What were Hitler's key mistakes during the war?

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1- He invaded the soviet union, he did not have enough resources or enough people to do so.

2-He did not invaded england when he had the chance

3-He did not have control over japan to stop the attack on pearl harbor and therefore stoping the U.S form entering the war..

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Hitler's biggest mistake was going to war with Russia during the winter. If it wasn't for this (if he didn't go to war with Russia), who knows where we would be right now.

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Hitler's biggest mistake was to start the whole thing in the first place. We wouldn't have nuclear weapons, cold war, Vietnam, Iraq, Al Quieda, and just about everything else that causes headaches in this day. The entire progression of 1910 on was a mistake for mankind.

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I would say that Hitler's key mistakes were failing to take Dunkirk and letting the British army get away, changing strategy during the Battle of Britain away from bombing the airfields and to bombing London and attacking Russia before defeating or making peace with Britain. There were various others of course. As the war went on Hitler became more and more convinced that he personally always knew what was the right thing to do and was incapable of making a mistake. It became impossible for him to listen to or absorb any information that indicated he was wrong. Thus, as things went from bad to worse he kept making them worse because he was increasingly living in a fantasy world where Germany still had all the men and supplies it needed and the allies did not have nearly as much as they actually did. Under these circumstances he kept giving orders that simply could not be carried out and then blaming everybody but himself when things went wrong. The ones listed above though are the biggest strategic errors. Change any one of them and the war could have ended very differently indeed.

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Here is Hitler mistakes listed from the start of the war:

1) Starting in 1939 if you look at any military information during this time you will see that the German army, navy and air force were barely ready to go to war if he would have waited a couple more years he would have gone father quicker.

2) Starting by attacking Poland there was nothing in it for him at the time he should have started by attacking Hungary or Romania these countries had the best engineers in the world and were poorly lead putting full concentration into this front would have given Hitler a quick base to Greece and on to rich oil fields in middle east.

3) He should have started the war against the west by attacking France if this could have been done which it was even France had months to prepare it would have been done in a month and Hitler should have never formed the Vichy French he should have spilt the spoils of France into a proper province of greater Germany and trained the French soldiers and given them proper weapons when the Americans invaded north Africa some Vichy French unit resisted either so they were never helped if he would have helped them with arms and training he would have had a great local force down there without having to send any troops himself.

4) Merging Italy with Germany and retraining the Italian army this army had no training and poor equipment it was not equipped to do what it was asked by Mussolini if it would have been trained in German tactics Hitler would now have the forces of three countries.

5) Changing from bombing military targets to civilian he was an idiot Hitler may have needed to bomb British industry but not it's civilians also he could have modified his fighters to longer flights over Britain they could only stay over there for 20 minutes if he knew that he could send his fighters over a unexpected intervals and if he had modified the fighters they would be able to give protection to the bombers for the entire flight also if he did attack the airfields there would be less fighters to oppose him.

6) Failure to capture Malta not many people know but this little island was one of the main reasons that Rommel did not have enough supplies if this island would have been captured early he would have had control of the Mediterranean and ferrying supplies to north Africa would have been easy.

7) Not supplying sufficient air cover to the N.A front without this supplies were just mowed down and that was the reason the Rommel never made it to the Suez with this Rommel would have made this and captured Egypt and possible been able to add the Nazi uprisings in Iraq and Iran to is growing empire.

8) Not investing in a large enough night fighter force Germans not known to many the Germans had an excellent night fighters but not enough of them if he would have invested in a large night fighter force the allied bombing runs would have been cut to threads and German industrial production would have remained high.

9) Bismark and submarines if these would have been used properly they could have severely humiliated and destroyed the British fleet Hitler never built enough u-boats or equipped them with enough torpedoes if he would have done this the u-boat could have sunk many more allied ships also if he would have used the Bismarck to lure out a large part of the British fleet he could have surprised and destroyed a large part of it with his u-boat fleet and surface fleets that and a continued air offensive targeting airfields and industry would have finished off the British ability to fight a war and if crops were attacked and burned near harvest the British would have had to sue for peace by public demand. If all or most of these would have been done the war would have ended differently and the invasion of U.S.S.R would have been quick and could have taken as long as they wanted with the population of Europe and the middle east against it the U.S.S.R. would have eventually lost and Hitler would have been master of Europe but if Hitler would have done what I said he should have done and included other in this empire he would have not been a mass murder and evil man because he would have used and seen the importance of the people he had conquered and grown a respect for them treating them kindly and even with compassion because they wined the war for him. But if Hitler had done that it wouldn't have been Hitler because Hitler was known for his hatred of those entire not German and in the end that was his downfall. There are also many more things that could have been done to help win the war but I think that these are the most important.

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Breaking the Russian-German pact (Hitler-Stalin pact) and ultimately trying to fight Russia. Hitler was fighting a two front war. One front was against the forces of Western Europe. The second front was against the forces of Russia in Eastern Europe. If Hitler would have stayed in the pact with Russia it is unlikely that anyone would have been able to stop the two combined forces. Germany had a strong navy with submarine warfare and a brutal army while Russia was developing massive amounts of, and the best, tanks in the world which were coming out of Moscow. The two front war diminished troops specifically in Russia with extreme subjection of troops to cold and damp weather. The German army was well overstayed in Eastern and Western Europe.

