Not only that, but they were also defeated by the cooperation of different nations that would let anyone join if they wanted.
So the Nazis were literally defeated by diversity and inclusivity.
Fights one war
It was kind of a big one, though.
Tbf they did good for most of it
A lot of their success is due to their tactic of rushing into the enemy without any care for supply lines and logistics. This often worked to their advantage but most of those early wins were not sustainable in the long run. It gave the impression that they were more powerful than they actually were.
Leeroy jenkins is a short term solution
The baddie germans were the Leroy Jenkins of WWII, just charging in and expecting shit to work.
Didn’t work out well when the sovvies clapped their cheeks all the way back to Berlin
I just want to say, for all the discussion of ‘could they have…’ it’s important to remember that Germany was never going to conquer Russia, it was a stupid (racist) idea to get Hitlers ‘lebensraum’ and take out Stalin’s ‘Jewish Bolshevist’ nation (heavy on the eye-roll there). Keep in mind that Germany didn’t even get Moscow, which Napoleon had actually managed to (mostly) do, and Napoleon still lost for the same reason that Germany would have regardless – they did not have the logistical ability to support an army in an area the size of Russia. Partisan/army elements would absolutely pick apart a logistical train that long, which Germany couldn’t have done any way. We have to remember Germany wasn’t an actual mechanized army, it was entirely dependent on horses, and to try to use horses to haul ammunition/food/clothes/medical supplies/artillery shells/etc ~1500 kilometres from Germany to Moscow alone would be insane, especially with the millions of men and women the Soviet union had constantly attacking you.
The entire invasion was never going to work, and people give the idea it could have worked way too much credit. And this is all assuming no other nation would step in either; it’s entirely on the ‘nobody is in an alliance anymore’ sort of fantasy world. This failed for the exact same reason that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has – they planned for a short, easy war, because their entire ideology requires that they underestimate their foes at every available opportunity.
Another thing to note is people keep saying that if ideology didn’t gimp the war effort, the Nazis would’ve won. However, the ideology was the whole reason the war even happened in the first place.
Exactly. It’s Fascism 101 - you invade anyone smaller than you to get slaves/money/etc, you pick scapegoats to blame for any issues you have, and you steal everything not nailed down, and then you move on to the next place. Eventually you pick a fight you can’t win, and then you lose.
Part of them losing that fight was two of my grandparents, and I’m kinda pissed we’re dealing with them again. So I want to reinforce: If a country goes fascist, this shit is coming. Nazi Germany was never going to win anything with an ideology that flawed.
Except for Gengis Khan, he never lost
He wasn’t really fascist though:
Temüjin formally adopted the title “Genghis Khan”, the meaning of which is uncertain, at an assembly in 1206. Carrying out reforms designed to ensure long-term stability, he transformed the Mongols’ tribal structure into an integrated meritocracy dedicated to the service of the ruling family.
Later:
Genghis Khan remains a controversial figure. He was generous and intensely loyal to his followers, but ruthless towards his enemies. He welcomed advice from diverse sources in his quest for world domination, for which he believed the shamanic supreme deity Tengri had destined him. The Mongol army under Genghis killed millions of people, yet his conquests also facilitated unprecedented commercial and cultural exchange over a vast geographical area. He is remembered as a backwards, savage tyrant in Russia and the Arab world, while recent Western scholarship has begun to reassess its previous view of him as a barbarian warlord. He was posthumously deified in Mongolia; modern Mongolians recognise him as the founding father of their nation.
-Wikipedia
