Why didn’t Hitler End the War when he Failed to get the OIL of the Caucasus?

[@TheImperatorKnight]

Update: The scripts for the Stalingrad Season 6 are done, and the editing process has begun. I’m not sure when exactly the Season will start, but probably in 2-3 weeks time. I know you’re all eager for the next episode, but these things take time. Also, I’m actually ill right now. Not sure if you can tell in the video because I did my best to hide it… but the pace has slowed as a result. The show must go on!

[@oddlookinbloke8753]

Glad to hear an update

[@calumdeighton]

Glad to hear too, but I think, and I know you've got a Mount Everest load of topics and subjects to cover already. A video on Hilter's loss of reality would be enlightening. As a Warhammer person, and a 40K guy, I've quite use to the idea, of massive big things happening, and the psychological impact of all that, happening and coming down on one individual, or a handful at most. Fiction stuff I know, but something like that would be illuminating. Just a thought. Take care, and don't burn yourself out too soon. See ya next video.

[@2205Razors]

Take care of yourself mate. My craving for your history class can wait.

[@julianshepherd2038]

Hitler believed in myth

[@TheGrinbery]

Please get well soon and dont push yourself too hard whilst you're sick! I hope you take a good care of yourself

[@theartofwar6889]

They had a food crisis because Goring ate all the food.

[@TheImperatorKnight]

The German people were upset by this too, considering that most of the civilians were losing weight during the war

[@freddysw]

@@Edax_Royeaux He had the munchies

[@rbfishcs123]

@@TheImperatorKnight It would be an interesting economic discussion to talk about the domestic food production of Germany from 1936 onwards (or whenever took power). I wonder how much industrialization the Germans did prior to the war?

[@doughnutsandcoffee8622]

There was a saying in the wehrmacht, " when Goring gets fatter, and loosens his belt, the (army) troops lose their boots for a new belt"

[@morisco56]

Voring

[@InvertedGigachad]

"What Göring thinks, and what is reality, are two separate things." A wise quote right here

[@suffeeirshad]

Lol

[@zenatti364]

You can also say this: "What Himmler thinks, and what is reality, are two separate things." It works too, lunatic man

[@Johnnycdrums]

@@zenatti364 : Himmler was the jovial one, and could pass for Asian. Goering was the great WWI flying Ace, but Himmler was a sort of Brainiac by comparison.

[@oby100]

They were both pretty dumb. Himmler failed every time he was given a shred of responsibility. Goering was delusional, but at least he could accomplish simple tasks. Himmler was so dumb he thought he could lay low for a few months and re-emerge to play a leading role in Germany’s post war government.

[@geordimi]

Wars begin when you will, but they do not end when you please. -Niccolo Machiavelli

[@EndOfSmallSanctuary97]

Ironically, if Hitler had have adhered to Machiavelli's writings, he probably would have won the war.

[@Anthony-jo7up]

Unless you’re America in ww2, in which case it’s the opposite.

[@rohiths3554]

@@EndOfSmallSanctuary97 how so?

[@RedLancerMoto]

@@EndOfSmallSanctuary97 That depends on what you consider the conditions of victory.

[@thesecondsilvereich7828]

White Europeans 70% are dying out just like America at 57% European

[@leighharding5449]

I have read that Hitler's attitude towards ending the war was heavily influenced by his experience during the first world war, he felt the 'stab in the back' meant the German army surrendered without being defeated in the field, thus there would be no end to his war until the German army actually lost in the field. It's impossible to know how many lives were lost due to that attitude

[@sbevexlr848]

I heard it was in the millions

[@sbevexlr848]

@Vincent Verona what do you mean? How was I trying to be funny?

[@browngreen933]

Definitely the reason. Fight to the bitter end. No premature surrender.

[@BasedGauncho]

@@sbevexlr848 under rated lol

[@sbevexlr848]

@@BasedGauncho your picture is my reaction

[@yaldabaoth2]

"My patron Elon Musk..." great beginning of any video.

[@aquilajedi]

Is that a guy using musk as a handle or the actual musk?

[@alexcarter8807]

Muskrat just wants to know whether he should buy the Caucasus oil fields...

[@HouseholdDog]

Elon would have electrified the Panzer divisions.

[@danielaramburo7648]

@@HouseholdDog German general: the Russians are attacking! Alert the panzers! Maintenance crew: sir, the tanks have not fully charged.

[@daddyguy29]

@@aquilajedi it’s not the real Elon

[@leeharrisonphotos4175]

After Stalingrad it was no longer Hitler’s choice to end the war.

[@lordmozart3087]

What do you mean

[@lordmozart3087]

@@lockinload23 I still got it.

[@tihomirrasperic]

@@lordmozart3087 because he had only one option Unconditional capitulation

[@KRYPTOS_K5]

Yes, you are right. When Hitler decided to fight simultaneously on two (in fact 3) sides he decided for a zero sum war game. It was clear since the beginnings that the IIWW woudn't be more one common European military dispute about borders, old elite privileges or the possessions of colonial ultra marine assets.

[@claudeyaz]

Plus their economy was a disaster waiting to happen. Had all the worst traits of the dictionary definition of socialism

[@sosuzypodcast5653]

To be 100% honest, I have zero interest in WWII or war of any type. However, I absolutely love when my husband listens to your videos. Even when I am working in the next room, your cadence, knowledge, passion for the topic, comes through and I can't help but listen. You do a fantastic job and I look forward to picking up the few tidbits of historical facts you share with your viewers. Thank you!

[@monkeyboy4746]

If you start a war, I don't think you can just end the war and go home when things start going badly. I think it is called retreat. The other side will keep coming after you.

[@TheRealDill93]

Exactly lol.

[@mattjk5299]

Especially in a situation like Germany's. Regime change becomes the only real acceptable end for the enemy combatants when you have made it clear your end goal is not only complete domination/annexations/puppeting, but that any peace would simply be a break before attempting again. Napoleonic France, Nazi Germany, Imperial Germany, most civil wars. These states would likely not have simply given up on their goals if midway through the war they sued for peace. They also had reason to think their opponents also knew this - every single attempt by the Nazis to agree a negotiated peace involved regime change and removal of Hitler. You could also argue that this works in reverse. Nazi Germany absolutely intended to remove or diminish British, French etc sovereignty and to place different governments into power. Either puppet autocracies or controlled democracies. The Allies had the same intentions and this wasn't a secret. There's examples otherwise obviously, but usually to avoid a larger war in a limited conflict. If the war is already near-total, negotiated peace is very difficult for both sides.

[@jdee8407]

So what about Japan when they did a surprise attached on the US and then make the US sue for a negotiated peace in Japans terms. What about that example?!

[@monkeyboy4746]

@@jdee8407 Japan was already waging war before that due to their invasion of Manchuria, the attack on Hawaii was in conjunction with that. It allowed Japan to go after the oil in Southeast Asia without the US interfering with those plans, I don't think Japan was willing to give up those conquests to have peace with the US.

[@kassanovajoneze]

TIK this is by far one of your greatest theoretical beliefs regarding the German war effort when it comes to retrieving oil for the military operations in the East. You back it up with facts as well as written documentations to support your claim(s). I've been a fan of the War in the East for as long as I been reading about it. It never gets old as we have military enthusiasts as yourself that cotinine to do investigative research on these topics. I'm an African American self proclaimed historian who has 36 books on Stalingrad alone not to mention the stories of the Eastern Front I keep in my Kindle. I'm a long time fan. Keep up the good work as you will be hearing from me more.

[@hermitoldguy6312]

Churchill said "I know history will remember me kindly, as I intend to write it myself."

[@drewpamon]

Except he's being canceled today.

[@hermitoldguy6312]

@@drewpamon ... By those who obviously didn't read his books.

[@TheImperatorKnight]

I'm not a fan of Churchill, but it would be wrong to call him a 'Nazi' or a 'Fascist' as our Modern Monetary Racists like to call him. At one point he was the only leader in Europe actively fighting against Fascism and Nazism. That's not to say that he didn't have Fascist leanings (he did), or that he didn't do bad things (he absolutely did), just that we need to be precise in our language and not paint with broad brushstrokes.

[@russelledwards001]

@@drewpamon keep believing the bullshit you are being fed by the right on Facebook. No one wants to cancel Churchill, but we are allowed to challenge the myths propagated by the last 70 years of the establishment.

[@hermitoldguy6312]

My point was that autobiographies - and biographies - are often terrible sources, as they were written to defend (or attack) - they are not neutral. First-hand remarks are also not neutral. Some criminal defendants' pleas are the greatest works of fiction devised by man.

[@OntologicalQuandry]

"...and hoping that the Allies would end up fighting the Soviets with the Germans..." Well, to be fair to Hitler, we did, but not until after the Nazis were defeated.

