Hitlers Biggest Mistake

[paulyb102]

I personally think that Hitler,s biggest gaffe, was the decision to go into Russia without first making sure of Britain, but for this decision, he could have come very close to his dream of a 1,000 year reich.

paulyb102 Good for us all, that he made countless errors!

[plant-pilot]

Surely his biggest mistake was the one of not following the advice given by his generals. He repeatedly, and near the end constantly, countermanded the advice given by experienced men on tactical and stratigic advice

Just because you are the boss doesn't mean that you know better than your advisors. It does however mean that you take the can for any mistakes if you ignore their advice.

[cha0s_mak3r]

1. if he finished britan off he would have won
2. if he hadnt attacked russia 2 soon
3.if he didnt spend the remainder of the war concentrating on killing the jews

[Kiwiwriter]

Hitler made so many errors, it's hard to know where to start. However, Ronald Lewin's "Hitler's Mistakes" analyzes the whole pile, from the alleged Nazi philosophy to the "stand-fast" orders of 1944 and 1945. It includes creating a national culture based on hypocrisy, lies, and kleptomania, the anti-Semitism, the structureless state, the culture of procurement, and the flawed military strategies, which ranged from planning to fight a series of short wars to the Battle of the Bulge.

[Friedrich H]

Being born, in the first place, I'd say…

But it would have to be the decision to invade the Soviet Union and then declaring war upon the United States.

Surely his biggest mistake was the one of not following the advice given by his generals. He repeatedly, and near the end constantly, countermanded the advice given by experienced men on tactical and stratigic advice

Just because you are the boss doesn't mean that you know better than your advisors. It does however mean that you take the can for any mistakes if you ignore their advice.

This has many things of a myth, actually. All this thinking was created by Sir Basil Lidell-Hart in the 1950s by interviewing many German high-ranking generals who blamed all their failures on the mad Bohemian corporal.

The truth is different, nonetheless. Hitler never took decision unadvised and sudden decisions (on the contrary, he delayed decisions on critical affairs till they reached moements of utter crisis!). As War Lord, Hitler was not the military genious he himself thught he was, but he was not the incompetent maniac many believe he was. He actually had a very wide (perhaps too wide) strategic view of things and a very sharp tactical sense.

Hitler practically invented the glidder airborne concept, he came up with the idea of the lighning attack on Norway, he supported innovative generals such as Manstein and Guderian in 1940 against all odds, he saved the Wehrmacht in 1941 and again in 1943.

But, of course, his mistakes had far deeper consequences and his defeats were much greater than all these successes.

[Gotthard Heinrici]

His biggest mistake was declaring war on the United States. His belief that he was allying with a country that had never been defeated in war (Japan) was utterly staggering. The second was invading Russia in 1941. He went a year too early. Imagine diverting some of those resources to clearing the Med. The North African theater would have been a completely different affair with even 2 or 3 extra divisions and 1 extra luftflotte to safeguard the supply routes.

For all that, thank god he made those mistakes

[nolanbuc]

Excellent point, Prefab. But wasn't he more or less bound to declare war on the US by the Tripartate Pact once the US declared war on Japan? I've always assumed this, but I've never really substantiated it.

[Gotthard Heinrici]

Originally posted by nolanbuc@Feb 17 2005, 12:29 PM
Excellent point, Prefab. But wasn't he more or less bound to declare war on the US by the Tripartate Pact once the US declared war on Japan? I've always assumed this, but I've never really substantiated it.

Quoted post

I dont believe the Tripartite act bound that to happen, otherwise the Japanese would have been compelled to declare war on Russia at the same time which we know they didnt do!

[Kiwiwriter]

Originally posted by nolanbuc@Feb 17 2005, 08:29 AM
Excellent point, Prefab. But wasn't he more or less bound to declare war on the US by the Tripartate Pact once the US declared war on Japan? I've always assumed this, but I've never really substantiated it.

Quoted post

I'm not sure, either, and I'll find out.

[zander]

His biggest mistake(my opinion) was that he understimated the UK.
In reality,Winston Churchil was a very clever man in ww2,and his thought was like Hitler's.He could guess,Hitlers next move.
Thats why UK gave made him pr.minister and made previous pr.minister Chumberline(?) to leave.The last one was with peace ,unlike Churchill that was with war.