Posted on 04/29/2011 7:01:26 AM PDT by marcbold
They were not friends and if I remember correctly, the Von was purchased for Ribbentrop. He also assured Hitler that Poland wouldn’t turn into another world war.
One of the things I remember was that Goering told ‘Von’ Ribbentrop to, “Shut Up you champagne salesman!”
It was also Von Ribbentrop that turned Hitler anti-British. Before, Hitler had hoped that Germany and Britain could be allies against Bolshevism. Von Ribbentrop felt snubbed by the British while Ambassador there, and like a spurned jealous lover, became the biggest Anglophobe in Hitler’s inner circle.
Good point. On such things wars were decided.
Not just before the war. After France fell, Hitler sincerely expected the British to sue for peace, and he was willing to grant them very favorable terms. Essentially he would keep down the subhuman in Europe and environs, and the Brits could do so in the rest of the world.
This was why the Germans had made remarkably few plans for the invasion of Britain. They didn't expect they'd need them.
Hitler was quite genuinely surprised when the Brits refused to cave. Reasonably enough, as their continuing to fight on under such circumstances was not a logical thing to do. Heroic to the extreme, but not logical.
Did you ever see, “It Happened Here.” It was a great movie, done on a shoestring budget back in 1966, that conjectured what a Nazi occupation of Britain would have looked like.
I still maintain that Hitler personally ordered Rudolf Hess to fly to Britain, and Hess and Hitler were the only two who knew about it.
That’s a real possibility.
The strangest part is that he was essentially kept in solitary and incommunicado till he died. The most logical reason being that he knew something his captors didn’t want to get out.
The western powers pushed for more gentle treatment, but the Russians vetoed it. Which means whatever he knew was discreditable to USSR, not Britain.
But darn if I can figure out what it might have been.
Or possibly he was just a loonie.
Excellent post!
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