[@silvanastoeva8641]

It would be dishonour for allies to do that. What if the Germans and Russians decided to fight allies together. The Allies at ardennes but then see we what happens. So many soldiers would come from the other side of the Rein River that they will be running for their lives in all corners of France. The point Is these sided were allied cause they needed each other to win. Exclude either and neither would conquer Germany.

[@chinguunerdenebadrakh7022]

The German thought was also heavily influenced by the miracle of the house of Brandenburg, where pretty much that happened, where Russia who had up until that point been an enemy of Prussia, became their ally and fought with for a short while till the Prussia fanboy Tsar got ousted and Russia out of the war.

[@mrjones6118]

Read up on your history. Take a look at the situation on the eastern front at the time of the D day invasion and it's obvious to anyone that the Russians already had the war won. The only thing one might counter with would be the lend lease supplies they received. Even without those they would have defeated the Germans on their own, albeit with a little more difficulty, taking more time to grind the Wehrmacht down, and of course even more casualties. After Stalingrad the fate of the Germans was sealed. Some historians have even argued that the war was lost for Germany even before Stalingrad.

[@OntologicalQuandry]

@@mrjones6118 Yeah, and not the collapse of the Nazis and the continued rise of the filthy Bolsheviks against whom the Allies teamed with the Germans to subdue. I think you misunderstood my point. Hitler's point seemed immediate, but worked over a longer period. The Germans did team up with the other nations against the Commies. Somewhat similarly to Rasputin warning about the consequences of his death to the Czar. Funny how history has echoes. ...almost like a carillon...

[@jamesricker3997]

@@silvanastoeva8641 the Russians could have done it on their own And would have cost Russia another 10 to 15 million dead but Stalin would have been willing to pay that price

[@saeedbarkhordar5244]

Ironic that the Axis were sitting on huge oil reserves in Libya .

[@NUMMEHARBEN]

Bad for them they did not know there were oil in Libya at that time. If they had attacked Saudi-Arabia instead of Caucasus they would also have had enough oil.

[@hailexiao2770]

@@NUMMEHARBEN To get to SA they would have had to conquer the Caucasus and/or Libya anyway.

[@gmanbo]

@@NUMMEHARBEN they likely would have had to go through Egypt for that. Also incidentally this is where the British sent all there tanks and most of the Indian and Australian Reinforcements. The British considered the Suez canal the same as the Americans consider the Panama canal. Absolutely vital to the strategic health and life of the empire. So good luck getting there with out 1 taking ( malta) ( they almost did ( tik has a video I think on this)) and investing alot of time and resources into the north African campaign. Also I do not think Saudi-Arabian oil was discovered until after the war was over and the cold war had begun.

[@anthonymendoza931]

@@gmanbo The first oil discovered in Saudi Arabia was in 1938, but its extent was realized until after the war. I doubt that Saudi oil was on anyone's radar at that time. Germany needed an already developed oil field. Anyway they lacked the expertise or time to develop a raw oil field no matter how big. Another problem is that Germany needed a navy in order to fight in the Middle East. They couldn't get supplies across the Mediterranean consistently. That is why they lost in Egypt.

[@gmanbo]

@@anthonymendoza931 I am pulling from Tik here when he looked at Malta. When it was doing well the brits did well. As in it was able to interdict the supplies that Rommel needed in Africa. The Italian fleet early in the war was a threat until the admiralty lost there nerv. several Drak videos videos point to this issue. The big issue is that that air field on Malta allowed the British to use air to take out the supply lines from Italia. If the Germans early in the war had focused Malta down like they did with the invasion of Crete. Cutting off all supply and then landing that would have enabled Air superiority in the mid Mediterranean. I did not know about German's lack of understanding in oil production. My basic point I think stands though to the oil in the gulf region was out of reach for the Germans unless they controlled Egypt. Egypt the hill that Churchill was going to either die or triumph on. I understand that the Italians and the Germans did not have enough supply ships but not having them nocked permanently from Malta would have allowed for a more fully secure supply route and would have freed up resources.

[@petersmythe6462]

Goering routinely overestimated his capabilities with the Luftwaffe. It's probably fair to assume that he overestimated German ability to use what they had.

[@misterfreundchen3484]

TIK, you've awoken an interest in history, and ever since I watch your. Videos, read books. Etc Thakk you so Much!

[@TheImperatorKnight]

That's great to hear! My ultimate goal is to get people interested in history, reading it and debating it, so I'm glad to see that you (and others) are doing just that

[@nonamesplease6288]

Just recall how Goring behaved when he was captured. He held court with the press and acted like a bigshot. I've seen evidence that the American soldiers who captured him were some combination of awed or bullied by him. He seemed truly stunned when higher ups ordered him arrested, stripped of his distinctions, and denied access to the press. Such a personality will typically attempt to spin his story to mislead his captors. No surprise that he would lie later on.

[@Hagendaz97]

I remember reading some article where it alleges molotov and Ribbentrop had a meeting in 1943 after Stalingrad debacle. It was in some Ukrainian town called kirovograd in German occupied territory. The German condition was to draw the new border along the dnieper line but Molotov refused and insisted on the old border. The Germans even then didn’t believe that total defeat was possible. But one former red army officer who I had opportunity to talk to said yes there was a very big rumor at that time.

[@kobold7763]

There are also confirmed reports of a meeting requested in neutral Sweden in ‘43 by a soviet ambassador (possibly Molotov but someone else I believe) but that didn’t go through apparently. Hitler was stated as saying in Sept. ‘43 shortly after Kursk that if he made peace with the Soviet’s he would only be back to blows again tomorrow so there was no point in his mind. He also had a similar discussion with Himmler a month later in October allegedly.

[@briandamage5677]

I've read that Goering felt the war was lost when allied fighters were able to escort bombers over Berlin.

[@garywheeler7039]

They had to practically fill the body of the Mustang fighter with gasoline, as well as the wings, to accomplish that. A bizarre and dangerous thing.

[@HistoryHustle]

I was waiting for this video. I get this questions quite often. Thanks TIK!

[@TheImperatorKnight]

Would be interesting to hear your take on this

[@damyr]

Such question would ask only a child who heard for WW2 for the first time. But for someone who knows the history of WW2 and of Nazi regime, the question doesn't make any sense whatsoever. So, next time you get such question, you'll know you don't need to be bothered with it.

[@CrumbledCheese]

@@damyr What a pretentious take.

[@damyr]

@@CrumbledCheese What a fatuous comment.

[@CrumbledCheese]

@@damyr Your logic is so lazily flawed. You just want to come across as some sort of all-knowing history chad. People ask questions to learn new things. No one knows everything and your pretentious better-than-thou attitude is literally the history buff caricature people make fun of.

[@2drx4]

You have to remember too that Goering was fairly seriously addicted to morphine by the time of the D-day landings in Normandy. His own judgement was clouded for the remainder of the war, and it was not until the allies detoxed him after his surrender that he returned to reality.

[@morisco56]

Now tno makes sense

[@michaelstanton7904]

Although both Hitler and Goering definitely had their racist socialism belief firmly embedded in their warped minds before the war. Goering was a lifelong morphine, heroin, oxycodone, and like opiate addicts, they must dose at least one time a day, or suffer debilitating withdrawal symptoms that paralyzes the addict. He was a junkie from the failed beer hall coup. Hitler became a poly abuser, from him meeting Dr. Theodore Morrell. Starting with simple harmless vitamins, glucose, and probiotics. Vitamaltin contained vitamin supplements, and methamphetamine(Perventin). Morrell's medical record of patient A(Hitler)contained at least 78 different drugs the the Further was given. The methamphetamine, cocaine, and Eucadul(oxycodone), various barbiturate tranquilizers, all in their pure forms must of put Hitler, who had major personality disorders and paranoid political ideologies, probably made him so delusional that he was incapable of having any moments of clarity. This is so overlooked in the history of Hitler. The last 3 years of his life, he was a severe addict. The last year of his life, Morrell injected the Nazi leader with 20mg of Oxycodone. He was introduced to pure cocaine, produced by the pharmaceutical company Merrick, after the July 20 bomb explosion that burst his eardrums. He was injured worse than the Nazi's reported. He was extremely medicated, with the classic speedball effect. I don't believe that he had Parkinson's. I think that his trembling was a result of his extreme narcotic dependence. Surely he was in severe withdrawal in the final days in the bunker. The fat Goering was so diluted that he drove his car and entourage to surrender to the Western allies, with the entire Oxycodone supply that was left in Germany. Is it any wonder that the Nazi regime was doomed. National Socialism, like any type of socialism will fail, add the 2 highest ranking Nazi's hopeless dope feinds. The mother of all paradoxes. The superhuman Aryan. What a ignorant ideology. Through in the drug abuse of Hitler and Goering, it's no wonder that the regime was so criminal, and Hitler wanted to take the fallen regime and blame the German people for his disaster that he created, and destroy the whole country's interstructer. 1000 years won't even to begin to erase the guilt of this regime.

