Quote Originally Posted by Gelatinous Cube
If germany declared war before annexing poland and most of Western Europe, they wouldn't have the resources to keep it up.
Prior to the outbreak of war, Germany had re-militarized the Rhineland (didn't change the economic picture but proved to Hitler that France, in particular, had no 'nads), absorbed both Austria and Czhechoslovakia [sp?], and developed an alliance with Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary. These were crucial to German armarment given the importance of Romanian oil, and the industrial power of Vienna, Leipzieg, Prague, and Budapest.

Had war occurred with Russia occurred then, Germany would have been operating with fewer resources, but would have rationalized and prioritized production much sooner -- a step they did not take until '42 and which wasn't complete until late '43.

The key distinction of war with Russia in 1939 is that it probably would not have occurred under conditions of strategic and tactical surprise such as Germany enjoyed at the outset of Barbarossa -- and that would have made a profound difference.

Seamus