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Aside from megalomania, Hitler's neglect of the N. African theatre was decisive. Against incredible odds, Rommel came within view of the pyramids, but a cost of overextended supply lines, and under supply. The German's inability to figure out the compromise of the enigma machine, and lack of adequate reinforcements in N. Africa meant the loss of the Suez canal. Had Hitler realized the import of Cairo (oil, and a SW supply of men, materiel etc. to the Russian front), then Germany would have been in better stead. But who knows.

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In order:

1. Attacking Russia. Hitler vastly underestimated the strength of the Red Army and Russia's ability to mass produce arms. Hitler effectively lost the war in the autumn/fall of 1942 as his 6th army was defeated at Stalingrad. As Churchill said 'it was the Russians that ripped the guts out of the German army'. 90% of all German casualties were on the Eastern Front.

2. Having attacked Russia to declare war on the USA was suicidal. By doing this he effectively knew he would be fighting a war on 3 fronts because of his mistake in:

3. Not securing the Mediterranean by seizing Gibraltar and the Suez canal. This should have been done before he attacked Russia. By controlling this area the UK's position would have been seriously weakened and more importantly the Allies would have been unable to mount any serious assault on Italy, southern France and the Balkans, freeing up much needed divisions for the fight against Russia.

There were other mistakes such as his reliance on dodgy intelligence, his belief that Britain would make peace with him and his movement to a 'total war' economy after it was too late to make a difference.

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Could I add that the nation attacked by the Nazis in 1941 was the USSR, not "Russia", and nearly half of her inhabitants (including Stalin) were not Russian.

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Hitler's inability to insist on the mass production of U-boats gave Britain time to strengthen its protection of convoys with new radar systems and more cruisers and destroyers. In the air war his advisor's told him in mid 1942 that a new type of aircraft was ready for production. The world's first turbojet fighter the Me-262. These baby's were one hundred miles faster than any allied fighter. Its armament consisted of four 30-millimeter cannons and twenty four 50-millimeter rockets.In march 1945, six took off, and in a few minutes 14 B-17's were turned into wreckage.Out of 1,433 ever produced,only 250 were deployed to combat.With this magnitude of air cover, Germany's industry would have produced bone chilling amounts of tanks and aircraft.His industry would also have been able to produce vehicles similar to those of the American Jeep. This would have secured the leisure of rapid moving infantry.

ANSWER The top German fighter aces led by Adolph Galland mutinied refusing to fly Hitler allowed them to form an elite squadron with the Me 262.

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Simon knows his WW2 German Blunders. (refer above)

Hitler never finished what he started. He spread himself out on too many fronts.

Though he did declare war on America in hopes that the Japanese would then declare war on Germany's enemies (namely the USSR)Still I think this was his biggest single blunder.

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In my opinion, Hitler's worst mistake during WW II was declaring war on the US on December 11.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, had he repudiated his pact with Japan and sent the German ambassador to the president to state they did not want war with the US, Congress, which had declared war only on Japan, would have required that most of the supplies be sent to the far east to defeat them. Roosevelt would have been hamstrung in his attempt to put Europe first. Hitler would have been able to concentrate on Russia and on developing his wonder weapons. Who knows what the result would have been.

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one of Hitler's smaller mistakes, but possibly the last straw was his use of troops in the Ardennes offensive (Battle of the Bulge) which was a waste of manpower and resources. this really never had a chance at success and the troops would have been much more useful had they pulled back for the defense of Germany. in answer to the comment relating to the me262; this fighter was extremely unreliable and the Mustang P-51 "Cadillac of the sky" could catch it up when at full throttle in a straight descent.

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I think his biggest mistakes were:

1) the timing of operation Barbarossa. Because June 22 was too late to utilise the season of summer.

2) Failing to prepare for cold of winter.

3) Splitting the Panzer division from the German 6th Army during the invasion of Stalingrad, and making that invasion too late in the summer (24 August, 1942). The army's subsequent encirclement there and annihilation.

4) Abruptly terminating operation Citadel (the battle for Kirsk, 1943) just before reaching its objectives to deal with the Allied invasion of Italy. That was the last throw of the dice in the East. Notes: The US would have joined the war in Europe whether Hitler declared it or not. I do not list, therefore Hitler's failure to win the battle of Britain. The plan was to win the war in the East before the Allies attacked. Whether this involved the Americans, long-range bombing from the Isle of Britain, code cracking or not. The plan was to win in East, holding off in the West. This is not necessarily a faulty plan. Advances in technology and tactics could have won the war against the Allies had they've disposed of the Russians. Hitler had three full summers to do this: 1941, 1942 and 1943. He won and lost the war there.

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I believe Hitler's greatest mistake was the invasion of Russia and the tactical errors made during the battle of Stalingrad. Much like Napoleon, Hitler faced the fierce Russian winter that halted his forces and dragged the Russian campaign on longer. Hitler's mistakes at Stalingrad also affected the outcome of the war, and mistakes like pulling the 1st and 4th Panzer divisions away from the body of army group B and just leaving General Paulus to break through the Russian defense. By the time Hitler realised his error the Red Army had stiffened defenses around the city, which led to one of the longest and most prominent battles of WWII and the eventual defeat of the 6th army. Hitler also did not recognise the fact that the Russians had half a million more men in reserve and far better machinery, with the Russians producing thousands of tanks and armaments. The crucial mistake that lost Hitler the battle of Stalingrad was the fact that he did not allow General Paulus to pull out of the city.

