best year for axis start the war...

[krieger11b]

Will the game represent how broke Germany would be without WW2 starting and therefore being allowed unlimited debt, I think money is still gone, but there might still be a way to include this. Germany raided the gold reserves of Austria and Czechoslovakia to help sustain their unsustainable deficits from military and government project spending, which made the illusion that Hitler was improving the economy when he was mostly doing it on credit. Poland was just the next country to get invaded to steal gold and resources until Hitler was happy enough with his forces to invade the USSR. Then you can wiki all day the mind boggling plans he had there.

 

[Immortal88]

Historically speaking:

There is an audio file floating around the net, which features you know whom speaking to Mannerheim in his normal everyday voice. In it Hitler talks in retrospect about how he actually wanted to start his offensive on France and the Low Countries in 1939 already, but the weather was unusually bad and he feared an offensive grinding to a halt due to the weather, because he considered the war equipment at the time to be "good wheather only equipment".

 

[krieger11b]

Historically speaking:

There is an audio file floating around the net, which features you know whom speaking to Mannerheim in his normal everyday voice. In it Hitler talks in retrospect about how he actually wanted to start his offensive on France and the Low Countries in 1939 already, but the weather was unusually bad and he feared an offensive grinding to a halt due to the weather, because he considered the war equipment at the time to be "good wheather only equipment".

Yeah like the equipment he had in 1941, he seemed to forget that fact a year and half later.

 

[Evan05]

The more powerful the USSR and France would be, but the stronger Germany would be as well...

France + Britain + USSR > Germany + Italy

The longer the USSR, France, and Britain had, the further and further ahead they would be than Germany. Britain, France, and the USSR when combined had more manpower, more resources, and more industry. They could build up at a faster rate than the German and Italians could.

This is not considering the oil shortage Germany was facing. Even with synthetic oil/rubber, they still had to import it and were steadily falling further and further behind on their payments.

If Germany waited until 1945, there was no hope they could've beaten the USSR. The USSR simply would've had top much industry, manpower, and properly organized armies. The timing for Operation Barbarossa was amazing. It struck the Soviets when their officer corps were still being massively purged out and their armies disorganized and poorly armed.

 

[Evan05]

The later the better. The Germans production capabilities are very low at the start and need time to build up. Also Germany has a large manpower pool and resources. As long as you keep building an army you will exceed that of the Allies.

Britain and France combined had a larger manpower pool than Germany, and had more resources. But that's of course ignoring the big issue:

The Comintern. Specifically the Soviet Union.

In 1940/41 the USSR's army was in disarray, and the key word was disorganized. They didn't have many officers, even fewer experienced officers, which often causes disorganization and inefficiency. Stalin was also still going under industrialization in 1940/41, and their soldiers were poorly armed and trained. By 1945 these issues would have been en masse solved and the army would've been in fighting shape.

 

[Wimpola]

Britain and France combined had a larger manpower pool than Germany, and had more resources. But that's of course ignoring the big issue:

The Comintern. Specifically the Soviet Union.

In 1940/41 the USSR's army was in disarray, and the key word was disorganized. They didn't have many officers, even fewer experienced officers, which often causes disorganization and inefficiency. Stalin was also still going under industrialization in 1940/41, and their soldiers were poorly armed and trained. By 1945 these issues would have been en masse solved and the army would've been in fighting shape.

It all depends on the player though. Daniel would do just fine in any situation but a new player (all of us) may not be able to fair well. But yes the Allies have more manpower but I don't think better armor technology.

 

[Evan05]

It all depends on the player though. Daniel would do just fine in any situation but a new player (all of us) may not be able to fair well. But yes the Allies have more manpower but I don't think better armor technology.

I was posting from both a historical perspective and a "first-time-playing-as-Germany" point of view. The negatives inflicted on the USSR with the Great Officer Purge would be a massive benefit to new players still figuring out the combat, especially on such a scale as operation Barbarossa.

 

[ComradeCommissar]

If HoI4 holds true to reality, then just as in reality. Even by summer 1942 the soviet military reorganization would be mostly complete and totally different to 1941. Mechanized corps would be fully operational, the Molotov line established, more time to equip soviet soldiers with stuff such as the SVT-40, and more time to train the soldiers. Plus, war would be expected. It would be an all around disaster for the German army, dealing with a fully-awake, full strength, fully dug in army. While mechanized corps of 1941-1942 were unwieldy, they would be at least equipped with modern tanks that would spank the Germans.

 

[CHRIS3169]

I believe Italy had a pretty modern airforce around 1935, but were quickly made obsolete with the rapid technological increases of the next years.

 

[frolix42]

In real life, 1938 or 1939 was when Germany was relatively at strongest point militarily at peace. Which is why Hitler chose to go to war in 1939.

Before 1938, Germany is still rebuilding it's Army, the Allies (France and UK) are hoping that German rearmament would be a bulwark against Russia. But after March 1939, the Allies are committed to rearming themselves since war is looking inevitable.

Germany was much more militarized in 1938, in preparation for World War 2, than it was in 1913 before World War 1.

The later the better. The Germans production capabilities are very low at the start and need time to build up. Also Germany has a large manpower pool and resources. As long as you keep building an army you will exceed that of the Allies.

The sweeping and massive plans that Germany made in the mid-1930s, such as the naval Z-Plan, were totally unrealistic and unreachable in reality. In fact Germany in early 1939 was having difficulty maintaining it's current level of arms production at peace. And this is what the economic planners told Hitler:

So the mobilization forecast for Germany in July 1939 looked bleak unless they were able to switch to a wartime production ASAP...

...which they did: