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Originally Posted by jambutty
Methinks that someone has been trying to re-write history to try and put Germany in a better light. Go and read the REAL history of Germany.
When Hitler became Chancellor in 1933 Germany was in an economic mess, with inflation running riot at several thousand percent PER DAY. One Million Mark notes were the norm and stamps of the day showed several million marks. Workers would demand their wages two or three times a day because by the time they got the money to the few shops that had something to sell the value had dropped drastically. Some businesses had to eventually resort to offering the goods that they made to their workers rather than actual cash wages.
Hitler turned things around and after becoming the Führer in 1934 set about realising his dream of dominating Europe and expanding the Aryan race. WWII was about grabbing land for the Fatherland and absolutely nothing to do with economic competition between European countries.
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I do believe that the runaway indflation in Germany was in 1923, and was directly connected to the legal occupation of the Ruhr by the French Army. The reluctance of Great Britain to support the French action was one of the first major signs of the break down of the solidarity of the WWl allies. And it is not difficult to see how Hitler "turned things around." By expanding the German Army from 100, 000 men to 35 divisiions he created a boom in German industry, as did the massive public works projects such as the construction of the Autobahnen. But I do agree with your last statement. To understand the genisis of the war, it is best to ignore economic reasons and read Mein Kampf. The invasion of Poland by the Germans provided the English with an excuse to go to war ... up to that point there had been several good, perhaps better reasons for the allies to declare war on Germany; the reoccupation of the Rhineland comes to mind. The declaration of war was the right thing to do, but it was done at the wrong time. Firm action on the part of the allies, if it had been taken earlier, would have crushed Hitler before he really got going. To think that Hitler would have left England alone is to think like Neville Chamberlain.