[@Clubskunk]

@@michaelstanton7904 what u just wrote literally explains it all in one nutshell. Amazing writing it all boils down to what u said. The fact that this happened less than 100 years ago boggles my mind.

[@voskoff7]

@@michaelstanton7904what you just wrote is utter trash. This obsession with labeling thegerman leadership as all seriously flawed addicts having constant mental episodes is not historical. Goreing was an addict yes and yet he was still a genius level iq when the allies tested him. Hitler was not screaming 24/7 and delusional. He went from pauper to chancellor in 15 years. His judgement was the major reason why Germany held on for years longer than they had any right to. If you examine the decisions of any leader none of them make immensely successful ones 100% of them time. If you want to understand history stop pathologising them as cartoon vilians and look at them as men

[@jakublulek3261]

Goering was from conservative circles, his adoptive father was nobleman and his Nazi conviction was many times disputed by Goebbels or even Himmler. He was opportunist and pretty tepid supporter of Nazi racial cause. That doesn't mean he was innocent, far from it, but some of his views make more sense when seen from that perspective. He hated Goebbels, despised Himmler and his connection with Hitler was weakening as war went on. He was more WWI German nationalist than Nazi.

[@clicheguevara9917]

Damn Tik, the way you bark the german quotes makes me want to clean my room.

[@MrMurica]

-Reichskommisar Jordan Peterson ordering his troops to "Clean your room bucko" Circa 1942

[@ian_b]

I wiped most of the crumbs off my tee shirt.

[@InvertedGigachad]

@@MrMurica "Generalanweisung des Reichskulturministers zur sofortigen und unmittelbaren Mängelabstellung betreffend Schmutz und Ordnung im Rahmen des eigenen Wohnraums"

[@InvertedGigachad]

google translates it perfectly

[@paulnunnink7338]

@@InvertedGigachad Sonderkommando Staubsauger....... ;-)

[@nathanielcarreon5634]

Hard to stop when you are winning and have no choice when you are losing.

[@edmilton738]

Be well, Tik, we appreciate your efforts.. Thanks for posting..♥

[@bremnersghost948]

Could have boiled Goering down to Blubber and refined that for enough Fuel to reach Vladivostock ;-)

[@Chironex_Fleckeri]

Hey, didn't the Germans boil peop- ...nevermind

[@Chironex_Fleckeri]

@Justus Immelmann One area where Germans are NOT head and soldiers above the rest: banter. Lighten up

[@huntera123]

The interview with Goring is very insightful on how incompetent and crazy the inner circle of the Reich really was. Hitler blew Dunkirk. Goring blew the air battle against Britain. The kleptocratic brutality of the Third Reich made failure inevitable.

[@briannichols9491]

No they still almost won in 1942

[@MarkIsTiredAlways]

​@@briannichols9491not even close Soviet union would destroy peak germany in a few years

[@Bigwilkdaddy]

You’re only getting 1 side of the story

[@Jan-df7dl]

Take Albert Speer as an excellent example about making his own story up.

[@reginaldmcnab3265]

I read his book and it seems clear that he is just writing to please the victors maybe that was the deal for his life. But the book “Ten Years And Ten Days” by Karl Dönitz is a much better book. It seems he wrote his book not caring who will like it or not including the victors

[@coloradoing9172]

Care to give any examples?

[@josephahner3031]

A fight isn't over until your opponent agrees it is.

[@johnmorrison9758]

The main reason Hitler kept going was to save himself as long as he could. No way he would ever consider surrendering, because he knew he would be held accountable for his crimes. He had no empathy for the trials and tribulations of the Germans. He even denounced them near the end as not being worthy.

[@markskeldon1347]

You have hit the nail on the head. My comment about Hitler and Gorring living in the clouds is on the fringes. Self preservation is basic in humanity.

[@steenkigerrider5340]

After the Casablanca conference of January 1943 (the Allied unconditional surrender demand) Germany had no real other option than to fight on in the hope of some miracle to occur, like what happened to I remember another Goering quote where he said that when he observed American P51 Mustangs over the clear skies of Berlin in April 1944 (unopposed and in broad daylight) he knew the war was lost.

[@steenkigerrider5340]

....like what happened to Frederic the Great.

[@artyomarty391]

that quote was most likely fabricated by the Allies so that the victory could be assigned to them instead of the Soviets.

[@jasonjason6525]

@@artyomarty391 True. The Soviets crushed them.

[@dabidibup]

If Adolf surrendered I’m sure some soldiers would feel “stabbed in the back”… no, Germany had to undeniably lose this war.

[@orangekayak78]

Why did you not stop fighting after loosing the oil fields? -Georing: dude I was so high I didn't know what was going on. Yeah he was a morphine addict.

[@Drain_Life_Archive]

Hitler was also abusing drugs and out of his mind by the end of the war.

[@damyr]

And Himmler was a total loony, lost in his own rabbit hole of cartoonish spiritual world full of mystical lands, mythological creatures and magical powers. To sum it up, the story of Nazi Germany is the story of deranged human psyche.

[@Drain_Life_Archive]

@Vlad Vlad There's plenty of evidence to support that Hitler committed suicide with his new wife (Braun). Borman was confirmed dead in the 1990s with DNA. It took so long because he was shot in the street and his body wasn't identified at the time. Himmler suicided after being caught. Eichmann was caught and executed many years later. Out of your list, only Mengele managed to escape then live out a full free life. That was mostly due to luck because they had countless opportunities to capture him. They would later dig up his body to confirm his identity. Btw, the Nazis never had atomic weapons nor any chance of making them before USA. That's just silly to imagine. They did have good scientists, and this led to impressive tanks, V rockets, and the first combat jet. But atomic research just wasn't a priority for them at the time. Saying they lost the atomic race would imply there was a race in the first place. There really wasn't. Only USA actually focused on atomic research during the war. Their best scientists were actually German refugees (hur hur).

[@ieuanhunt552]

@Vlad Vlad stop watching the "history" channel conspiracy theories have rotted your brain

[@Drain_Life_Archive]

@Vlad Vlad The allies believed Hitler escaped because that's what the Russians told them at the time. Russia covered it up and told people he escaped. Their had their own political reasons for doing this, but they already confirmed and knew he was dead for a long time. Bormann's body was discovered in 1945 btw. He didn't live for any amount of years afterwards. I'm done wasting time with you now. You seem content to make up rubbish that totally contradicts proven history without actually backing it with anything. Perhaps you should stick to video games.

[@larryclemens1850]

The whole bit at the end about critical evaluation of sources is why the study of history, if for no other reason, is valuable.

[@InternetDarkLord]

Read "The End" by Ian Kershaw, which is an entire book devoted to the very question Elon Musk asks, why Germany fought to the end. For example, in Italy, the Grand Council and monarch were able to depose Mussolini, but Germany there were no councils, monarchs, or legislature strong strong to challenge Hitler. He points out Unconditional Surrender was a minor factor.

[@seththomas9105]

@The Colonel Spot on Colonel. We have to remember that in 1943 WWI had only been over for 25 years and Europe and the USA had spent the 1930's trying to placate despots in the attempt to avoid another bloodbath re:1914-1918, in the span of 20 years+/-. When the Allies and Axis became fully engaged in December 1941 the die was cast that the Axis, and Germany in particular, was going to answer for the first war and the present hostilities and the lesson would be harsh and the punishment would be plentiful. There was no way the world opinion would be satisfied until the Axis had paid their pound of flesh, and IMHO rightfully so.

[@Gmac86.]

In ‘Hitlers War’ by David Irving, its clear that Hitler told his leadership that, following the failing of Case Blue and Kursk, Germany could not sue for peace until they achieved a strong victory, thus increasing their negotiating power. Hitler said they cannot sue for peace while they were suffering defeat after defeat, only when they stabilised the situation with some strategic victories.. which never happened.

[@InternetDarkLord]

@@Gmac86. Double Check everything David Irving said!

[@Gmac86.]

@@InternetDarkLord I read ‘The End’ and thought it was disappointing.

[@InternetDarkLord]

@@Gmac86. I haven't read "The End" in years.Why were you disappointed?

