Comments by "Alan Pennie" (@alanpennie8013) on "TIKhistory" channel.

  1. They became famous for 48 hours.
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  2. @maciejl20 The shoddiness of planning for Barbarossa is extraordinary. The assumption seems to have been that the Red Army was so useless it would have been utterly crushed long before winter set in.
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  3. Let me recommend, Hitler's Thirty Days to Power, Henry Ashby Turner.
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  4. Probably at his desk the whole time but taking cat naps. Napoleon used to operate like this, though it eventually ruined his health.
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  5.  @Treblaine  Let's hope he had a comfy chair for his naps.
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  6.  @pwmiles56  It is odd they used the Soviet word. You're right about that.
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  7.  @pwmiles56  They refused to let The Bolsheviks expropriate a good German word.
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  8. It appears that the Germans deployed two divisions from their occupation army in France to hold the Italian Riviera. The Littorio Division, which rallied to The RSI, was also deployed. They were opposed by a US anti - aircraft brigade, recruited mainly from Japanese - Americans. There wasn't much fighting but it was an interesting situation.
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  9. A great book.
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  10.  @przemekkozlowski7835  Interesting. I think this was all widely known before around 1990 when the "ideological turn" led to economics being neglected for a while in accounts of The Third Reich. Adam Tooze says something like this in his book about the Nazi economy.
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  11. This seems to have been widely misunderstood. While apes have been diverging from the common ancestor for millions of years humans have also been diverging in a different direction.
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  12. Goering talked very foolishly.
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  13.  @FidelisRaven  It would be good if YouTube promoted him more. It's unfortunate that they're so capricious and arbitrary.
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  14. Indeed. Free markets can only exist in pre - state societies (or in the criminal underworld which tries to do without the state and its law codes).
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  15. They could have. But Hitler was impatient and a gambler. So a slower, safer policy didn't appeal to him.
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  16.  @3gunslingers  You should check out British historian Tim Mason. He used to argue along these lines very persuasively. I don't altogether agree. The Nazi regime was so popular it probably could have weathered some economic dislocation.
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  17. The town may be. The General isn't.
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  18. No. You pay your creditors in money you steal from someone else. Like someone stealing money to pay their drug dealer.
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  19. We don't have a reliable text, but in general terms we know how the meeting went, Hitler rambling on, and The War Ministry interpreting his maunderings as a brief to plan an attack on Czechoslovakia.
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  20. IG Farben is a curious case. They became so interlinked with The Wehrmacht that they could be considered more a parastate organisation than a private corporation. Hitler being such a petrol head was definitely unfortunate for The Reichsbahn.
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  21. It may all have worked out in the end, however frustrating the three - month delay in clearing Antwerp was.
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  22. In discussing the role of nationalism it's worth considering that beginning around 1860 the European powers began to implement systems of "national education" (to use a term current in The UK at that time) to effectively "nationalise" the population. Not being dominated by a single nationality The Empire couldn't do this and this was a major reason why defeat caused it to collapse.
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  23.  @seniortrostky7124  Romania was given a part of Ukraine (Transnistria) to administer.
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  24. If hypothetically Goering had been in charge I doubt there would have been a world war. He lacked Hitler's obsessive mindset and would not have taken such a risk.
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  25.  @vallergergo737  I'm afraid Tik's economic notions are bizarre. Pity because on other topics he's well - informed.
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  26.  @billslocum9819  True. But it would not be very useful if the 82 secured the bridge(s) only to be overrun by panzers immediately afterwards.
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  27. There has never been a period where this was not true. There may be occasions when it is acceptable to argue with teachers but they are rare and it's best not to do it unless you're extremely good at picking up vibes. You should also, probably, be over 16.
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  28. Pretty much. Could The Soviets have destroyed the German Army and liberated their country without Lend Lease? It's doubtful.
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  29. Hmm. I don't think the British failed to realise. They didn't want Hitler to conquer The USSR, or anywhere else in Europe.
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  30. A very clear explanation. It appears that MEFO bills were converted into state debt in 1939.
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  31. Exactly. It was in The Spring of 1943 that Bomber Command really began to affect the German Economy.
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  32. Yep. It was "pretend East Europeans are American Indians" time.
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  33. It's estimated that about 1.5 million Gulag prisoners died during the 30 years the system was in existence. It would certainly be interesting to know how much of this loss occurred during the war.
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  34. He's an interesting guy to be sure. Someone published his memoirs during The Cold War, but sadly they were a forgery.
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  35. I agree. You could think of The Dual Monarchy (and its German ally) as besieged fortresses. All the authorities could do was manage the inevitable shortages as best they could.
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  36.  @francescofontana9707  There were two wars going on. The war between Germans and Allies, with both sides deploying a few Italian divisions which did not fight each other. And a nasty counter - insurgency war in The North between partisans and fascist militia.
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  37. He was a major asset to The Allies. Really sad to see him go.
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  38. Chamberlain had a best - case scenario and a fall back position. Best case: Hitler would not seek any territory in Europe but would be bought off with colonies in Africa. Fall back. Hitler would seek to incorporate the ethnic Germans on the Eastern frontier but wouldn't pursue a wider Lebensraum policy.
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  39.  @matthewbadley5063  What we need is a silver standard.
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  40.  BruderShaft1  If you define capitalism as a social system focussed on the accumulation of capital (which strikes me as reasonable) then The Soviet Union was capitalist.
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  41. Huh! Bulgaria was a member of The Axis too, and it made a point of keeping out of the War with The Soviet Union.
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  42.  @markod1719  Thanks.
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  43.  @illerac84  I think so. Up until that moment they decided they owned the world.
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  44. Glad someone else has remembered this. The USA were eager to get The USSR to declare war until they could be sure that the atom bomb would actually explode.
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  45.  @chaptermasterpedrokantor1623  The Soviet campaign in Manchuria was a remarkable demonstration of their new military competence. It's amusing that WW2 was bookended by Soviet victories in Manchuria.
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  46. I'm puzzled too. I think the answer is that the whole operation was planned in a fever of optimistic wishful thinking after the extraordinary victory in France.
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  47. Eisenhower had a difficult time at the end of the war preventing accidental clashes between American and Soviet soldiers.
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  48. Sheila Fitzpatrick is very good.
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  49. Italy suffered massively. It made naval operations very difficult.
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  50. The British were opposed to a formal alliance for two reasons, the danger of war with Japan and the Soviet demand that they be given control of the Baltic republics ( which seemed too much like a new Munich from the British pov).
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