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This depends on what "during the war means". Some might suggest it actually started in 1938 with the invasion of Czechoslovakia. If so his mistakes (aside from being a syphilitic megalomaniac who persecuted the very people who might have won him the war) were:

In order:

1. Believing the idiot Von Ribbentrop and thinking he could get away with attacking Poland.

2.Not sacking/shooting all the General staff who had plotted against him before the collapse of France ( a la Stalin). Admiral Canaris, the commander of the Abwehr should certainly have been zapped early. Lack of spies left the Nazis blind.

3.Succumbing to emotion following the RAF raid on Berlin and diverting the Luftwaffe attack on the RAF

4. Not focussing on destroying the British fleet in the Atlantic and Mediterranean using Torpedo and Dive bombers ( a la Japan)

5.Not taking Gibraltar as planned

6. Attacking Russia instead of focusing all his efforts on the Africa Corps and the Suez. Just imagine Heinz Guderian and Rommel vs the eighth army! They would have been in Iraq by January 1942!!

7. Given Roosevelt the excuse he was working up to by declaring war - again out of emotion - in 1941.

8. Having attacked Russia (better in '42 than '41) suddenly got sentimental about using sarin on Moscow and Stalingrad ( I mean if you have the most lethal gas in the world and are prepared to gas Jews/gays/gypsies in the comfort of your own country why did he not gas "sub-human" slaves in theirs?)

9. Let Heisenberg misdirect Atomic research (as part of his unspoken gentleman's agreement with Neils Bohrs).

10. Waste so much effort on "super weapons" when concentration on jet engines alone would have been sufficient.

11. When losing keep demanding that no terrain be yielded.

Could Hitler have won the war? Not a chance - he was the cause of the war and also the cause of Germany's defeat and the ultimate triumph of democracy. In a strange sort of way he was like a purgative for the civilised world. Given that so much of the world in the 1930s was in love with fascism would we have as much democracy today without him? That's not to forgive him, just to point out that by bringing the conflict between fascism and democracy to a head sooner rather than later Hitler did serve a broader purpose.

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Not focusing more on destroying Britain's airfields that would cripple the RAF - focusing instead on British towns and cities.

Declaring war on the Soviet Union. It was an operation that swallowed up the German military power through use and huge loss of manpower, machinery, and the sheer size of the USSR was overwhelming together with the opposing enemy. The Red Army's resources in manpower and machinery were seemingly endless. 27 to 28 million Soviets died and still they came knocking on the door of Berlin.

Declaring war on US with it's manpower, resources and machinery.

Taking on the 'big three' all at once is the conclusion.

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Hitler's '42 summer offensive eastwards towards would have been strengthened if he had not ordered the Eleventh army to help with the siege of Leningrad.The eleventh army's presence in southern Russia would have provided great help to the 2nd and 6th armies as they lunged for Stalingrad. Hitler ordered the panzer armies under Hoth and Kleist to turn westwards and advance on Russians west of the Don but it was to late. The Russians instead of losing more troops in a german encirclement, began an orderly and effective evacuation of the troops west of the Don. Hitler gave up a great chance to pounce on Stalingrad while the Soviets were very much off balance.

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May I add that Hitler's great chance to take Stalingrad was in July of 1942.His armies were poised to take the city at that time when the Soviets were not ready.

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Commanding the war personally. Political leaders should focus on politics. The more deeply involved politicians get in the running of a military operation the more screwed up that operation usually gets.

Another blunder was in using Methamphetamines. A lot of the flawed decision-making going on outright delusion was probably a result of the Meth, or at least was aggravated by it.

Blitzing all of the way to the Dunkirk beach head would certainly have improved his situation, but wouldn't have been a knock-out blow. It would have cost the British a lot of experienced troops but they could have come back from it, given time.

Keeping the pressure on the front line airfields and radar stations along the south coast of England during the Battle of Britain would have made a huge difference, perhaps enough to be decisive. Especially if combined with crushing the beach head at Dunkirk, England could potentially have been taken out of the war.

Not concentrating on North Africa and the Mediterranean in 1941 was another big mistake. This of course assumes that he was unable to invade England successfully. Taking control of this area would have done three things. It would have secured vital petroleum reserves which would have meant plenty of fuel for combat operations, plenty of petroleum for manufacturing fertilizer and for making propellants too. Securing the Mediterranean, especially Gibraltar and the Suez Canal would have further isolated England from her colonies and would have helped out the Italian fleet. Also it would have allowed Germany and Japan to join forces. Together they could have shut down the lend-lease pipeline to the Soviet Union with ease and begun the process of crushing the Soviets. A small note: although it is huge the Soviet Union was never able to feed itself or exploit its resources efficiently. Unless significant reforms were made, it would have collapsed. Even with massive ongoing economic assistance from the west it eventually collapsed anyway.

The lack of petroleum may also explain the German failure to deploy the Me 262 earlier, since jet engines burn a lot more fuel than propeller planes and would have made supply issues more difficult. Also the critical shortage of tungsten which is needed to withstand the high temperatures of a jet engine.

One of Hitler's big blunders was that he had developed a contemptuous attitude toward the Soviets based on reports from German "volunteers" serving with Finland during the Winter War between the Finns and Soviets between '39 and 40. After their humiliation at the hands of the Finns, Hitler assumed that the Soviets could be crushed without difficulty.