[@aboutthemetal8783]

I'm lucky enough to have had grandparents serve in the first and second world wars. It was fascinating to listen to my grandmother, grandfather and great grandfather speak about their experiences with the German people and the German soldiers, one of my great grandfathers act blamed the way the German people and country were treated after the end of the 1st World War, he did not condone Hitler, but he explained how easy it would have been to taken in by the nazi party of the 30s, I'm of German and British heritage and I'm proud of both my family lines.

[@aboutthemetal8783]

I absolutely love the different perspectives that you use to approach subjects that some are afraid to talk about and debate over. A very different approach and a much enjoyable way to learn more about the history of our world.

[@paulherzog9605]

My father, a WWII vet, always said that we won the battle of production to defeat the Nazis. Oil was one major component. Tanks, airplanes, liberty ships and manpower all were important. We supplied thousands of trucks to Stalin to move his troops . And Spam. Army travels on its stomach. Japan had the same problem when they lost Indonesia, they lost their oil.

[@brucetucker4847]

Japan lost their oil when their tankers were sunk by US submarines. They had lost the war long before they started losing Indonesia.

[@johnschuh8616]

One real driving force was the “unconditional Surrender” policy. Had it not been a stated policy, it certainly would have made it harder for the US and Britain to keep the alliance with the USSR, and therefore make it harder for the US and Britain or the Soviets to have an armistice with the Nazis. At the same time, it seems obviously that it made a coup to overthrow the Nazis harder. If more generals had been involved in the strike against Hitler, an end of the war was more likely and with the Soviet still far from central Europe.

[@thomaslinton5765]

Funnily, Japan never again had as much oil PRESENT IN JAPAN as they did just before Pearl Harbor. It lacked the shipping to get the oil, and oither strategic commodities, to Japan.

[@plorabare]

​@@thomaslinton5765Japan should've ended the war with China.

[@captainnutsack8151]

Japan held Indonesia until they surrendered lol

[@dangerouslytalented]

Before watching this entire video, I would say, that ending the war was not a choice for Hitler to make.

[@Szycha8412]

Other reason is - Hitler and his crew knew that end of war will bye also end of their lives - allies will demand their trial anyway. Sorry for my english :)

[@matthewj.sanchez2425]

When it comes to wars of attrition, logistics and resources win the day...and the war. I remember reading an old WW2 book published decades ago (the title escapes my mind, but the quote I'm about to recite doesn't). It was a German soldier who had his first skirmish with American soldiers. The Germans won the skirmish, but the German soldier noticed something when he saw his first dead American soldier. More or less the quote went like this, "the American had two chocolate bars on him and his boots were new. We were hungry and our boots were worn out. At that moment is when I knew we were going to lose the war." Chocolate bars and new footwear may seem trivial, but it's definitely indicative of much more important things and that astute German soldier saw the writing on the wall.

[@dIRECTOR259]

TIK, the point of the Ardennes Offensive was diplomatic: to present the Western Allies with the prospect of Communist tanks in the Netherlands - and maybe even on the Channel. The idea is to force the WA to negotiate with the Nazis, and maybe even provoke a war with the Soviets.

[@martinhahnheuser4752]

I came across this site by chance and find your assessments very interesting, particular in light of discussions with my late father who fought on the Eastern Front in the period you refer to. I can tell you that from his recollections that the fuel shortage was dire. His role was to supply the front and return the wounded to field hospitals. He informed me that many of the vehicles (trucks) were operating on "wood gas" and not diesel. It was also the first time I heard anyone mention the turning of loyalties by senior officers. My father, who was under command of General Paulis and Marshall Monaheim had sufficient fire power to negotiate their own terms of surrender, ie to the Brittish, and not to the Russian forces. He also said that overtures had been made to the Allies to join forces in return for their subsequent surrender in order to push the Russians back out of central Europe. Because he lived in Eastern Germany (Dresden) this was a matter close to his heart. He (my Father) escaped to the West around 1946/7 after the East/West German border was errected. He (my father) was born 1908 -1987 and was in his early to mid thirties at this time. He also believed that on refusal of Allies to join them in repelling the Russian army from the east all remaining effort was thrown at the Russians to prevent them from getting a greater foothold in Cental Europe, and that the Allies were given accelerated passage via minimal resistance to end the war in the belief that the Russian's would keep only what they had captured and no further after the imminent defeat. This may explain Goerings interview a bit more clearly where he highlights the failure of various Generals to properly carry out their orders. He was pobably right. Many enlisted soldiers and officers where not NAZI sympathisers, and many regarded the war was madness, unnecessary and wasteful of both life and resources. Continued fighting on in the East front appears to be the German's attempting to get the best deal from an imminent loss and adds weight to the idea that the troops were not continuing to fight for the NAZI cause, but rather an attempt to salvage what they could from the loss.

[@thomaslinton5765]

Marshal Manstein?

[@martinhahnheuser4752]

@@thomaslinton5765 "Mannerheim (1867-1951) charted the course of Finnish history and was voted greatest Finn of all time. He served in the Russian Imperial Army for decades, and later became a war hero in his home country of Finland. He was the symbol of the Finnish struggle against Soviet Russia during the Winter War of 1939-1940."

[@thomaslinton5765]

@@martinhahnheuser4752 Thank you for trying to expand my knowledge of Finnish history. But he did not spell his name "Monaheim" and was nowhere near Paulis, leading to my guess that you measnt Manstein, who DID serve on the southern portion of the Ostfront. 1. I taught military history at Ohio State University; 2. I am a patron of the Finnish Heritage Museum, Fairport Harbor, Ohio. Ei kysyvä tieltä eksy.

[@reeseman1932]

The axis didn’t actually start losing until Steiner didn’t do his offensive. They could’ve won otherwise

[@kyleh3693]

Ref from Iron Cross ?

[@williammorrison6311]

Nah, they last in a war of attrition. Compared to those of Germany, American and Soviet resources were unlimited.

[@seththomas9105]

Fegeliein! Fegelein! Fegelein!

[@beback_]

DAS WAR EIN BEFEHL!!

[@InvertedGigachad]

@@beback_ DER ANGRIFF STEINERS WAR EIN BEFEHL

[@vassilizaitzev1]

Nice to see new content Tik. I'm switching back to the European front after being focused on the Pacific for my job. Focused on the Battle of France for the next few weeks. May I use your video from last year as a source? Hope you are well!

[@TheImperatorKnight]

I've no problem with you using my videos as a source, but bear in mind that these are technically tertiary sources (or secondary sources, depending on which video) so I'd recommend you read through the sources I used too. That way you're not just taking my word for it, but are agreeing with my assessment of the sources based on your own reading of the same sources.

[@vassilizaitzev1]

@@TheImperatorKnight Way ahead of you on that. Just ordered Blitzkrieg Legend. Read it last year, and wanted a copy for my library. Have some older works like Alistair Horne, and newer ones like Ernest May and Robert Foczyk. Should balance it out. Will hopefully make it into a podcast when all is said and done. Cheers!

[@clemi6739]

@@TheImperatorKnight Used your videos as source sources as well. Thanks for always including a detailed bibliography :D

[@coreys2686]

KZbin is losing its mind. I watched this shortly after you posted, and now ten hours later, I'm getting another notification that this has been uploaded. This isn't the first time either.

[@MrKakibuy]

Everything was fine until the Ardennes? what drugs did Goering take?

[@publiozinj4882]

Opiates

[@Anacronian]

All of them I believe.

[@danielkurtovic9099]

Did he asleep "Operation Bagration", german army group Center wanish under Red Army offernsive. Despite Model in charge , best troops Reich had there and plenty of time to dug in and make strong defence line. The best Reich troops had had , wanish, 500 000.

[@diarradunlap9337]

What was he thinking when he said THAT? He HAD to have slept through Overlord, Bagration, the Falaise collapse, AND the Polish Uprising.

[@mryhdy6266]

@@danielkurtovic9099 Model wasn't in charge until the s.it hit the fan. Army Group Center was a hollowed out force that had little mobile reserves, they were south with Model and called in when the front had all but collapsed. This is not to belittle the brilliance of the Soviet offensive, it clearly showed that they had learned their lesson.

[@jduff59]

Ardennes Offensive tank commander to division - "We need oil for the trip" Division - "Here's a siphon hose - best of luck to you".

