Having Adolf as a Fuhrer should include severe penalties for Germany

[Sugar]

According to famous historian Sebastian Haffner, Hitler chose the DoW to rally his fellow criminals as well as the german public. In Dec 41 it was clear war was lost after the battle of Moscow, and his second goal after the defeat of the Sovyets was the elimination of the Jews.

After his first goal failed, he felt to secure the second, they had to fight with their back against the wall. He also knew with him as the leader, noone would ever offer more than unconditional surrender.

[Goodmongo]

Well gambler or madman there are some historical documents. Japan sent a telegraph to Hitler on December 8th asking him to declare war on USA. Hitler had already decided to attack US ships protecting the convoys. This much is fact and part of the historical documents.

Also remember that on September 11th 1941 FDR had ordered all US air planes and US ships to shoot on sight any German naval vessels. On October 27th 1941 FDR in a speech reaffirmed this policy. So the US was already shooting at German war ships.

China declared war against Germany and Italy on December 9th. While not directly related to the US it did mean that all countries in a declared war against Japan also were in a declared war against Germany and Italy. The only exception was the US (and the Philippines a colony). This placed pressure on the US to also join the war against Germany and Italy.

So if something is inevitable and you are getting your ships sot at but can't shoot back then what is the prudent choice? Hitler actually did the prudent thing. It would have been many 1 or at most 2 months before the US DOW'd Germany and they were already attacking German ships so it was neither a gamble or stupid. It was actually prudent.

BTW people should read this article about FDR and the 1940 election. It also can apply to why the game allows Germany to influence the US.

https://www.theatlantic.com/national/ar ... ii/277572/

[Sugar]

The inner logic isn't quite comprehensible. If the US is firing from sept. on, why wait until dec.? 2 things happened in dec. 41: Pearl Harbour and the defeat at the gates of Moscow.

But I fear we will never be quite sure about what and why that happens, this thread is discussing the question, if diplomatic action could influence major or minor nations the way it happens in game, and how this is influencing balancing.

It wouldn't be so badly, if there wasn`t this huge luck factor. Bill and Hubert both stated the use of diplo being a surprise compared to the predecessor; the reason is the hugely diminished effort, at far more opportunities. With far less income, more expensive units, research and diplo, the players weren't that keen on playing a gamble in Breakthrough SoE.

[Dmondragon75]

I d recommend anyone who is thinking that it was possible to keep USA out of the war via axis uber diplomacy to read Churchills letter to Roosevelt from 15th of May, 1940 (destroyers for bases ingame I guess).
It was inevitable that USA will step up and not let Axis in taking all of Europe