Ordering Gundarian to surround and mop up enemy troops instead of driving straight for Moscow was a huge blunder. I don't know if the Soviets would have surrendered even if Moscow had been taken, but it was the Germans' best hope for a quick end to the war.

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Key mistakes:

1. Stopped his panzers too early in Dunkirk and let the Brits to escape (trusted Göring when he assured that Luftwaffe would do the job :-)

2. Didn't understand a bit what Churchill really thought about him and his Reich. Bombed London instead of military targets in the battle of Britain.

3. Left too many men in Norway 1941. It was important, but not THAT important - half a million men were there, some elite units among them. They couldn't do much progress in the northern front.

4. Operation Barbarossa was NOT a mistake. It was a necessity. Stalin planned to attack. But what was Hitler's mistake was that he didn't stop his campaign after 3-4 months. His war machine was not "winter-ready". USSR offered to make peace in several occasions. Hitler should have made peace with Stalin before the end of 1941. Even a temporary one would have helped him a lot. Germany had so favourable position in 1941, that they could have dictated all terms to Russians. Operation Barbarossa was originally about a) a short-term operation, "few months only" - men didn't even get any winter equipment b) secure oil and other resources, throw back Russian threat from Romanian oil fields (Germany's only ones really productive) c) crush Stalin's offensive war machine in a pre-emptive strike. Because 2 of 3 goals were reached well before the end of the year 1941, and point b) could have been settled in peace agreement, it was a mistake to not end that war short. Russians asked negotiations in several occasions.

5. Not bombing Baku oil fields 1941. This would have stopped the Red Army war machine in few months. Over 80% of refined petroleum was from Baku in that time.

6. Attitude. Hitler didn't learn from his mistakes. Despite he generally seemed to have very good psychological eye to manipulate Volk in mass meetings(people in 3rd Reich) and persons in his proximity, he didn't understand how the Britons or Russians think and act. The British he admired (without any good reason), the Russians he hated (mainly for false reasons). Nevertheless, in both cases his acts only strengthened his opponents fighting morale. If he had systematically helped the counter-communistic forces in the USSR, he might have succeeded. But he should have stopped his Sonderkommandos early (and let them finish their job many years later).

7. Too much efforts on fancy operations and Wunder Waffens (wonder weapons). Instead of using Skortzeny to free Mussolini (an unimportant man), why not let him try to assassinate Churchill or Roosevelt? Or do something meaningful? Instead of building costly but mostly meaningless weapons like Me262 unreliable jet fighter or V-4 ballistic missile (without a working nuclear warhead :-), he should have concentrated his efforts to improve existing weapons he had. His fighters were very good when the WW2 broke out, but only mediocre when the war ended. Britons developed Typhoons and Americans had their Mustangs, but what did have Germans? Pretty much the same old Me-190 G's they had already 1943. Tiger tank was pretty much the same the whole war out though it came already in 1941 imminent, that they should have learned from T-34 design a lot.

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I can give you a very short answer...HE DID NOT LISTEN TO HIS GENERALS!!! which is a good thing because then we were able to beat him, so thanks for being an arrogant pig and not listening to your peers.

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Some of Hitler's greatest mistakes were diplomatic rather than military. Not coordinating with Japan at least on a diplomatic level and even more advantageously on a strategic military level was a major mistake. The reinforcements that turned the tide of the battle for Moscow had previously been tied up defending the east from the Japanese. But the Japanese signed a non-aggression treaty with the Soviets allowing those forces to be transferred to the battle for Moscow.

Also, the Japanese were in a position to interdict lend-lease shipments bound for the Soviet Union. Much of this shipping entered through the port of Vladivostok which is the eastern end of the Trans-Siberia Railway. Vladivostok is inside the Sea of Japan.

By signing his own Non-Aggression treaty with the Soviet Union, he may also have blundered. Had he taken all of Poland instead of sharing it with the Soviets, he would have cut off about a quarter of the distance his troops needed to travel to reach Moscow.

Also had he backed the Finns fully in their Winter War with the Soviets, they would probably have prevailed. This would have been extremely advantageous because it would have put His troops about 50 miles from Leningrad and also 50 miles from the port of Murmansk, which was a vital port through which lend-lease aid reached the Soviet Union and which was never taken during the war. Also aiding the Finns in this war would probably have earned their loyalty as allies. Though they helped the German attacks on the Soviet Union, they refused to advance beyond their pre-war borders--especially notable in the case of Leningrad which was only 50 miles away. Also from Finland, it might have been possible (depending on the pass-ability of the roads during that season) for those forces to participate in the attack on Norway. Narvik, one of the major objectives of the invasion, which was occupied by the British early in the invasion, is about 35 miles from Northern Finland.

These two measures would have cut off the Soviet Union from US aid.

Also, if Hitler had Put more emphasis on taking Northern Africa he could have taken the Suez Canal allowing vital trade between Germany and Japan (there was limited trade, but they were reduced to using Submarines and sailing all of the way around the tip of Africa). This would have allowed vital exchange of resources, including rubber and Tungsten vital for high-velocity ammunition and jet engines.