[@JayT_Lifts]

Thx for these awesome videos I love watching them every time they come out. I don’t know how you don’t have more views

[@TheImperatorKnight]

I'm glad you're enjoying them! I think part of the reason why I don't get more views is because I engage in historical debates. Many falsely believe that this is "wrong" because they don't have a firm grasp of history theory, which says that the debates are what make it happen. There's a school of historical thought (largely continental-European) that believes that you should just "stick to the facts", even though we can logically demonstrate that the "facts" don't answer certain questions like "when did the turning point of WW2 happen?" We have the "facts", but the only way to get the answer is to debate it. And by engaging in debates, and taking sides in those debates, I become "controversial". Again, people falsely assume that a historian must remain "objective" and "non-biased", which is a theoretical impossibility. And the "controversial" topics not only annoy people and cause them to unsubscribe or not view the videos, but also land me in trouble with KZbin, which I can definitely show are suppressing some of my videos (like the Greek video). Also, if you type in "TIK history" into Google, you'll probably find links on the first page to Reddit where the Marxist-echo-chamber of r/BadHistory have written hit-pieces against me, as well as "Pakistan Defence" website. This is off-putting to new viewers and potential viewers who have no idea whether I'm trustworthy or not. They'll see these hit-pieces and assume there's some legitimacy to them, which I would say there isn't. The other part of it is because of the channel name. "TIK" is hard to find on KZbin due to "TikTok". People may also assume that I'm part of TikTok or something. Also, I don't do collaborations (I've done 1 video with MHV and one with Anton Joly). So viewers have to find me by word of mouth. And finally, my strategy was never to get the "views" or the "subscribers". My strategy was to make good history and rely upon pledges from my viewers. My belief is that decent historical videos will bring people to the channel, and keep them watching. So I'm not here for the views... I mean, I obviously want people to watch the channel, so views are important in that sense... but it's about the history, not the views. That's why I put out content that I know won't get many views - the history comes first.

[@JayT_Lifts]

@@TheImperatorKnight yeah that’s definitely true. I would also say that you cover the topic of history very in depth, which a lot of viewers are not very interested in. But I like the community you’ve built around it 👍

[@AaronMichaelLong]

Ultimately Hitler fell foul of the problems which plague *all* autocracies: The need to prize loyalty above competence. Note Goering's fixation on the generals "betraying" Hitler, and refusal to acknowledge facts that a dispassionate observer would describe as readily evident.

[@AaronMichaelLong]

@Matthew Clark A democracy is *by definition* not a meritocracy.

[@nicobruin8618]

13:02 I'm not denying Goering was a raging anti semite, but surely this quote is an example of mere cold-blooded economic pragmatism.

[@GeluTavi]

The quotation literally laments that 1. Jews had rights (to economics compensation, and 2. It puts the lives of Jews lower in the priority list than the financial hit to insurance companies. That is racially-motivated economic "pragmatism." What benefits the economy most is if people are free to trade and their stuff is safe from destruction. :) Let me know if you disagree.

[@nicobruin8618]

@@GeluTavi I don't think we're in disagreement over anything. During Kristallnacht german vigilantes smashed up Jewish property, property which the Reichsmarshall would rather have seen seized by the state. This was what he was complaining about. And in a normal economy I suppose your last point is correct, but for the purposes of mobilization the nazi's clearly benefited in the short term by robbing part of the population so they could pour more money into the armed forces.

[@krispirtsios8654]

I can just imagine let's have a ceasefire and sign off on that. The Soviets would be thinking yeah just like the non aggression pact we signed.

[@RemoteViewr1]

Exactly. Hitler signed his death warrant by breaking every agreement he ever made, at his convenience.

[@firemangan2731]

@@RemoteViewr1 Which is also the main reason why the Brits, notably Churchill, doesn’t trust him (Hitler) when Hitler wanted peace with the Brits, ever since Hitler broke the munich agreement it is clear he is not someone that worthy of trust in international affairs.

[@Anthony-jo7up]

@@firemangan2731 It goes beyond Hitler too. Due to the stab in the back myth of the WW1 peace, there was never going to be a situation where Germany is once again offered a peace treaty by the western allies. They had beaten them in the previous war, but the Germans didn't get the message. That is the main reason for Unconditional Surrender, the Allies would make it clear in no uncertain terms that Germany was completely defeated in the war.

[@darthcheney7447]

Great job. Elon needs to shorten his questions next time.

[@TheImperatorKnight]

Haha yes, probably. His second question is long too. Although, it does depend, because he did put in quotes and things like that, which is fine. He basically presented an argument against my oil-video, then asked me to reply to it, which is fine

[@fakeplaystore7991]

@@TheImperatorKnight Point and counterpoint discussions? In CURRENT YEAR? Nonsense!

[@TheImperatorKnight]

@Fake Playstore You're right! We need to muzzle-up 😷

[@justgivemethetruth]

That is what a real letter looks like asking a real question. Not that anyone today would recognize it.

[@Wobdifurousness]

Bearing in mind that Elon already condensed the question, the power cut which killed his first attempt may have been a blessing in disguise. Yet actually it was a cute question and well argued. TIK answers it in a lot of depth and covering most if not all of the points raised; treating it respectfully as a fair question. I hope Elon Musk at least found the answer interesting and worthwhile, even if he doesn't agree with the counter-argument.

[@EndOfSmallSanctuary97]

Why would Hitler even consider surrendering? The Allies had made it clear that they would only accept unconditional surrender, which would entail the complete submission of Germany to its enemies, as well as the trial and probable execution of Hitler and the Nazi leadership. He had no reason to consider making peace. He was going to die either way, may as well die continuing the war to "go down fighting". This is exactly why the unconditional surrender demand was criticised quite a lot at the time. It was believed that it merely convinced the Nazis to keep fighting past the point of all reason.

[@hansvandijk1487]

Actually, there were three fronts: Brits and Americans fought in Italy as well. Greetings from the Netherlands.

[@smal750]

Poles and french too

[@hansvandijk1487]

@@smal750 True! Poles fought in our country in the Market Garden campaign (Sept. 1944). We owe Poland, Brits and Canadians for liberating our country. Greetings from the Netherlands 🇳🇱.

[@smal750]

@@hansvandijk1487 👍

[@hansvandijk1487]

@@smal750 May I ask you which country you’re from? Greetings 🖖.

[@smal750]

@@hansvandijk1487 Im from algeria

[@linnharamis1496]

Another excellent discussion of WW2 history and the conflicting viewpoints among people who debate the major issues. Thank you.

[@johnwatson3948]

Not sure why Musk mentions the “nuclear program” - Germany only took some first steps and never really started one, did not have the resources in any case.

[@erniefrijole2618]

Always wondered whether German scientists were purposely bungling scientific progress by diluting resources and proposing ridiculous numbers of worthy goals to pursue. It just seems that there wasn't a single divergent rabbit hole left that wasn't plunged into!?

[@justinmcclain4663]

No so both sides found a few different place where they where work on a nuclear weapon but not they didn't have everything they needed in one place

[@buckhorncortez]

Hitler, Goering, etc. had a limit to the amount of money and manpower they could dedicate to various projects. Hitler wanted results that were guaranteed to affect the war and viewed nuclear as being speculative. That's why Hitler dedicated the war resources to the V-1 buzz bomb and V2 rocket. Both had rapid development and could be used in the war quickly. The German uranium program was fragmented with two different groups pursuing research independent of each other. Heisenberg was in charge of one program, and since they did not have an operative reactor could not do fission research. If you read the Farm Hall transcripts, Heisenberg did not have a clear understanding of fast neutron reactions and did not understand the scale required for uranium separation, and also did not understand the production of plutonium.

[@russell7489]

What makes you think Elon knows anything other than where to get $$$$ The connections that get the rich $ is what makes them rich They don't invent or do anything amazing they are. Just well connected middle men

[@patbrumph6769]

Hitler under funded the nuclear program because he associated nuclear with Einstein and thought of it as Jewish science.

[@dbassman27]

I would argue that the main reason Nazi Germany lost the war was that they were outmatched militarily. They were completely unable to force their opponents to concede and surrender. They had no way to invade Britain (and the British weren't about to surrender unless their country was occupied), and absolutely no way to attack America. Once the Soviet Union survived the initial shock of Operation Barbarossa, the struggle became a battle of attrition, and there was no way Germany could win that. It should also be acknowledged that while German tactical operations were throughout the war superb, their strategic planning was poor. They just assumed Britain would surrender after the fall of France, and when that didn't happen, they had no plan as to how to force Britain into negotiations. Hitler was sure that the Soviet Union would collapse within a few weeks after the commencement of Operation Barbarossa, and when that didn't happen they were forced to improvise. There was no requirement for Hitler to declare war on America, yet he did Roosevelt an incredible favour by doing so. I agree that they were seriously short of oil and food (another reason not to attack the Soviet Union, which through trade could supply those items), and yet they undertook military operations that were beyond their abilities to complete.

