>>249500
I agree. Ironically, Germany never really waged total war against any of its enemies. Total war means attacking the enemy from every possible angle. Hitler did the military angle pretty well, but he rarely tried to attack his enemy's political system internally.
He also made way too many enemies.
Hitler was fighting multi-ethnic empires. He could have and should have gone all in against them. The IRA should have been given a lot more money and explosives. Unlike the Luftwaffe, the IRA could attack specific targets in the UK, and had far better intelligence and local knowledge.
Hitler should have granted Syria independence in as the "Arab National State". That would really have freaked out the British.
I doubt that the Indian Legion would have succeeded, but it couldn't hurt to try.
Hitler should have pressured Turkey to join him. Franco too. Hitler seemed to have this idea that he needed to be careful with his wartime promises and commitments so that Germany could take the lion's share of the spoils after her victory. This is greedy and foolish. Promise your neutral parties the world. You need them to commit to your side. Once they do, THEN you have them in the palm of your hand. Until then, they have you in their hands.
He should have promised Franco Morocco and Gibraltar. Once Italy was in the war, Hitler didn't need to give them anything. But promising them Tunisia or Corsica would be nice. He should have promised to either free Syria or give it to Turkey in exchange for declaring war on the USSR. He should have promised an all Russian nationalist state and done everything in his power to play upon Stalin's paranoia. Hell, promise Portugal Kenya. Can't hurt.
It doesn't even matter whether you want to go through with these promises. All that matters is winning. NEVER attack the enemy with "just enough" forces to win because that is never enough. Attack them with everything, all at once, from every angle, overwhelm them with force.
He should NOT have declared war on the USA. He should have instead used American democracy to his advantage by heavily funding pro-peace parties. Even after Pearl Harbor, declaring war on America was stupid. An emotional decision, not a strategic one.
If he was really determined to fight America, WAIT until your 2 front war is over first.
And frankly, he should not have allied with Japan. Apart from a tiny distraction that Japan provided against a few minor British colonies, what did Japan ACTUALLY DO to help Germany? Nothing. It was a purely feel-good alliance, not a strategic one.
FFS, Romania did 10 times more for Germany than Japan did.