What did Hitler want?
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Hitler didn’t intend to start a World War. He thought, for good reason, that the UK and France would back down after the German invasion of Poland as they had when Italy invaded Ethiopia, followed by Germany invading Austria, followed by Germany invading Czechoslovakia, followed by Italy invading Albania.
The Soviet Union was rather open about its ultimate plans to invade Europe in the lead up to World War 2. The Soviet Union wasn’t anywhere near prepared to launch that invasion in 1938, but it was steadily working towards developing the capability to do so. In 1938, the Soviet economy was slightly bigger than Germany’s economy and was growing significantly faster than Germany’s economy. Hitler was aware that by the mid-1940s, the Soviet economy was expected to equal that of Germany, France, and the UK combined.
Hitler thought that the UK and France’s unwillingness to intervene in Germany and Italy’s other invasions was due to their fear of the Soviet Union and view that Germany was a more natural ally than the Soviet Union was. With that in mind, Hitler thought that the UK/France would put up some token resistance, then ally with Germany against the Soviet Union. When that didn’t happen, Hitler launched what he thought was a token invasion of France in an attempt to create a justification to sue for peace with the UK and France as a prelude to allying with them against the Soviets.
The Germans never expected the invasion of France to succeed and, when it did, they were left in an uncertain political position. Germany made a sincere attempt at allying with the Soviet Union, which the Soviet Union rejected in a manner that Hitler interpreted to mean that a Soviet invasion was imminent.
By that point, the US and UK had also allied economically, if not militarily, and had become aware that the Soviet Union had rejected Germany’s offer to ally. In response, the US and UK began reaching out to the Soviet Union about allying against Germany – something that Germany quickly became aware of.
The US/UK talks with the Soviet Union reinforced Hitler’s pre-existing belief that war with the Soviet Union was immediate and inevitable. Again, given the staggering rate of growth of the Soviet economy and Germany’s political isolation, Germany’s only choice in 1941 was to attack the Soviet Union before it could attack Germany. If Germany had waited, they were only guaranteeing that the Soviets would attack them – and win – by 1945.
Although the common perception is that Germany and Japan were allied during World War 2, that alliance was symbolic at most. Communication between Germany and Japan was limited and they didn’t coordinate with one another until the very end of the war. There’s no reason to think that Hitler had more awareness of the Japanese intention to attack the US than anyone else who read the news would have, nor any reason to believe that Hitler approved of or wanted the Japanese to attack the US.
So when you look at what Hitler was trying to accomplish in 1935, Hitler’s actions don’t seem particularly strange. One of his two goals was to exterminate the jews living in Europe. The other goal was to avoid a Soviet invasion of Europe if possible and, if not, to destroy the Soviet Union before its economy overtook Europe’s.
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