[@illjan]

Hey TIK, I recently found a nice band of books in my school library, that is about The War Diary of the OKW ( Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, War diary of the High command of the Wehrmacht) by Percy. E. Schramm. The series has 8 books, going over the years from 1940-1945. I have only read through the first book, so I don't know if this goes for the other books as well, but it was build by having the first 240 pages or so be the first part, explaining the Situation around that time, who the guy was that wrote the war diary, how the OKW was built and communicated with itself. It also gives a lot of insight into many Thoughts the Generals had and in what ways Hitler intervened with the planning. It was interesting to find out that Hitler almost didn't intervene in military planning during the poland campaign at all and just started intervening in the campaign in the west. There I found that Göring played a big role in stopping the push towards Dunkirk, because he wanted the Luftwaffe to also get praise and actually goes a bit into depth why that happened. In the second part of the first book it is the actual War Diary, day by day. I think that what i have read from the book series, that it is very intersting and also gives a lot of insight, but there is a Problem: I don't know if there is an english version. But if you ever find something that is named like this, by Percy E. Schramm, then i hope it would interest you as well. In case you are interested, i wish you good luck on your search and i hope you find something. If not, then at least i was able to tell you that thing about dunkirk. Also to add to the video i can say that i do also think that it had a lot to do with the "Dolchstoßlegende" aka. the "Stab in the back legend", but also that Hitler and a lot of other generals were in denial. Especially Hitler. A lot of people say that Hitler was just delusional and mentaly ill, but i would say that thsi view of him only really applies to late war Hitler. Earlier I don't think that he was suffering from any illnesses. But if we think about how Hitler tried to "save the world" in his world view, by destroying the jewish race, yadda yadda yadda, you did a video on it, you know what i mean, then it must have been crushing for him to live with the fact that the now winning allies are going to want to get revenge and that he won't be able to save germany. Imagine trying to save the world, by attacking the most eviliest thing you think is on this planet, to not only try to never be able to harm your people again (by being self sufficient) but to then fail at achieving that and then having to live with the knowledge that the big bad thing is going to crush you. How could anyone live with knowing that, so i dont think it is to weird to see why hitler was in comlete denial and tried to fend off as long as in any way possible.

[@ajsimo2677]

As far as I know, it has never been translated into English in full and published as such. Some extracts have been translated and are kept in U.S. public records. (That's just going off the top of my head).

[@illjan]

@@ajsimo2677 aw, well. I mean the books are relatively old, not anything new, but still. They are really interesting in the end

[@ajsimo2677]

@@illjan Indeed :)

[@hermitoldguy6312]

If you think you're free of delusions, you're deluding yourself.

[@ajsimo2677]

If you think Hermit Oldguy is trolling, you're probably right :P

[@Gonzo-360]

Hitler said he must "end the war" not that he should "end the war".... Hitler didn't mean to surrender or stop fighting... he meant he needed to "end the war" as in destroy his enemies. Many reason's the madman lost the war but especially on the eastern front he lost the war because of the complete lack of logistics and supplies. I fought in Afghanistan three times in the British army. As good as we were - we got cut off in a small town without supply whilst in the south of the country. We tried to resupply via helicopter at night but the enemy put that to an end very quickly so we couldn't keep fighting with no supplies which meant we had to pull out quick! Great video TIK!!

[@delgande]

The fact that war production INCREASED after 1942 and during bombardment shows how terrible their planning was They seriously thought the war would end fast

[@comentedonakeyboard]

Görings statement sounds like: true Blitzkrieg has never been tried.

[@scottjohnson9912]

Why didn't he end the war ? The answer is simple . He couldn't, it was to late . You don't walk. Into a bar and start suxkerpunching people and then say " oh , im sorry . Can we be freinds now ?

[@johnbowles5399]

I would have thought that the Allied insistence on 'unconditional surrender', something unthinkable to the Germans for obvious reasons, was the major factor in the war dragging on as long as it did. The Allies fairly early on made it clear that they would simply refuse to offer Germany any terms whatsoever. Yes I know that Hitler personally insisted on fighting on regardless of the odds, but whenever a top ranking Nazi official/general did go behind the Fuhrer's back to negotiate with Britain and America they were repeatedly told the same thing, unconditional surrender or nothing.

[@MrViktorolon]

Short answer: you can't just stop the war when you are losing. It was a fight-or-surrender situation. And...with all war crimes in its path...surrender would mean execution of the high ranking staff.

[@stuartmcalpine9468]

Almost all humans are susceptible to “magical thinking.” Humans, evidently, can believe whatever they want, for whatever reason, and change their minds for whatever reason they want. If only this would happen.....or if only that would happen.....or if I do this, they just might, maybe give up. Sure, they’ll give up, yeah. Or you can flip a coin.

[@fredfinks]

Regardless , theres no going back. "Ooops sorry, cessation please." By that stage russia is not stopping til the end.

[@FxTR22]

Even when your topic is mostly "dry". Your representation, argument and explanation makes this realy interesting how to analyse history and the written word :-)

[@R.-.]

From the German perspective, fighting a war with the oil supply they had available was normal for most of the war. They planned and fought accordingly, and given they invented Blitzkreig there was no historical context. So in Goering's mind the oil situation may not have seemed so significant, as long as they had a supply from Romania.

[@johnwatson3948]

Doubtful anyone during the era of total war would “end the war” due to logical analysis - will always continue and invest in the idea of victory no matter what the situation.

[@shorewall]

Yeah, it was total war, not limited war. If it was limited war, UK would have negotiated peace, and potentially kept their empire and Great Power Status. As it was, the old powers and imperial system was finally laid to rest, and the USA became the world's superpower, with the USSR as the Boogeyman of Europe, and Nuclear War as the limiting Sword of Damocles.

[@tylerdurden4080]

We all need a friend like Goring. Loyal even in death, thinks we're the smartest person in the room and has our back even if we're being stupid. But seriously the question could have been dramatically reduced in length. Good video as usual.

[@nobbytang]

The one thing that sticks in my mind is this ...even when Hitlers world was tumbling down around his head ...he stuck in a bunker in Berlin never never allowed Phosgene , chlorine and Sarin to be used on the battlefield........so how bad were his memories of the First World War gas attacks if he refused to launch gas attacks in March or April 1945?

[@internet5076]

Maybe not that bad of a guy after all?

[@brucetucker4847]

He knew that the Allies still had enormous stocks of chemical weapons left over from WW1 and Germany did not, and German intelligence thought the Americans had something like Sarin themselves (not knowing that their research on organophosphates was for use as insecticides), so he thought that expanding the war to chemical warfare would only make things worse for Germany.

[@alexalexin9491]

"Then why didn't Hitler end the war when he failed to get the oil of Maikop and Grozny?" How can you just END the war which you fight against someone else? by calling quitsies? And the Soviets be like "Alright, go ahead! We don't mind".

[@mvfc7637]

It’s happened on countless occasions throughout history, limited war aims were always the norm, WW1 and WW2 were the exceptions.

[@nottoday3817]

Hitler: 'I declare THE END OF THE WAR' The Allies: 'You cannot just say the end fo the war and be done with it'. Hitler: 'I didn't just say it, I declared it'.

[@buckhorncortez]

You have an armistice like the ending of WW I.

[@richardcutts196]

While it takes only one willing side to wage war, it takes two to make peace. Even if Germany had wanted to make peace I believe (that by late 43) the Soviets knew they were going to win, wanted revenge and weren't going to quit until Germany, and it's allies, were crushed.

[@craftpaint1644]

Maybe the Allies should have invited Hitler to their meetings. H : "Goring, the Allies want me to join them in Yalta. Do we have any fighters planes that can escort mine there?"

[@howardlock4578]

So the Question is: What would a German capitulation have looked like in 1943? Soviet domination of Europe? This would certainly have not been something Hitler could stomach. Would Hitler have gone on trial? If so a Hangmans noose would focus his mind. If Germany had surrendered would the German people have accepted it, they had problems accepting peace in 1918. I like the logic of the argument but I think there would have been a huge amount of emotion rather than reason, so better to carry on and look for a negotiating position than to look down the barrel of a firing squad. Just some thoughts I like the video.

[@kaustubhillindala2643]

An interesting thing to remember is that memory is mutable, and that everyone can and do misremember information

[@elbuggo]

After the painter had died, everybody could throw as much mud at him as they needed or wanted. There were no one around to defend him anyway.

[@angelamagnus6615]

Hitler lost at Stalingrad. This enraged his father who punished him severely.

[@riffcrescendo1740]

Great comprehensive History, Tik. Thanks very much.

[@kv6256]

Why do you do a hack villain voice when reading Goering quotations? 😆

[@buckhorncortez]

Because Goering was a hack villain...so it fits...?

