Thread by @JiffjoffI

@real_thomas777
Additional thoughts

pre-Barbarossa: losing only 100k soldiers - Hitler achieved in 7 weeks what nobody else in history had done, not Napoleon, not Caesar

He had conquered & combined what is basically the modern day EU, relying on this new economic production

So Hitler's resource calculations relied on estimates of total production the army would depend on based upon each country's pre-war output

But countries did not come close to reaching these levels of production under coercion that they had achieved freely & individually

In less than 2 years, the entire European infrastructure CRUMBLED

CONSENSUS (pop at least) is the Nazis w/ their shiny boots and BLITZKRIEG were unstoppable

It's true pound for pound that this Prussian military tradition was ELITE

However, the other side of this, per vh

is less discussed, which is WTF happened to France, the GREAT TERROR of Europe?

The German army was ~3M

French army ~3M, allies ~4M

French char b tank >> anything Germany had at time

Similarly w/ fighters

On paper - this should've been a draw or close fight

What happened?

General Halder told Hitler is was horrible idea, General Beck resigned

Hitler: "I've seen them at Munich and they're worms"

Important lesson here about a nation's SPIRIT

France outlawed mentions of Verdun from school textbooks

Holland renamed destroyer 'flotilla leader'

(This is all from late 20s throughout 30s leading up to war)

Oxford debating society: "for King and Country I shall not fight"

WW1 victors tried to forget the great war, refashion language & attitudes

Meanwhile Germany was doing pushups in the parking lot...

allies overall sentiment of appeasement, belief in "soft power", every excuse the western democracies could think of to deceive themselves and blind their society to WHAT NEEDED TO BE DONE

All resource & material advantages were sacrificed b/c of an unwillingness to FIGHT

However, the Prussian Spirit lives:

Bf-109 pilots - 5 missions per day vs 2 for French fighters

French tanks got to Meuse River to defend their civilization, asked where bridging equipment was, waited around 2 days for it

Rommel SWAM ACROSS THE RIVER

This was the difference