No realistic prospect? I disagree. When Hitler invaded France in 1941, the potency of blitzkrieg had been demonstrated. The Germans knew that they could pull off a Schlieffen Plan end-run much more quickly than they could in 1914.
Of course the French and British thought differently, but I don’t think there’s any evidence that the German general staff thought that a conflict with France was a sure loss as of 1941. If you’d been talking about the Remilitarization of the Rhineland in 1936, I’d have agreed with you.
No realistic prospect? I disagree. When Hitler invaded France in 1941, the potency of blitzkrieg had been demonstrated. The Germans knew that they could pull off a Schlieffen Plan end-run much more quickly than they could in 1914.
Of course the French and British thought differently, but I don’t think there’s any evidence that the German general staff thought that a conflict with France was a sure loss as of 1941. If you’d been talking about the Remilitarization of the Rhineland in 1936, I’d have agreed with you.