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Who was understanding their enemies? The biggest mistake of Germany was thinking England wouldn't declare war over Poland, you may say Germany was deluded but w

Who was understanding their enemies? The biggest mistake of Germany was thinking England wouldn't declare war over Poland, you may say Germany was deluded but why do you think they underestimated their enemies? What enemies in particular? Stalin and Khrushchev thought the URRS would've fallen without US support, so they underestimated the ability of the US to support the URRS? Note this support started before the US was declared war.

retrac 5y ago
> why do you think they underestimated their enemies? [...] Note this support started before the US was declared war. That's a great example of the German hubris in WW II, actually. Hitler made no efforts to keep the Americans out of the war, and eventually he declared war on the United States. Not the other way around. The Americans had no explicit justification against Germany and it's unclear if they would have even immediately entered the Europe theatre. But Hitler declared war and gave Roosevelt a gift-wrapped justification politically, to immediately enter the European war and even prioritize it. It makes no sense for him to have done that. I think he must have simply dismissed the USA as irrelevant, with victory in Europe pending before they could apply their industry to the war. That one capricious act suggests an enormous underestimation of both the short term Soviet resilience and the USA's eventual long-term war-making potential.
- walkhour 5y ago
  > I think he must have simply dismissed the USA as irrelevant This could be the case, however I've never found a convincing explanation of why Germany declared war to the US, maybe it was the German hubris. It's not like FDR was appalled by it.
  - Nomentatus 5y ago
    Hitler had earlier promised the Japanese that if they attacked the Americans he would delcare war on the U.S. as well. He kept his promise, likely fearing that the Japanese might settle quickly otherwise, or because in many ways, esp at sea, he was already at war with the U.S.

retrac 5y ago

> why do you think they underestimated their enemies? [...] Note this support started before the US was declared war. That's a great example of the German hubris in WW II, actually. Hitler made no efforts to keep the Americans out of the war, and eventually he declared war on the United States. Not the other way around. The Americans had no explicit justification against Germany and it's unclear if they would have even immediately entered the Europe theatre. But Hitler declared war and gave Roosevelt a gift-wrapped justification politically, to immediately enter the European war and even prioritize it. It makes no sense for him to have done that. I think he must have simply dismissed the USA as irrelevant, with victory in Europe pending before they could apply their industry to the war. That one capricious act suggests an enormous underestimation of both the short term Soviet resilience and the USA's eventual long-term war-making potential.

walkhour 5y ago
> I think he must have simply dismissed the USA as irrelevant This could be the case, however I've never found a convincing explanation of why Germany declared war to the US, maybe it was the German hubris. It's not like FDR was appalled by it.
- Nomentatus 5y ago
  Hitler had earlier promised the Japanese that if they attacked the Americans he would delcare war on the U.S. as well. He kept his promise, likely fearing that the Japanese might settle quickly otherwise, or because in many ways, esp at sea, he was already at war with the U.S.