. The voters made it clear they didn't want communists and the Lib Dem party of the Weimar era were seen as failure so a third option was sought. This started with a military backed right wing dictatorship, and transitioned to the Nazi due to the severe over reaction to the stress and strain of the Great Depression.

A government would have formed . As already noted most of the credit programmes that featured in nazi recovery were from previous regimes so they would continue along with the economic recovery with or without the nazi. A more stable economy would generate a more stable government. Yes they would have spent less money on defense, but their would have been alot less wastage. I've read that the funding process the nazi used until mid war period was costing their economy twice as much for the same armaments produced...and took twice as long to produce. So with less money, mass production would have been implimented in the early 1930s since they would have had no choice.

 

I agree that most Germans at that time would be against Communism but they were not organized as well as the Communists were. That's why I say the Communists would've been in a better position to seize power. Acting as a stopping block to them would've been the German Army and to counter the communists, a military dictatorship would be an option. But would a military dictatorship to prevent the communists from taking over be accepted by German citizens?
With Hitler in mind, it seems the answer is yes but I have to note that Hitler took the democratic route first. He didn't start with a dictatorship.
So I reiterate, in the absence of the Nazis in this context, would the Germans have accepted the military forcibly taking over the Weimar Republic?

 

Why don't you look at the situation in Spain before the Civil War? There are a lot of paralell features.

 

Well after carefull consideration of the original thread question, the only person i can see that could take over in a military dictatorship and that is Generalfeldmarschal Werner von Blomberg as at the time was the most respected and had the support of the military, i would see him shine as a military dictator, but there is one point even under his rule and that is the lost lands of Germany, German pride would not allow such things as the Polish Corridor and Danzig, unfortunately war was unavoidable.

 

Here are some quotes from "Deutschland und der zweite Weltkrieg" vol-1 Section two "Propaganda Mobilisation for War"

pp 80-81

pp 104 -105