James Holland

And suddenly, you know, they're feeling good about themselves again. You know, he's creating jobs. He's building up the military again. And that's sort of very much part of the kind of the old Prussian imperial German kind of... way of thinking. So that's a big tick. Then he takes back the Rhine land without a shot being fired. Then he takes the Sudetenland without a shot being fired.

Austria is morphed into the Third Reich with the Anschluss. Then he takes the rest of Czechoslovakia and not a shot's been fired ever again. This guy's a genius. It's great. We're top dogs again in the centre of Europe. What's not to like?

Austria is morphed into the Third Reich with the Anschluss. Then he takes the rest of Czechoslovakia and not a shot's been fired ever again. This guy's a genius. It's great. We're top dogs again in the centre of Europe. What's not to like?

Austria is morphed into the Third Reich with the Anschluss. Then he takes the rest of Czechoslovakia and not a shot's been fired ever again. This guy's a genius. It's great. We're top dogs again in the centre of Europe. What's not to like?

And then, of course, it all goes pear-shaped when he invades Poland and Britain and France kind of hold out on their pledges and they do go to war with Germany as a result of that and it's the start of the Second World War. But to start off with, it all seems to go quite well.

And then, of course, it all goes pear-shaped when he invades Poland and Britain and France kind of hold out on their pledges and they do go to war with Germany as a result of that and it's the start of the Second World War. But to start off with, it all seems to go quite well.

And then, of course, it all goes pear-shaped when he invades Poland and Britain and France kind of hold out on their pledges and they do go to war with Germany as a result of that and it's the start of the Second World War. But to start off with, it all seems to go quite well.

You know, they've overrun Poland and there's lots of people in Germany who kind of think, yeah, well, you know, we should be there because lots of German speakers. And, you know, the Baltic coast, you know, we need to link East Prussia, which is this little sort of isolated pocket around Königsberg, the ancient Hanseatic port of Königsberg. You know, so let's link that up again.

You know, they've overrun Poland and there's lots of people in Germany who kind of think, yeah, well, you know, we should be there because lots of German speakers. And, you know, the Baltic coast, you know, we need to link East Prussia, which is this little sort of isolated pocket around Königsberg, the ancient Hanseatic port of Königsberg. You know, so let's link that up again.

You know, they've overrun Poland and there's lots of people in Germany who kind of think, yeah, well, you know, we should be there because lots of German speakers. And, you know, the Baltic coast, you know, we need to link East Prussia, which is this little sort of isolated pocket around Königsberg, the ancient Hanseatic port of Königsberg. You know, so let's link that up again.

You know, so they're all feeling quite good about that. And then there's, you know, enormous victories of the low countries of Scandinavia and mighty France subdued and everything. And it looks like Hitler's this genius. Beginning of July 1940, everyone's going, hooray. Swastikas lining the streets, have ticker tape in Berlin and all the rest of it. Seems like he's got all the answers.

You know, so they're all feeling quite good about that. And then there's, you know, enormous victories of the low countries of Scandinavia and mighty France subdued and everything. And it looks like Hitler's this genius. Beginning of July 1940, everyone's going, hooray. Swastikas lining the streets, have ticker tape in Berlin and all the rest of it. Seems like he's got all the answers.

You know, so they're all feeling quite good about that. And then there's, you know, enormous victories of the low countries of Scandinavia and mighty France subdued and everything. And it looks like Hitler's this genius. Beginning of July 1940, everyone's going, hooray. Swastikas lining the streets, have ticker tape in Berlin and all the rest of it. Seems like he's got all the answers.

But of course, he overreaches himself. And like a lot of autocrats, he surrounds himself by people, yes men and sycophants and state of paranoia and all the rest of it, none of which is conducive to making good decisions. And the absolute catastrophic decision he makes is going to the Soviet Union in 1941. And he only does that because he's lost the Battle of Britain.

But of course, he overreaches himself. And like a lot of autocrats, he surrounds himself by people, yes men and sycophants and state of paranoia and all the rest of it, none of which is conducive to making good decisions. And the absolute catastrophic decision he makes is going to the Soviet Union in 1941. And he only does that because he's lost the Battle of Britain.

But of course, he overreaches himself. And like a lot of autocrats, he surrounds himself by people, yes men and sycophants and state of paranoia and all the rest of it, none of which is conducive to making good decisions. And the absolute catastrophic decision he makes is going to the Soviet Union in 1941. And he only does that because he's lost the Battle of Britain.

So he's got Britain still hovering in the wings, doesn't want to have a war on two fronts, Hovering on the other side of the Atlantic is the brilliant and mighty America with all its huge potential, manpower, resources, access to the world's oceans, and all the rest of it. So those are two pretty big, big enemies.

So he's got Britain still hovering in the wings, doesn't want to have a war on two fronts, Hovering on the other side of the Atlantic is the brilliant and mighty America with all its huge potential, manpower, resources, access to the world's oceans, and all the rest of it. So those are two pretty big, big enemies.

So he's got Britain still hovering in the wings, doesn't want to have a war on two fronts, Hovering on the other side of the Atlantic is the brilliant and mighty America with all its huge potential, manpower, resources, access to the world's oceans, and all the rest of it. So those are two pretty big, big enemies.

So the problem is the cupboard is already clear from all the gains that he's got in the Blitzkrieg stage. Yeah. He's nicked all the cars from France and trucks and factories and oil and food reserves and all the rest of it. And the cupboard's bare again. I mean, they've been like kids in a sweet shop. So he thinks, well, what do we do?