this post was submitted on 21 Sep 2026
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In a lot of ways, it's not that they were competent, it's that the more popular parts of their policies (e.g. public spending, job creation programs) were running on borrowed time - the government kind of strong-armed the banks into funding them, and if they were ever going to pay them back, it was through spoils of war. I guess it takes some kind of competency to put that plan into action...
You make it sound like spoils of war wasn't the main income for Europe for pretty much all of history until then. Colonialism put a little nicer name on it.
After industrialization, selling industrial products was frequently far more profitable than the expensive and uncertain spoils of war. Even colonialism was frequently a net loss for the governments.
And there wasn't really a likely reality where Nazi Germany fought their war in a way that was actually winnable, their overconfidence was only matched by the idiocy of many of their tactic and strategic decisions.
You're right in what you say but it's not relevant to this discussion. Colonialism is a very different MO than attacking neighboring countries.
It's a matter of distance really. Germany raiding France or Brazil isn't functionally different.
brazil didn't yet have weapons to attack the homeland, france did