What if Nazi Germany did not invade Poland?

[Shaka_Khan]

Hitler added Austria and Czeckoslovakia to Germany without a war. What if he did not invade Poland? Would the Nazis still be in power today? There are many countries that changed from a dictatorship to a free democracy. Would the Germans have grown tired of Hitler? I think that would have been possible.

A lot of good might've come from this. There wouldn't have been a holocaust in the scale that happened during WWII. Germany would've even made money by exporting new ideas such as the autobahn.

Or would the Nazis be in power to this day?

[Craterus]

Hitler was hellbent on making his "Greater Germany", he was ALWAYS going to invade Poland.

Even if for some reason, he didn't, he would have expanded in a completely different direction and started a war that way.

[Ludens]

Hitler was hellbent on making his "Greater Germany", he was ALWAYS going to invade Poland.

Even if for some reason, he didn't, he would have expanded in a completely different direction and started a war that way.

Indeed. Hitler had to fight a war. He had built up Germany by creating a massive debt so his economy could not run like this much longer. To avert collapse he had to impose the kind of restrictions that only a war could justify or admit that his economical policy was a failure. I doubt it took him long to choose.

[ShadesPanther]

He gambled that Britain and France would back down over it just like they did with czechoslovakia. They did not.
Poland was not going to give Germany back the "Polish Corridor" through any other means than Germany taking it from them.
Hitler gambled that war would not start until 1945, So yes it really could of changed many things. For instance if the Allies did Nothing Germany would be even stronger than in 1940, but then so would the Allies.

[BelgradeWar]

Thw whole Nazi climb was based on a "Enemy" - nazis needed an enemy, to be a focusing point of all their members and eventually whole German people. Hitler practically rose because of his smartly organised conflict with communists. Once they where down, he focused on Jews - again an excellent choice of enemy (of course, we talk here on purely tactical means, and from Hitlers point of view) - suspicion against Jews is old as a Bible - literally. He just used that, added it new momentum, gathered new points on political scale, eliminated quite a strong political opponent and last, but not least - put his hand on vast fortunes the Jews had. But it couldn't last forever.
For prolonged rule and in order to have an excuse for his policies, methods and the whole Nazi organisation he needed new ones. Austria, then Chechoslovakia. He couldn't stop there. And he would never stop. It was just a matter of time.

[spmetla]

I don't think that Hitler actually cared for a real war in 1939. He gambled again but this time the Allied powers resisted. I believe he had even instructed the heads of the Kreigsmarine not to warplan against England because he didn't believe that they'd go to war with Germany. He'd also told the Kreigsmarine that the next war would be in 1944. If he were to start a war though I'd imagine that it would have been right a way with France. The only thing he hated more than Communism were the French (probably from his experience in WWI) and then we'd have to wonder whether the Polish and British would support the French. France at the time had "best" army in the world and might have been viewed as strong enough to handle Germany by itself besides a France first policy wouldn't have allowed time for a British Expeditionary Force to assemble in France therefor no Dunkirk and probably no great Desert Fox successes in North Africa if he had to face all that extra armor.

If he hadn't gone to war but had still done the diplomacy for the Danzig corrider I think the Allied powers would have been happy that Hitler could be negotiated with and wasn't starting another Great War. Churchill might not have become Prime Minister.

The US would then have had no reason for a peacetime draft and military buildup which would probably have kept it isolationist and with France not subdued and the Royal Navy tied up Imperial Japan might not have dared to reach as far as it did.

According to my mom my grandparents (Austrian) didn't really mind Hitler when the Anschluss happened but were just afraid that he'd start a war. I imagine that with no need for the Final Solution the Halocaust wouldn't have been as bad (still plenty bad though ) because the Germans wouldn't have been able to persecute the Jews throughout Europe but only the ones within Germany.

The US would not have had the opportunity to become the postwar Superpower we became (or maybe this would just be delayed until a bigger war). Seeing also that the US had started the Manhatten just about that time I imagine that we'd have continued to pursue that and in the event of a war delayed a few years the US might have had a few A bombs ready to ship to Britain and drop on Germany (although both the Transatlantic and actually delivery to target would have been much harder than in the Pacific) which might have been enough to stop a delayed WWII before it really started. But if now war happened then it's possible that the US would have just remained a sleeping giant with nuclear capabilites but no one knowing (no Cold War?). In addition seeing as German nuclear research was slow and supposedly the closest they got to was a dirty bomb they might have been able to drop one of these on London for a 1944 war (not 1944 but shortly afterward) and if the war was greatly delayed or not happening the Germans too may have become nuclear powers.

As for Britain and France I imagine that they would have held on to the greater parts of their empires longer. Without the deficits of WWII and the Marshal Plan they might have been able to get out of the economic slump of the 30s soon enough that maintaining an empire was still cost effective. Who knows maybe there would have been no independence granted to India (peacefully at least).

As for Russia without a Great Patriotic War the purging of the Red Army would probably have continued with no great leaps in technology for aircraft or the navy while tank technology would probably have continued. There wouldn't have been a Winter War with Finland at least and the occupation of Estonia, Lativia, and Lithuania might not have happened or at least delayed.

As for Germany itself who knows how long the Nazis would have been in power. WWII changed the world completely and the liberal movements of the 1960s might not have happened as they did. The Nazis were definately good at repression so they would have stayed in power for a long time so long as they didn't start a war and lose.

GAH! Who knows anyhow, fun speculating though

[Vladimir]

GAH! Who knows anyhow, fun speculating though

Indeed.

If Hitler wasn't ambitious and greedy he could have just continued the Prussian tradition of "uniting" Germanic Europe. It would have been interesting to see just how bad their economy would have suffered. The effects of rampant socialization combined with the annihilation of the Jews would have stunted or crippled their economy. Europeans might not like the Jews but they're good for business. Even under communism Eastern Germany was one of the most productive if not the most productive satellite state in the Soviet Empire. Hitler’s Germany would continue to do well but would not thrive.

The world did change and it is hard to say what would have happened to Japan. After the US cut off oil to Japan it needed to find a new supply or its military would have ground to a halt. I’m not sure if they had an option to not strike against the Dutch.

I’m just glad the war started when it did. The problem is that you had the “good guys” (foolishly) playing by the rules when developing their military and the bad guys weren’t. If the allies had to face jet fighters, IR guided missiles, and sonar equipped submarines from the start (and God forbid a Nazi nuke) I don’t think they would have won.

[Kraxis]

There wouldn't have been a Winter War with Finland at least and the occupation of Estonia, Lativia, and Lithuania might not have happened or at least delayed.

Do not agree with this.
Stalin was pretty paranoid about the events unfolding, and his paranoia this time seems to have been justified. As Germany expanded, he felt that he must create a bufferzone wheer war could be waged. Well, Poland was just that if it was still alive, but the Baltic States and Finland couldn't be considered that (though with hindsight it might have been better to leave Finland alone, and then perhaps not).
And given Rumania's sidelong glances at the SU that too had to be considered.

So I truly believe these events would have unfolded, perhaps not as they did, but in they would in my mind.