Hitler was conscious of America’s economic potential, which would reveal itself over time. This is why he was so pleased with Japan’s audacity. Roosevelt, he told Goebbels, had made a mistake in exposing himself. “A boxer who saves his most crushing blows for the fifth or sixth round,” he continued, “can experience what Max Schmeling experienced in his last encounter with Joe Louis, which is that he is knocked out in the first round.” This was a remarkable insight into Hitler’s own strategic conception, which was based on defeating or at least deterring a heavyweight opponent by front-loading
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