Did Hitler opine on why he lost the war?

Question

I ask, because I could have sworn that about a year ago I picked up an anthology of essays in a university library, and one of them discussed a recording that was allegedly made by Hitler shortly before the war ended. I can't remember if the recording was in writing or audio. The one point I remember is that he blamed in large part his trust in Mussolini.

I hope my memory isn't completely erroneous.

I can't find any reference to it now, so unless you know what I'm talking about, let me just ask the larger question. What did Hitler think of why he was about to lose the war?

Answer 1

Hitler (1945-03-19, as quoted by Albert Speer in Inside the Third Reich, 1970, Macmillan, p. 440):

For the nation has proved to be the weaker, and the future belongs solely to the stronger eastern nation. (Google Books—may be paywalled.)

Hitler (1945-04-29, as quoted by Traudl Junge in Until the Final Hour, 2005, Phoenix, p. 175):

Germany is lost. It was probably never mature and strong enough for the task I intended it to perform.

In Hitler's crude and mystical Darwinist survival-of-the-fittest world-view, Nature decrees that stronger races/peoples defeat weaker ones.

The Germans lost simply because they were weak while the Russians/Slavs were strong. That was the fundamental reason and all else were mere unimportant details.

Answer 2

Question:

Did Hitler opine on why he lost the war?

Hitler wasn't a guy who used the past to inform his decisions. Hitler rather justified preformed opinions with cherry picked, misinterpreted, or fabricated history. With regards to why Germany lost the war, Hitler's primary "historical" conclusions, which should surprise no one, were that it was not his fault, but others' fault.

Yes, Hitler did express opinions on why Germany lost World War II, both in private conversations and in his final political testament. These statements reflect his inability to accept responsibility, and delusional thinking in the final days of the war.

Hitler blamed

• his generals
• lack of loyalty within his party
• allied overwhelming power and resources
• strategic errors and timing, beyond his control
• Jewish conspiracy
• failure of the German people

Answer 3

Hitler speaking about why he lost the war is not really a good question to ask, because technically, Hitler did not see the war lost: he died before. So Hitler could not have an overall view of the war to assess it, as we do.

So better questions to be asked are:

• On specific events of the war, what was Hitler's point of view?
• What were the means by which Hitler thought he could win the war?
• Who were blamed by Hitler for not performing during these events, or not managing correctly the means?

Now these questions are theoretical. So we should look at applications of these questions on war events. To keep this answer relatively short, I will assess events by "big categories":

• Invasion of Poland: Hitler did not see people to blame in this war, except for the attack of Warsaw. About that, German generals took the lead and brought in new equipment to enhance Wehrmacht's assault capabilities
• Invasion of Norway: The failure of the Kriegsmarine decreased the view of Hitler on its surface fleet
• Invasions of France and Balkans: Hitler did not take conclusions on the failure of the Luftwaffe over Dunkirk, or over Crete
• Battle of Britain: He did not understand the failure of intelligence, that would happen in USSR too
• Invasion of USSR: On several events (Rostov, Moscow, Stalingrad, Kursk), Hitler blamed his generals for faulty decisions. He often acted himself to counter what they said (Haltbefehl against Soviet counter-attack around Moscow for example). In the general fight against USSR, Hitler had to acknowledge the failure of intelligence, the larger number in men and material of Soviet armies, and the difficulty to fight on two fronts, especially for the Luftwaffe: These points were supposed to be countered by better technology, training and willingness to fight. He also blame the German surface fleet for the failure in intercepting Artic convoys
• Mediterranean and African front: Hitler largely blamed the Italians for the failure, especially their fleet. But he never considered this front as vital.
• Italian front: this front was never considered as part of the global defeat, given that Germans prevented any Allied breakthrough. But Hitler thought his generals and the Italians did not perform well against Allied landings in Sicily
• Air front over Europe: Hitler thought the Luftwaffe could more, better, with better airplanes, and jet engines. The industrial superiority of the Americans was acknowledged, but not the technical superiority of their bombers and fighters
• Western front 1944-45: Hitler always thought he could changed the odds by defeating Western Allies and outing them of the war. The failure of counter-attacks and the collapse of defense (in Normandy, in the Ruhr), was attributed to high command failures and treason (Stauffenberg's 1944 bombing against him happened during the battle of Normandy)

So to conclude, what major factors were said by Hitler to explain local failures in the conflict? We could summarize them as:

• Incompetence and/or treason of German high command
• Italian failure to hold "their" theater in the Balkans, Mediterranean and Africa
• Soviet and American overwhelming numbers in men and material
• Lack of intelligence to foresee the strength ratio and Allied operationnal intentions
• Incapacity of German surface fleet

He did not acknowledge some factors, such as:

• Allied willingness to fight
• German technical deficiencies
• Wasting of German efforts in the submarine warfare in the Atlantic ocean