[@charlesferdinand422]

"Heinrich, I'm still hungry, starve a few dozen more Dutch men and let's get a few more tacos in here"

[@Drain_Life_Archive]

I think there's plenty more reasons why they kept fighting. 1) Germany committed numerous war crimes in the Russian areas it conquered and occupied. They were particularly horrible with Russian POWs. This meant the soviets wouldn't be any nicer in return. No one on the German side wanted to surrender to Russia. Some would actually start to flee from the east to the west in hopes of surrendering to the allies instead. This is how much they feared Russian captivity. On that matter, it was Russia that discovered the death camps in Poland which contained Russian POWs. France was very lucky compared to what Poland and Ukraine had to go through. 2) Losing ground actually helped Germany's logistic issues. The distance to the front kept getting shorter. It was basically the opposite of when they were invading Russia. It was now everyone else facing the strain of an ever extending supply line. Germany was out of oil but since the fighting was right outside; not much fuel was needed to get to the front anyway. This meant they could keep fighting until they lost Romania. Another small factor was that they no longer needed long range communication. This meant they could stop using the enigma, which they knew was compromised at this point. 3) Hitler, now abusing drugs all the time, was still confident his enemies would magically collapse or lose the will to fight. There's a good video called "Blitzed: Nazis On Drugs (WW2 Documentary)". In his final days he kept giving ever more unrealistic objectives to ever more depleted units which couldn't possibly succeed.

[@leolinguini260]

Respect for the statement in the intro. If the narrative can't be argued successfully, it does not stand.

[@nikolaoskal7438]

The answer is clear: The Allied conference in Casablanca demanded uncoditional surrender.

[@powerboatguy2308]

Yes, you are correct and that would have meant the death penalty for the Nazi elite so they had nothing to lose in their mind.

[@raydavison4288]

Well done, sir!

[@BergquistScott]

Erich Hartmann, the highly-decorated fighter pilot, mentions in his autobiography, that Hitler told him in his one-on-one meetings after receiving his additions to the Iron Cross, that "The war is lost...." Some U-boat skippers reported similar matter-of-fact declarations by Hitler in 1944. Remember that Hitler had a keen lifelong interest in opera, and saw the death of Germany and annihilation of its people as justified in an operatic sense: if we cannot win, if the German people cannot rise and destroy Bolshevism, then they must perish entirely as a consequence. (

[@joecurran2811]

Goering belived THAT. Fucking hell!

[@marclandreville6367]

Hitler was not in a position to end the war because the Allies would accept nothing but an unconditional surrender, no negotiations. The door was shut to any kind of a compromise. So the question is based on a mistaken premise, that since he started it that he could end it; Hitler wound up holding a tiger by the tail. Hitler knew that unconditional surrender, that eventually happened, would result in the dismemberment of the German State, along with the prosecution of its government and military leaders. BTW, Goering was out of the loop as early as 1943, as Hitler had lost confidence in him as head of the Luftwaffe, and also because Goering had become addicted to opioids, as a result of permanent injuries he sustained in a car accident a number of years before; he spent most of his time at his residence Karinhall, named after his beloved deceased Swedish wife, admiring his acquired art treasures and playing with his train set.

[@marclandreville6367]

@Кот Доступа Was Wolff actually sent by Hitler, or was he acting on his own for the sake of his own command? He was also a close protégé of Himmler, who himself attempted to negotiate a surrender with the Allies, much to Hitler's fury. In any case, in answer to whether Hitler could have ended the war earlier, if Operation Sunrise had been approved by Hitler, February to May 1945 would have been a little late in the game. But it seemed that Wolff's attempt at negotiating a surrender involved his command in Northern Italy, and not the whole of Germany. In fact, Admiral Doenitz, Hitler's successor, was not happy with his surrender, because he had planned to sequence the cessation of fighting in order to allow as many refugees from the East, to escape to the West and out of Soviet hands.

[@lealien9247]

Hello, can you do a video about the Imperialism of Japan and Thailand during the war in the pacific? I know they are very cruel, extreme for their tactic and the harsh treatment of POW but I only got the Oversimplified version. So I would like to see an in depth version. Maybe some videos about how their ideology look like. I'm more interest in the Pacific theater of WW2 than the Western front.

[@uzelott5854]

Hitler seemes to know that if they lose their grip on Stalingrad, they won't be able to get there again. He talked about that with Zeitzler on the 12th of December 1942.

[@ajsimo2677]

Wow, there's a very broad range of things in this week's video. Just taking one strand of it: I wonder when it did finally dawn on AH that the war was lost. I think Speer claims in his memoirs that AH admitted this to him in private in January 1945, when the Ardennes Offensive had just about failed. (Not that I entirely trust Speer's account). Surely, it couldn't have been as late as this though? Unless he had completely lost his grip on reality.

[@TheImperatorKnight]

In the next season of Stalingrad (Season 6), I will show you when Hitler realized that the tide had turned. However, maybe Speer is correct that Hitler didn't give up until January 1945... It's certainly debatable. I wouldn't necessarily trust what Speer says for the same reason I don't trust Göring. And yes, apart from the fact that I was ill when I recorded this (and still am ill), I quite liked answering today's question because there was a lot of different things to cover and talk about. A bit unusual, but good :)

[@ajsimo2677]

@@TheImperatorKnight I'll look forward to that! Sorry to hear you're poorly. Get well soon!

[@rudolfschrenk6171]

I think it was in December 1941 when AH realized the war was lost. I dont think its a coincidence that the Wannsee conference took place right after the Wehrmachts defeat in Russia. The reason why he could not give up was being unable to accept defeat. His whole career depended on him being the winner, actually his whole existence. What would he have been after a defeat? Nothing at all, remember he did not come from the upper society. This guy came from a home for homeless people and he would never ever want to return there. So he decided to go down fighting. And take as much a revenge on the hated Jews as he could. As far as I can tell, all accounts of >insane< Hitler are from after January 42. Before that he was just a ruthlessly calculating leader just like Temudjin and others. After that it was just Victory or Death.

[@ajsimo2677]

@@rudolfschrenk6171 Thanks. Some interesting thoughts there. As early as that though? Surely in 1941 it was a wintertime setback rather than a major defeat? After all, there were many more Wehrmacht offensives to come.

[@rudolfschrenk6171]

@@ajsimo2677 , the winter of 1941/42 was way more than a setback. First, Barbarossa was designed as a >kicking in the door< operation. AH expected the Soviet Union to collapse once the Red Army got defeated near the western border. The Wehrmacht was never expected to fight as deep inside Russia as it ended up to be. If you have listened to the still existing recording of a talk between AH and Mannerheim, you will also know that the Wehrmacht was not expected to fight in winter. By Hitlers own words, his generals told him that major fighting in winter was impossible. Unfortunately Stalin and the other leaders of the Red Army fighting against the Whites never heard about that. Barbarians, no doubt! The autumn offenses of the Wehrmacht in 1941 were basically attempts to achieve the collapse of the Soviet Regime which had not occured after the destruction of the Soviet border armies. In that regard Barbarossa had been a full success. But when it came to the collapse of the Soviet system it was a complete failure. The germans had completely underestimated the size of the Red Army and the solidity of Stalins regime. And they never expected the Soviets to relocate their heavy industry to the Wolga and the Ural districts. That was indeed a unique and gigantic achievement no one else ever did in all the history of the world and no one could expect to happen. If my memory does not fail me Hitler also mentioned the gigantic tank factories which the germans captured and found empty. Also, the Wehrmacht suffered losses in trained personnel and equipment it could never replace again. Remember that in 1942 only Army Group South was still able to go offensive and that with the help of Romanian, Hungarian and Italian armies. And you can bet, Hitler knew all of this. Now, about the Wannsee conference. The plan for extermination of the Jews was absolutely detrimental to the war effort. It tied down mile long trains of the Reichsbahn at a time when it was already overburdened with supplying the german armies. If AH would have believed he could win the war, he would not have done it. He would have waited until victory was secured. I think he decided to do it in January of 1942 because he wanted to take revenge on the Jews as long as he was able to do it. The supply situation of his armies be damned. And lets not forget that his last desperate gamble, declaring war on the USA had failed also. The japanese were in no shape to attack the Soviet Union from the east as he had hoped. So, Hitler knew that the assumption of Stalins regime being fragile had been wrong. He knew about the irreplacable losses the Wehrmacht had taken. He know about the industrial power of the USA. And Hitler was no fool. He knew that most likely the war was lost. But he would never ever surrender. That was no option for a man coming from a homeless shelter. He was no prussian Juncker who could retire to his family estate after a failed political career. For him it was Victory or Death.

[@Richard68434]

i remember reading a quote of goring saying to a soviet correspondent that he thought the war was lost after stalingrad, and certainly after kursk?

[@Anacronian]

I'm really curious how exactly Hitler would stop the war, The soviets would not accept anything but complete and utter surrender, Hitler must have known that.

