Were the Nazis more advanced than the British and French?

In WWII, Nazi technology was second to none. Indeed their superior technology enabled them to inflict stinging defeats on both the French and British. Where the Nazis more advanced than the French and British?

 

Technology wise, yes even until the end of the war.

 

It's was a real good break for the Allies that Hitler would not take good advice from his generals. Technology does not win wars.

 

Yes he had an overwhelming military and some very GOOD Generals. Thank God he didn't listen to them...

 

Germany had nothing at the end of WW I. The allies made sure of that. Britain and France however had lots of weapons, tanks, and aircraft. That is partially why those two nations were entrusted to be custodians of Europe. When the Nazis finally got into gear they had to build from scratch. So while Britain and France relied on their old technology Germany had nowhere to go but "up".

 

You are quite right in terms of technology. Indeed I would put forward that if the Nazis had not been led by an idiot like Hitler, and had waited until technology like the ICBM V2 and the cruise missile V1 were perfected, WWII would have turned out differently.

There is no doubt the Germans, the genius Wernher von Braun in particular, wrote the book on rocket science. There has been no rocket scientist greater than von Braun.

That said, I suppose the real question is whether or not technological superiority makes a society more advanced.

 

Indeed. The Nazis problem was that they were led by a fool.

 

That depends on whom is judging the society and when the society is being judged...

 

Agreed. In terms of what humans can do, that's all you can say. I suppose the debate is between competing views of what exactly constitutes advancement and the degree to which a society complies with some agreed criteria.

 

True. But as we know what was agreed criteria two hundred plus years ago is being torn down now...

 

That is correct. I suppose the point that I am trying to make is that saying that one society is more advanced than another based on technology alone is somewhat subjective.

 

NAZI Germany, technologically more advanced YES, morally bankrupt also a YES

 

Exactly. We are on the same page on this matter.

 

Hitler made terrible decisions on technology. For example, all the efforts into the V1 and V2 was wasted on attacking civilians, which only hardened Britain's resolve. He abandoned pursuit of the atom bomb. He delayed putting German jet fighters against allied bombing for 1 year as they tried instead to build a 4 engine long range bomber.

The British did have an opportunity to assassinate Hitler at "the wolf's lair" later in the war via a sniper team, but canceled the order as they wanted to fight Hitler's tactics, not German generals.

German soldiers and the SS were very different German soldiers generally were honorable and just doing their duty. German units generally were better than those of the allies.

 

The French particularly were burdened with ancient generals from WW1 employing WW1 defensive tactics. The French military was actually larger than Germany's but the French generals were old fools.

 

Hitler's greatest errors were:

1. Declaring war on the USA
2. Shifting from attacking UK airfields to attacking UK cities, and thus not overrunning Britain before taking on Russia.
3. Stupid tactics in fighting against Russia for ego reasons (ie Stalingrad, which should have just been bypassed).
4. Not having long range bombers, which allowed Russia to move their factories to the East outside of German attacks.
5. Building worthless battleships instead of submarines.
6. Delaying mass production of German jet fighters 1 year in pursuit of a 4 engine jet bomber.
7. Invasion of N. Africa.
8. His mass murder of Jews cost him numerous German scientists including Einstein. This cost him the atom bomb. If he had the atom bomb he would have won WW2.

 

So what you are saying is......the Nazis were more advanced, huh?

 

Genetically, Brits are more advanced.

 

Trap carefully laid; waiting for unsuspecting Nazi to goosestep into it...

 

Eventually, yes. I suppose you'd have to map it out chronologically to see when and at what point they surpassed the antiquated British and French war machinery. But there were moments during the war when British, American, and Russian technology were superior, if only temporarily. Sometimes it was technical advantages and sometimes shear numbers that gave one or the other an edge.

 

My intent was to make the point that technological advancement alone does not necessarily make a society more advanced.

 

In that case, you ought to have chosen some other nation, such as the US. There you have a perfect example of a technologically advanced country that is the most socially primitive in all of what are considered "western nations". Germany is (and has been) one of the most socially advanced nations on earth. You made a bad choice for your case study.

 

Do you believe the USA is more socially primitive than it was ten years ago? What socially primitive examples can you give and what do you believe are the solutions?

 

So wait - you're saying that Nazis are bad?

 

I mentioned the Nazis specifically.