The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy

by Adam Tooze

In the event, bad weather forced the cancellation of the attack planned for 12 November. Without the Luftwaffe in support, even Hitler had to concede that the offensive stood little chance of success. In so doing, Hitler almost certainly saved his regime from catastrophe. Too often our knowledge of the extraordinary victories achieved by the Wehrmacht in the summer of 1940 obscures the precariousness of Hitler’s situation over the winter of 1939–40. At this critical moment he could count neither on the unquestioning loyalty of the army, nor on the unambiguous support of the German people. The dynamic of total war that was soon to cement German society firmly in support of the regime had only begun to take hold. Public opinion was jittery and could hardly be counted upon in case of a long and arduous war. Once the possibility of a negotiated peace with the Western powers had been ruled out, Hitler had only one option, to deliver military victory as quickly as possible. War against Britain and France was the worst-case scenario of German strategy. Only hindsight leads us to underestimate this fact. The leadership of Hitler’s regime had only faced up to this possibility in the spring of 1938 and, as we have seen, they had failed to devise a coherent strategic response. The army had not even begun planning for an attack in the West until after war broke out. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that in the autumn of 1939 there was a degree of chaos and