The Germans smashed France and the low countries in a matter of weeks and they kicked the Britisch expeditionary forces out of Europe where they were forced to leave all of their heavy equipment behind at Dunkirk. A massive victory.

It wasn't because of pressure on the Western front, Hitler had become over-confident because of the incredible success on the Western front (mind you the same Hitler had fought in WW1 where the front had hardly moved in 4 years time so he had reason to be confident).

Of all the criticism with Obama this to me was a bad one to pile on about.

Fact of the matter is there is no easy optimal solution. Who ever decided to move the needle whether Obama, Trump, etc. the other side was going to criticize it and label it an abject failure. It remains to be seen how all this pans out but I as someone who leans right will be first in line to be critical of Trump. Obama's response wasn't good but this shit show so far is not shaping up any better.

This post was edited by ofthevoid on Jun 12 2026 12:07pm

I disagree. This narrative only works if you think Hitler had no idea America was joining the Western front. Hitler invaded Russia in June 1941, America entered the war in December 1941. However America pretty publicly started preparing for the entrance into war in 1939. Germany knew this, just as they knew America would be 100% on the allies side. That's why he smashed France so hard, to try and hamstring the allies in the west. He could have in 1939 used Poland as a launching point to invade the USSR, he didn't. He pushed up to the USSR in the early stage of the war hardening his army and proving tactics then tried to sweep the west so it was weak enough to turn towards Russia.

The two fronts he needed to worry about were always clear, Russia on his eastern side, America aiding the allies on his Western side. His strategy was to alter the timing of these two threats so he could mobilize against 1 at a time. I agree however he was overconfident in his campaign to Russia, and i agree it was aided by his easy wins in France, Poland, and elsewhere. I think he also likely thought the Japanese could hamper the soviets enough to give him an edge, but the moment the US joined the pacific theater that was all but done. The japanese having centuries long scores to settle in China and other islands didnt help.

What

This is what happened. Talking about being over-confident



E: You also forget the Germans and the USSR devided Poland between them, it was agreed beforehand. They had a pact -->



This post was edited by Djunior on Jun 12 2026 01:03pm

I literally said in my post that the USA entered the war in 1941, so im confused why you posted a source that agrees with me.

The USA started it's preparation for war in 1939.

We passed a peace time draft before entering the war, we started retooling factories to make war effort items, we expanded our navy, started selling bonds to fund it, etc.

In 1941 when Hitler invaded Russia he knew the USA would be enterring the war soon. And he knew they'd face issues in the East because of it.

Idk what the counter argument would even be. Hitler thought that he'd not only easily win in Russia in 1941, but also at the exact same time easily repel the American aided allies on his Eastern front? Even for an overconfident commander like Hitler that seems like a stretch.

This post was edited by thesnipa on Jun 12 2026 01:55pm

That's revisionist history.

1. Hitler lost interest in the Western theatre of the war once he had conquered all of continental Western Europe and the Battle for Britain had failed. It was only once everything he had to do in the West was done that he turned to the East.
2. He couldn't know that the Japanese would foolishly drag the U.S. into the war as early as 1941 by their misguided attack on Pearl Harbor.
3. Ideologically and strategically, the Eastern Campaign was the centerpiece of this whole war; this is where their main long-term objectives could be achieved. Hitler and the Nazis were ideologically driven. For years, they had been harping about the German need for Lebensraum, which they could only find in the east. For years, they had been slandering the Slavs as Untermenschen who were to be subjugated or eradicated. For years, they had been consumed by their rampant, genocidal antisemitism; with the bulk of the European Jews living in Eastern Europe.


Simply put, all the main goals of the Nazis required them to go to the East. They only opened the war with the Western Campaign because those enemies were more economically and militarily developed and in closer proximity; they clearly had to be dealt with first before the longer, more thorough and long-term Eastern Campaign could be launched.


Those factors notwithstanding, the actual execution of the Eastern Campaign then turned out to be a rushed, overconfident disaster. But then again, the clock was ticking due to the rapid industrialization of the USSR and their inherent advantage in manpower. Who knows if things had gone better for Germany if they had had waited until the spring of 1942 before attacking the USSR.