In early 41 there was a pro-Axis revolution in Iraq, but with inadequate support it was put down by the British. This could have been supported, since Syria was a Vichy French holding that allowed the Germans to use Airfields, and would likely have allowed troop movements through it's territory to Iraq. This would have given Germany both a secure supply of oil, and a base from which to attack the Southern flank of the Soviet Union.

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Two inaccuracies in the above post need to be corrected:

1. "... the Japanese were in a position to interdict lend-lease shipments bound for the Soviet Union..." The Japanese had already been dealt a good hiding by the Red Army in Manchuria, which propelled Zhukov (the man who beat Nazi Germany) to fame. Japan was in no position to take on the USSR - hence the neutrality treaty.

2. "...In early 41 there was a pro-Axis revolution in Iraq, but with inadequate support it was put down by the British. This could have been supported... This would have given Germany both a secure supply of oil, and a base from which to attack the Southern flank of the Soviet Union..."

Attack the USSR from Iraq? Whether through Kavkaz or Persia it would have been suicidal. Hitler may have been mad - but not THAT mad.

Incidentally, some of the fiercest fighters against the Nazis were the Chechens, despite post-war propaganda by Stalin to the contrary. ________________________________

The single mistake of Hitler's that cost him the war? Easy - not recognising his own incompetence. Stalin realised he needed a military genius in charge of the military instead of a political genius, so he handed the reigns to Zhukov, whereas Hitler kept ignoring and demoting good officers and replacing them with 'yes' men.

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Hitler's most important mistake was to begin the war in 1939 instead of waiting until 1945 as his general staff wanted. They knew they neither had the logistics in place to fight a war deep into Russia or enough modern armoured forces to equip their forces properly. Panzer grenadiers rode in trucks (instead of half tracks as intended), most tanks had inadequate main armament, and supplies/artillery were still drawn by horses as in WW1). I believe Hitler was getting older and was scared that he would never live to see his 1,000 year Reich, so he rushed in.

The German air force was also focused on ground support missions instead of strategic bombing and suffered accordingly as the war went on (Battle of Britain, Russia).

Hitler didn't realise his military experience was limited and made a classic error. Amateurs study tactics but professional soldiers study logistics. He had very capable Military Commanders and listened to none of them.

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Hitler's main intention was always to attack Russia. Along with that the 2 different ideology's the country's had wouldn't have allowed a long peace between them.

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His one BIGGEST mistake, and the one that cost him the war, came at the end of July 1941. He was on a wicked roll, had just taken Smolensk, and was barely 200 miles from Moscow with nothing more than a panicked and badly disorganized defense standing between him and the heart of the Soviet Empire. At this critical moment in history Hitler became ill with a nasty stomach virus and "went to ground" for two wasted weeks while his very capable generals like Halder and Bock and Guderian begged in vain to be turned loose on Moscow. At this point the Germans were still knocking off a dazed and totally outclassed Red Army in giant encirclements faster than the Soviets could mobilize and train replacements, and Bock knew that he had a golden opportunity RIGHT NOW to destroy the bulk of the remaining forces in front of him any way he chose, either by encirclement (as was done instead at Kiev) or by a simple steamroller frontal assault.

But for his own perverse psychological reasons Hitler refused to acknowledge the victory sitting right there in front of him (Napoleonitis?)and in August diverted the majority of Heeresgruppe Mitte's armor south into Ukraine to fight the wrong battle. He didn't see that as rigidly centralized as the USSR was, neither Leningrad nor Kiev could have stood alone for long without Moscow, and for a pretty astute politician he also failed completely to grasp what a destabilizing blow to Communist authority it would have been to lose the capital. Sure Stalin could have tucked tail and run to the Urals or Siberia or wherever, but at some point even vicious dictators need the support of the population at large in order to effectively wage war, and it's kinda hard to exert meaningful authority over a hundred million people when you're busy running for your own life.

Please remember also that even starting Unternehmen Taifun in October- after stupidly giving the Russians TWO full extra months in August and September to reinforce and prepare for the coming offensive (plus losing yet ANOTHER full month to the rain from mid Oct to mid Nov)- they'd still come within a whisker of taking Moscow, so it stands to reason that if Hitler had listened to the pros and attacked Moscow in August with the benefit of longer days, dry ground and a disorganized enemy just waiting to be beaten, the job would have gotten done, and probably a lot quicker too- by late August or early September. THEN- after the last of the available Russian strategic reserves on the Central Front had been eliminated- there still would have been time to turn to Ukraine before winter set in, and knowing that Moscow had already collapsed would have undoubtedly taken a lot of the starch out of the defenders there. Leningrad, surrounded and cut off from its only rail link to the interior, would have fallen by siege during the winter, and in 1942 Hitler could have had the Caucasus and just about anything else he wanted.

Plus, Britain's last best hope of salvation would have been extinguished, leaving even an ardent Nazi hater like Churchill not much choice but to deal with the Devil.

Hitler wanted- and needed- oil and wheat and bauxite, but he was in such a grabby rush he went at it like a bank robber who started emptying out the till before he'd taken care of all the bank guards. So ultimately it was his distrust and disdain towards his own General Staff- and his need to prove that he knew more than they did- that ultimately did him in. The German Army in 1941, even with its late start and faulty intelligence going in, was more than up to the challenge; the blame for their failure must fall squarely upon the shoulders of A. Hitler and his bad leadership.

p.s one more thing- there's a popular myth Hitler failed to account for his troops' need for winter clothing in 1941. Actually, according to the original Barbarossa plan winter gear was supposed to start being shipped east in October, but all the backups and bottlenecks in the supply system (mud, wrong gauge railways, Soviet destruction of transportation system as they retreated etc.) meant that the winter uniforms got there too late, sacrificed to the overriding need for fuel and ammunition. Cheers.

