Did Hitler have plans to eventually conquer Japan and other allies, had he had succeeded with Britain and the US?
—Elizabeth
? ? ?
Dear Elizabeth,
Although he was frequently annoyed by the actions of his partner, Benito Mussolini—especially the Italian invasion of Greece, which he knew would cause more trouble than it was worth—there is no evidence that Adolf Hitler planned to turn on his allies. It might well have been on his mental to-do list, but “Today Germany, tomorrow the world” notwithstanding, he was too busy making Germany master of Europe to think beyond that continent, at least for the time being. German involvement in North Africa and military operations in Italy, Romania and Bulgaria when they switched sides were responses to wartime exigencies, not premeditated acts.
Sincerely,
Jon Guttman
Research Director
World History Group
More Questions at Ask Mr. History
Don’t miss the next Ask Mr. History question! To receive notification whenever any new item is published on HistoryNet, just scroll down the column on the right and sign up for our RSS feed.
