Johnestauffer said:Naval forces need to be balanced. If the KM had only U-boats as the major threat it would have facilitated the RN's response. With the BB's, large amounts of allied resources were tied up watch for or trying to destroy them. Capital ships were needed for convoy escorts and so on, requiring substantial manpower.
More U-boats would have helped, more importantly a coherent policy for their employment was needed. More L/R a/c were needed for recon duties and general anti-shipping operations at the beginning of the war.
Had Speer been in charge of the industrial resources in 1939, things would have been different also. More war materials would have be produced & reserves built up. (If Germany started manufacturing armaments at the level they achieved in 1944 it would have been a different situation)
If the German's can resolve the situation on the western front prior to Dec. 1941 there is a chance.
Even in the worse case senario, had the UK been occupied, would there be a British government in exile that would continue to agitate for US involvement.
The German's failed to exploit the British attacks on French naval units in North Africa. It was a great propoganda opportunity to alter the French attitude toward the UK.
Once the US entered the war, the balance tipped.
Also, Stalin would probably declare war on Germany in any case.
One interesting approach - almost all the eastern nations were afraid of the USSR. It would have been interesting to see Germany form a European Defense League to challenge the USSR. This league would include just about every nation in Europe (after all, at some point in time, volunteers from every European country fought on the Eastern Front). This would mean that should the US declare war on Germany, they would be declaring war on most of the European states. (Maybe the RM would have become what the Euro is today)
When do you propose that this League be created?
Up to 1939 the French were desperately trying to forge a collective security system in Eastern Europe the 'Little Entente'. It very nearly succeeded. Poland torpedoed it by refusing to allow Red Army troops on its soil in even in defence of the Polish state.
After 1939 the Germans either installed puppet governments or absorbed the conquered territories or bullied the other countries into forming governments sympathetic to them.