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Hitler made several mistakes from letting the British army escape to not sending re-enforcements to aid the soldiers during D-Day. But perhaps his greatest mistake came when he split his forces and attacked Russia pre-emptively.

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I would say that Hitler's key mistake was going to war in the first place.

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I would not include declaring war on the United States as one of the top mistakes Hitler made. Though it was a big mistake, the repercussions were not all that horrible. By the time American forces decided to do something German forces were already being pushed back to Berlin by the Russians. In the case that either Hitler had not invaded Russia, or the Russians had been defeated/made peace with somehow, then and only then would a US declaration of war come in to effect. If Germany had enough power to successfully invade Britain, US forces would have certainly been sent to reinforce. Perhaps even without Germany's declaration of war the US would have assisted anyway. There is no sure way to find out. The only thing the declaration of war did was allow the US to send any supplies they wanted.

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If Japan had attacked Russia in Early 1943 then Hitler's army wouldn't have been encircled by the 350,000 Russian army that was guarding against a Japanese invasion (which was confirmed to be a non-existent threat by a Russian spy in Japan).

Hitler's biggest mistakes in order:

1. The stopping of bombing British military targets and switching to civilian cities in retaliation of a German air raid. (would have destroyed their Air force and taken them over)

2. Declaring war on the U.S. (They wouldn't have dealt with him, they had Japan to deal with first)

3. Declaring war on Russia (He would have secured a lot of crap without Russia on his ass, though he was winning like crazy, and his delays were only problems in Greece that Mussolini's crappy Italian army couldn't conquer.

4. The production of Tiger Tanks over Panzers. Even though they were much stronger than any tank that had existed, fewer than 1300 were ever produced, whereas the American Sherman's had been made more than 52,000. The Sherman's eventually used the car engine, and this made them essentially a car with a gun, using the assembly line to make them, the US virtually replaced all losses within 36 hours. It took about 4 Sherman's to blow up one Tiger tank.

Unfortunately the Meserchmidt Me262 entered the war too late in 1944, (not 1942)!!

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Hitler's mistake was waging war on the Soviet Union. Many people seem to think that it was D-Day, though i must point out that D-Day was inflated way out of proportion. By the time D-Day came around Soviet armies and tanks were already rolling towards berlin at about 40km per day as the Soviets annihilated all interfering German forces, the war was practically over. So why even have a "D-Day"? Because like it or not US went on a mad glory grab. It should be mentioned that in the early 30's it was the Western powers (France, Britain, US) who supported Hitler and gave him money and resources to build his war machine. All 3 were hoping that Hitler would immediately turn on the Soviet Union, as further demonstrated by the fact that France and Britain rejected 5 different proposals by the Soviets to form an alliance against Hitler years before the war. So how would it look to the world if the communist nation, hated and plotted against by US and the others, if they single handedly liberated all of Europe from the Nazi's? To further drown the fact the because of the US and the plot of the other allies the world almost lost the war, and to hide how much the Soviets lost the US made sure to it be known to all how much the Jews suffered. Yes it was a terrible ordeal, something like 5 million died in those camps, however few know that 28 million Soviets died while fighting Hitler. And to finish of, we now see tons of movies on how the US won the entire war on their own. (Hell in some of them Bruce Willis practically does it by himself!) Hitler's mistake was attacking the Soviets not sitting through a glory grab, hero's parade staged by the US. I'm not saying the US soldiers did nothing or weren't brave, tens of thousands still died, because the US insisted on getting credit and refused to acknowledge any mistakes. The lesson here: don't attack the Soviet Union/Russia, historically every time anyone has ever attempted that they would quickly get their asses kicked and have their empire crumble around them (note Napolian, came in with 600,000 troops, left with something like 10,000).

It is also foolish to think the Soviets would have quit had Hitler taken Stalingrad or any city, (Napoleon took Moscow, and got screwed for it, he was still the loser of that war, his army's prime concern in the end was to get the hell out as the Russians were pursuing them).

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(1) Invasion of the Soviet Union. (2) Declaration of war on United States.

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Personally i think the threat on the western front was nearly a joke, The real war was the Russian front, Hitler should not have attacked with so little time before winter, a brilliant man but an arrogant organizer. Hitler was convinced he was never wrong but in reality he his high command was always right but he never listened, I can fully understand why the SOME OF THE German high command wanted Hitler out of power, because he was to arrogant for the good of the German people>

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The largest mistake was ending the battle of Britain early. The RAF were literally two weeks away from cracking. The Germans suffered heavy bomber and fighter losses but the RAF had only 10 percent of the German air force. The RAF, no matter how successful, could not keep up. The RAF were literally pulling fighters out of factories, most unfinished, towards the end of the battle. The British would come to peace and D-Day would never have happened. The German navy should have invested in more torpedo's instead of ordering uboats to take convoys with deck guns. Uboat commanders were fined every time a torpedo was used and were supplied with few. This would have cut uboat losses and tighten the noose on Britain.

