Table Of Content’
HITLER S FATAL MISCALCULATION
Hitler’s decision to declare war on the United States has baffled gener-
ationsofhistorians.Inthisrevisionistnewhistoryofthosefatefulmonths,
KlausSchmiderseekstouncoverthechainofeventswhichwouldincite
theGermanleadertodeclarewarontheUnitedStatesinDecember1941.
He provides new insights not just on the problems afflicting German
strategy, foreign policy and war production but, crucially, how they
wereperceivedatthetimeatthetoplevelsoftheThirdReich.Schmider
seesthedeclarationofwarontheUnitedStatesnotasanadmissionof
defeatoragestureofsolidaritywithJapan,butasanopportunisticgamble
bytheGermanleader.Thismovemayhaveappearedanexcellentbetat
thetime,butwouldultimatelydoomtheThirdReich.
klaus h. schmider has been with the Royal Military Academy
SandhurstsinceMay1999.Heistheco-authorofVolume8oftheofficial
German history of World War II, Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite
Weltkrieg(2007).
CambridgeMilitaryHistories
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HITLER S FATAL
MISCALCULATION
Why Germany Declared War on the United States
KLAUS H. SCHMIDER
RoyalMilitaryAcademySandhurst
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Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781108834919
DOI:10.1017/9781108870405
©KlausH.Schmider2021
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Firstpublished2021
PrintedintheUnitedKingdombyTJBooksLtd.,Padstow,Cornwall
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-Publicationdata
Names:Schmider,Klaus,author.
Title:Hitler’sfatalmiscalculation:whyGermanydeclaredwarontheUnitedStates/Klaus
H.Schmider,RoyalMilitaryAcademy,Sandhurst.
Othertitles:WhyGermanydeclaredwarontheUnitedStates
Description:Cambridge,UnitedKingdom;NewYork,NY:CambridgeUniversityPress,
2021.|Series:Cambridgemilitaryhistories|Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
Identifiers:LCCN2020021818|ISBN9781108834919(hardback)|ISBN9781108870405
(ebook)
Subjects:LCSH:Germany–Foreignrelations–UnitedStates.|UnitedStates–Foreign
relations–Germany.|Hitler,Adolf,1889–1945.|WorldWar,1939–1945–Causes.|World
War,1939–1945–Germany.|WorldWar,1939–1945–UnitedStates.
Classification:LCCD751.S372021|DDC940.53/43–dc23
LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2020021818
ISBN978-1-108-83491-9Hardback
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accurateorappropriate.
Days before he was due to leave Berlin for the United States, CBS corres-
pondentWilliamShirerreflectedontheoddsofaUS–Germanwarbreaking
outinthenearfuture:
‘Theclashisasinevitableasthatoftwoplanetshurtlinginexorablythrough
theheavenstowardseachother.Asamatteroffact,itmaycomesoonerthan
almost all Americans at home imagine. An officer of the High Command
somewhatshockedmetheotherdaywhilewewerediscussingthematter.He
said: “You think Roosevelt can pick the moment most advantageous to
America and Britain for coming into the war. Did you ever stop to think
that Hitler, a master at timing, may choose the moment for war with
America–amomentwhichhethinkswillgivehimtheadvantage?”
‘ImustadmitIneverdid.’
—WilliamL.Shirer,BerlinDiary:TheJournalofaForeignCorrespondent,
1934–1941,entryfor1December19401
1 London: Hamish Hamilton 1941, pp 463–4. Excerpt reprinted by permission of Don
CongdonAssociates,Inc.©1941,renewed1968byWilliamL.Shirer.Mythankstomy
colleagueEdYorkeforbringingthissourcetomyattention.
CONTENTS
ListofFigures pageviii
ListofMaps ix
Preface xi
Acknowledgements xiii
ListofAbbreviationsandGermanandRussianTerms xv
Introduction 1
1 Hitler’sPre-WarAssessmentoftheUnitedStatesandJapan 11
2 Hitler’sPhysicalHealthinAutumn1941 57
3 ‘AllMeasuresShortofWar’:theGermanAssessmentof
AmericanStrategy,1940–1941 70
4 ForginganUnlikelyAlliance:GermanyandJapan,
1933–1941 163
5 FacingtheSameDilemma:theUSandGermanQuestfor
Rubber 268
6 TheCrisisoftheGermanWarEconomy,1940–1941 298
7 TheEndofBlitzkrieg?BarbarossaandtheImpactof
Lend-Lease 321
8 TheBattleoftheAtlantic 427
9 TheLuftwaffeontheEveofGlobalWar 484
10 TheHolocaust 523
Conclusion 543
Bibliography 550
Index 579
vii
FIGURES
1.1 WernervonBlombergandtheservicechiefsreportingtoHitler page32
1.2 AmbassadorEugenOtt 53
3.1 EnvoyHansThomsenandAttachéFriedrichBoetticher 78
3.2 ChurchillandRooseveltatArgentia 131
4.1 YosukeMatsuokaonhisarrivalinBerlin 193
4.2 HitlerreceivesMatsuokainhisReichskanzleiapartment 200
5.1 FittingatyretothelandinggearofaBoeingB-17 296
6.1 OKW’sGeneralfeldmarschallWilhelmKeitelinconversationwithHitler 305
6.2 AircraftdesignersWillyMesserschmittandErnstHeinkeljoinHitlerand
FritzTodtatapre-warreception 311
7.1 HitleratanOKHbriefingflankedbyHalderandBrauchitsch 322
7.2 WreckedSovietaircraft,June1941 327
7.3 WreckedKV-1tank 330
7.4 Germanpropagandaposter,1941 386
7.5 GeneralfeldmarschallFedorvonBock 393
7.6 OverturnedMatildatanksoutsideMoscow,winter1941–2 406
8.1 ErichRaederwithAdmiralAdolfvonTrotha 431
8.2 U-boatlaunch 436
8.3 BismarcksetssailforRheinübung 448
8.4 AKriegsmarineEnigmaoperator 451
9.1 ABoeingB-17CataflypastlaidonforWinstonChurchill 497
9.2 AnItalianairraidonMalta 501
9.3 Yesterday’sdeterrent:theMe-264prototype 507
9.4 Me-210inRAFcolours 509
9.5 HeinkelHe-274prototype 518
10.1 NSDAPceremonyattheFeldherrnhalle,Munich 535
viii