[@landonlacy1954]

A huge factor on how Goering viewed all things in the war was his drug addiction. As a man who himself went through a years long addiction to pain medication myself. I can tell you that the effects of opioid pain medication over a long period of time has deep effects not only on the body but the mind. For example opioid pain medication taken long enough will begin to reduce testosterone in the body making it hard to gain muscle and making it easier to gain weight. If you look at Goering before and after he was off drugs. You will see his weight was significantly different. And opioids absolutely change the way you think and for me things simply stopped mattering and my thinking process was significantly slowed down. It’s said that when Goering was first taken prisoner his mental ability and thought process was considerably lower than when he was taken off of opioids. You constantly hear on documentaries about Goering that his mind became sharp again and he regained his fighting spurt after he was drug free. A major leader of a nation at war who is on a ridiculous amount of opioid medication. Seems just crazy and I’m amazed that Goering was even able to stay relevant in Germany for as long as he did.

[@peternielsen3792]

"this plan is so unbelievably cleaver that mechanized troops need less than one week of fuel supply... probably" ;)

[@curtislowe4577]

On an entirely different subject: Market Garden and the Ardennes Offensive were two sides of the same coin. The success of MG required securing several bridges which didn't happen for all the reasons TIK has explained in detail. The success of the AO required the capture of US petrol supplies which also didn't happen. Two high risk - high reward plans for a lightning thrust and neither had the flexibility of options.

[@scrubsrc4084]

I've often thought that whilst we talk economics, tactics, strategies and logistics fir most warring factions in history we often miss that many nazis were nuttier than squirrel shit.

[@Kenfren]

At the start, they largely just had bad ideas like Stalin or any Marxist. By the end, almost certainly yes

[@buffoonustroglodytus4688]

Nuttier than squirrel shit hehe not bad

[@clusterflick6333]

@@Kenfren Making official military plans to exterminate 3/4 of the entire population of Eastern Europe and adopting bullshit racial ""science"" and eugenics as official state policy goes a little beyond "just bad ideas", if I'm to be honest.

[@josephanderson8655]

@@clusterflick6333 allied propaganda

[@JoeHonestTruth]

Since Goring was the commander of the Luftwaffe, we have to presume he was constantly presented all data regarding oil supplies, that is refined fuel for his planes. It is another issue how he paid attention or reacted to the oil/fuel data arriving to him. Goring also had direct involvement in the development of the synthetic oil and fuel industry. German scientists in 1944 were inventing the conversion of synthetic oil ultimately into aviation fuel. We know the German scientists came up with rocket fuels and fuels for the newly built jet engines. It appears ultimately concluded oil was available enough to fight, except by late 1944, the Battle of the Bulge had to be predicated upon captured fuel supplies. Hitler indeed found himself fighting more than on two fronts. He had troops in Italy and southern France to supply. He had troops in Hungary, Romania, and the Balkans that needed supplies. He had significant troops still fighting in Latvia into 1945. Hitler had a full plate of troubles to contend with starting especially with the failed bomb assassination in Prussia, the Warsaw Uprising, Soviets striking south to Romania and Hungary, the D-Day invasion, and his reprisals against all the bombing conspirators and their allies and confederates. He was getting reports about the ever increasing and successful bombing raids all over Germany. Everything was caving in upon Hitler, but he fought because the synthetic fuel was adequate to fight and he had his Mein Kampf philosophy that had to be carried out to the bitter end. He knew everyday Jews were being massacred and that gave him an incentive to fight to the death.

[@Alvi410]

But I wonder. Even if he did. What could the plan had been? Just go to the allies n soviets to say: We cool right? We cool. Yee we cool.

[@damyr]

It's actually a Catch 22. If Hitler was sane, he wouldn't even come into such situation. He could stop the war at the peak of German military power in 1942. and could condition peace talks from the advantageous position. But then again, Hitler was totally insane, so nothing like that probably never even crossed his mind.

[@fringedweller5425]

@@damyr Just like the peace proposal to England of July 19, 1940. "I feel myself obliged to make one more appeal to reason to England. I do this not as a victor but for the triumph of common sense." Or maybe, yet again in May of 1941 when Hess flew to Scotland, peace proposal in hand, only to be thrown straight into gaol without even an interview.... Let's face it. England declared war on Germany on Sept. 3, 1939 and never had any intention of even discussing any proposals for peace.

[@jussim.konttinen4981]

@@fringedweller5425 Hitler resigns (commits suicide / is assassinated) 1943. Dönitz takes office. Problem solved.

[@fringedweller5425]

@@jussim.konttinen4981 Here's another option... England doesn't make promises to Poland that she can't keep and, stays out of the Reich's business in the east. Now there's no war in the west, no occupations to the north, no Africa campaign, no need to involve India, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the US or anybody else, no Bolshevism, no Mao, no Korea and no Vietnam. It also now become highly improbable for the war in the Balkans or the attack on Pearl Harbor.... Problem solved.

[@shellshockedgerman3947]

@@fringedweller5425 What a load of bollocks. No Pearl Harbor? The European powers just letting Germany dictate the continent?

[@AlexanderYap]

I always wondered why the Western Allies didn't discretely offer Germany the chance to surrender after destroying the German armies in Normandy in 1944. It seemed strange that they would let a declaration of unconditional surrender to forgo the chance to end the war much earlier, thus avoiding unnecessary lives lost, and more importantly, preventing Stalin from taking over half of Europe.

[@nottoday3817]

1. Stalin already had 'half of Europe in his hands'. It was the issue of how many countries could UK and USA get their hands on. 2. They still needed the Soviets to wage war on Japan after the end of the war in Europe.

[@AlexanderYap]

@@nottoday3817 Soviet forces had not reached Germany proper in autumn 1944. So if the Western Allies could get Germany to surrender, and withdraw all German forces back to pre-war borders, then the war would've ended with Soviet armies much further to the east than historically. Regardless of when Germany surrendered, Stalin would've attacked Japan shortly afterwards anyway to grab Manchuria, Korea and secure Soviet access to the Pacific. He did not attack Japan to help the Allies.

[@alexgearhead]

Hello TIK ! Will you make a separate video on Romania in WW2 where you explain more details like : why were they blaimed for Stalingard, why the oil production was not maximum output, etc ? It would be much appreciated.

[@leestewart72]

Imagine if you took how to make bio-diesel back to Germany in 1934.

[@thehulkster9434]

Ending the war isn't as easy as just saying you're done. They may have needed to end the war, but it's quite probable that they would not have been able to get acceptable terms for a ceasefire, especially since terms of surrender would probably not leave Hitler in command (or even alive). Knowing you've lost and being able to exit the war on terms you can agree to are not the same.

[@Gmac86.]

In ‘Hitlers War’ by David Irving, its clear that Hitler told his leadership that, following the failing of Case Blue and Kursk, Germany could not sue for peace until they achieved a strong victory, thus increasing there negotiating power. Hitler said they cannot sue for peace while they were suffering defeat after defeat, only when they stabilised the situation with some strategic victories.. which never happened.

[@IL2TXGunslinger]

I went back to this vid to watch again and can’t help but make comments. 1. Even before Roosevelt called for unconditional surrender - Hitler would have known he’d not survive for long if he surrendered or tried to negotiate peace. He had simply murdered too many. Surrender would make him look weak to the German people and the sanctions he’d have had to deal with would have crushed Germany. The end for him was the invasion of Russia. 2. The 2nd part of the question concerning the assumption that the defendants at Nuremberg may have been truthful because questioning was unrelated to their trials - boggles my mind. These senior political and military leaders, having lived at the top of the food chain for so long - would have looked to anything to save their lives after being imprisoned. As most were political operatives - any excuse to paint themselves more positively would have been taken for their own survival. How could they even trust that the author wasn’t collecting evidence in their jail cells? It’s what they would have done. 3. Goering, above even Hitler, was a contemptible military officer in a military society. His fake Pour le Merit, his only claim to fame and the main reason he was of early worth to Hitler, was a fake - documented by several WWI aviation authors. His kill claims were outright lies back in 1917.

[@cohengamertv6548]

America now: OIL OIL OIL OIL OIL IN MIDLE EAST MUST GET THAT OIL!

[@scottw5315]

How much oil did we take from Iraq? I'll help you. The Iraqi government opened up bidding. I don't believe US companies got any of the initial contracts. Plus, that oil would have been paid for at market price. Try again chump. If anything, the first Gulf War was about securing the world's access to oil. The second had zero to do with oil.

[@igorpipuk7754]

@@scottw5315shalom rabbi

[@judahrose224]

Excellent. Same comment as to other videos: it is a privilege to salute you for your erudition, clarity and guts.