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Like mentioned above: the soviets planned to break the non-aggression pact anyway. The invasion of the USSR was needed to get the upper hand.

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How was it a mistake to attack the USSR? This was Hitler's plan, his driving force, right from the start.

His biggest mistake was underestimating the UK. He thought it would crumble. Contrary to popular belief, fighter command always had enough planes... although it did run low on trained pilots for a while. The Royal Navy was still a huge force of over 2000 vessels. There was no way that the Germans could have invaded Britain and maintained supplies across the channel. Therefore his plan to knock out one country after another, and avoid a war on two fronts, was flawed from the outset. Perhaps the UK didn't offer much in the land battles, when compared to the 100's of divisions fighting in the east, but bomber command basically ground German cities to dust.e.g. 85% of the second city Hamburg destroyed. 1000 bomber raids night after night.

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If Hitler had committed the number of troops and materials used to invade the USSR, to the North African front, the possibilities could of been endless. The Suez Canal would of been cut, breaking India from Britain. Asia would of been cut from Europe, at least from the Eastern Side. More importantly, Germany would have controlled the oil fields of the Middle East. Hitler no longer would be burdened by Russian or Romanian oil, because now, he had a source of oil that could not be hit by bombers, and could not be cut off unexpectedly. The Japanese might of even taken over India, and the Germans and Japanese would finally be connected, able to send supplies to each other, as well as divisions and technology. With Southern Asia under Japanese control, and the Middle East under German control, the worlds biggest oil producers would be under Axis control. The Allies would of been starved of oil. Germany could of concentrated on building it's Luftwaffe and Navy, and would probably destroyed Britain. North and South America, maybe Australia too, would of been cut off from the rest of the world.

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Hitler's first mistake was to underestimate The Royal Air Force.They counted the numbers of the fighter planes because of Hermann Goering mistakenly... Hitler could not stand failures.So he didn't want himself disappointed. Perhaps stopping the war of the battle of Britain was not wrong but in that case he should have done more thing. For example he should use the advantages of the Luftwaffe.With the overwhelming and superior numbers with their high technology design they might win the war by the destroying the entire industry of the united kingdom.but they gave up.they sent the bombers without fighters and lost too many planes.bombing Britain just earned time for the axis for an assault to Britain.but they could not destroy the RAF.Battle of Britain was a not failure because of Hitler's mistake because of Goering. Secondly, Hitler could not stand failings of his soldiers. Yes I mean Stalingrad. he should have attacked there with all of his armies. When it needed he should have ordered his forces to pull back but his emotions were influenced his ideas. With an elite team they could break the Russian defense and resource for the reinforcing soldiers.they should have fought in Stalingrad more tactically. Killing Vasili could be great effect for the soviets to join the Nazis. They were still confused that the new system would go well since the 1917. In February 1943 they suffered and were forced to pull back.This was a very important key point.after the battle in Stalingrad and the defeats of their allies the Italians in the north of Africa, joining the USA to the allied forces, the British army repaired their damages hardly.in this situation they had less chance almost nothing to win the war, perhaps they could delay the end of the reich though.ordering cleverly could push back the Normandy invasion, but their naval forces were located by the allied intelligence after getting the enigma codes...their mistakes cannot be written in a night but generally (1-battle of Britain (2-Stalingrad (3-enigma codes if they had taken Stalingrad we can say that there would be Hitler in G.W. Bush place.

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Hitler had many uncountable mistakes:

1) He declared war to early on USA to early and isn't take them seriously. when they made a peace treaty the Czechoslovakia would be the last country Germany can take.

2) He betrayed Russia. and even though Jospeh Stalin knew Hitler was going to attack and had the excellent intelligence on Germany betraying Russian Jospeh Stalin felt personally betrayed and had a mental breakdown. hitler had the time to think about it change his mind.

3) His extermination of Jews aggravated the USA mainly because of this

4) He tried to go after Africa and France at the same time as well as defending against the Soviets.

5) He spared Britain when he could have easily conquered and established a Nazi government early on.

6) Later on Germany had made many panzer tanks that were lighter faster easier to rebuild, did not get stuck in terrain like the big panzers, and also the panzar fire power was just as strong and costed less resource. but Hitler stuck with the old bulky slow but well armoured however got stuck only good in flat terrain costed expensive amounts of resources and most times were too heavy to even to attempt to rebuild and get out of stuck terrain.

7) When he was fighting soviet Russia in a battle he sent his best German elites against the Russians and were doing well but over time they began to starve and when they requested supplies Hitler neglected and said that they will either win or die there.

8) The Red Baron as a celebrity of also advisor of air aviation of Germany told the air manufacturers they should stick with the bi planes which are slower than the allied USA planes and less mobile in terms of turning which is important in trying to get behind the enemy in flight combat.

9) Their battalion's were very minimally trained and were the last of the army before Hitler lost WW2

10) He taken too much control and freedom of the people mainly scientists, artists and educated people fled from Germany mostly to Britain USA or England for freedom. artists weren't allowed to draw anything else but pro Nazi arts, teachers were only allowed to teach Nazi school education based on Aryan so called superiority over all racists which is false and been like that throughout history FALSE. Scientists were forced to and mistreated to make weapons for the Nazis. which is why Albert Eintsein fled Germany. He was important because he invented the atomic bomb. He gave this knowledge to the USA and forced Japan to abdicate in WW2 with the atomic bombs.

11) Citizens of broken countries like France and Poland opposed Nazis and helped allied soldiers fed them nursed the and gave the intelligence on the enemy. also some even killed Nazis as guerrillas.

12) The allies usually cut off axis supplies and Germans only had limited supply lines.

13) On D-day the Americans had the upper hand because they had air superiority and bombed the Atlanta wall easily open and the USA through morse code with the flashing lights purposely gave Germans false information when Germans when the Germans thought that the Americans didn't know. so on d day the Nazis thought they would counter attack somewhere else and were ill prepared in troops on d-day which also costed a vast amount of resources for Nazi Germany.

14) The Soviets decoded the German code in WW2 thus they were able to get info and had excellent intelligence on the Nazis.

15) Italy never really got to expand much if they even expanded in the war.

16) The Nazis were getting sandwiched on both fronts. 3 if you count south Italy after they became allies and the fascist regime ended in WW2 Italy.

17) The most important reason that could've affected all this was Hitler's Parkinsons disease. his Parkinsons disease ate up his mind causing him to make bad decisions and react slowly to simple situations. At times in cries for Nazi Germany he didn't even pay attention for months then made a decision.

18) Hitler also took psychotics and drugs. he feared he would get fat so he took some pills to stay fit but took excessive amounts and then he started taking stronger drugs also. they are more reasons that i don't remember right now or don't know about yet but these are the most significant reasons I know right now on Hitler's mistakes the Latino guy I also wrote on Italy if you want some info on Italy.

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Oh yes, forget to add Italian army was not crappy. Their infantry was maybe tanks I don't know but their air power was the best in WW2 they lost because they had to split the air force to support Hitler when he was losing in north Africa. It was because of Italy the axis even stood a chance on holding back while Hitler attacked north Africa. They also had the largest air force. They would've probably had the best air force today but when Italy worked hard to earn a permit to mass produce aircraft after WW2 the united nations denied which is sad because there air power was very impressive. this was also something the Nazis lacked because they relied on the bi planes.

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Invading Russia, and helping Italy.

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Starting WW II was his first mistake.

Here are Hitler's mistakes during the war:

1. Preventing his ground forces to attack British and French forces stranded at Dunkirk and thus allowing the bulk of their armies to escape.

2. Not immediately or soon after going through with Operation Sea Lion which involved invading England. England had no sizeable equipped army to oppose such an invasion after Dunkirk.

3. Shifting the air attacks on England from airports and radar stations to cities. This allowed the English to continue to detect the German planes in time to intercept them and to recuperate at a time in which they were near collapse.

Hitler should have ignored Spanish neutrality and attacked the British base at Gibraltar via the overland route. This would have closed the Mediterranean to Allied forces from the west and neutralized Malta.

Hitler should have ignored Turkish neutrality and attacked the Caucasus oil fields via the southern shore of the Black Sea. This would have severely harmed the Soviet war effort.

Both operations together would have probably resulted in the capture of the Persian oil fields as well.

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In the lead up to war and the grab for power in Germany, I believe one of Hitler's biggest errors was the persecution of the Jews. Aside from the obvious moral repugnance of the genocide committed, consider this: 1) Jews are typically more well of as a group (not as the stereo -type of the "greedy Jew", but in the fact that many of them were business owners or in the banking industry) and by moving them to camps Hitler financially hurt Germany

2) Many prominent physicists and scientists were Jewish, think Einstein etc.

3) Young, able bodied men are an important resource if you are planning on starting a war. Think of the numbers of Jews that could have been in military service, think of the numbers of SS needed to guard, transport, etc. etc.

4) Concentration camps are expensive, even using slave labour

Now, you may say that the Nazi regime couldn't have existed without a scapegoat for all of Germany's ills, and I agree, but then of course the entire regime WAS a mistake from a historical point of view. Hitler's biggest mistake was being born

One of Hitler's main mistakes is that he was constantly at odds with many of his generals, on several occasions Hitler, because of his pride and vanity, did not permit his generals or troops to retreat to safer positions even when they were in danger of being destroyed, probably his biggest blunder was invading the soviet union whilst still at war with Britain, although Britain had recently been defeated in the battle of France and was powerless, for the time being, to change anything on the continent, British forces soon regrouped and embarked in an air offensive against Germany and a land war with the Italians in north Africa, even more fatal, Hitler constantly underestimated his opponents, to Hitler the USA was a rabble of races from all round the world, and would be incapable of stopping the aryan race, Hitler also believed that Russians were untermensch, or sub-humans, and did not deserve to live, he also believed that Britain was physically and morally incapable of stopping him and were preoccupied with preserving their waning empire, Hitlers beliefs about these nations could not be further from the truth, the USA was an industrial and military giant, whose industrial output in oil, shipping, aircraft, food production and weapons of all kinds dwarfed Germany's capacity by many times, Russia was an up and coming world power, the sheer reserves of manpower they could field was phenomenal, Britain, although no where near as strong as the days of the pinnacle of its power, remained a great threat in terms of naval strength, and its air power, joined by that of its American counterpart, would become the western allies most destructive weapon. At the end of the war, Hitler deluded himself into thinking that no retreat would give him Victory, all it did was cost the lives of millions of his soldiers and civilians.

First answer by Michael Montagne. Last edit by Dazman. Contributor trust: 6 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 278 [recommend question]