a) a u-boat blockade of the UK preventing them from getting resources from their colonies. this did not materialize in 1940 or 1941, why it must've in 42 or later is a mystery to me

German U-boats sank over 2400 British merchant ships during the Battle of the Atlantic which lasted from '39 to '45. Less than the 3500 destroyed by the Allies, but hardly insignificant. The US strategy to beat the Germans was to produce ships faster than the Germans could sink them, and US-made Liberty Ships (over 2700 produced after 1941) were ultimately what kept the UK supplied.

Again, without the US, the UK could not have successfully maintained enough supplies to maintain their existing fleet.

further, a completely twisted vision of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact where the Germans could afford to keep it going in perpetuity, when it was only going to go as long as Soviet leadership felt they needed for a full mobilization and rearmament, to then turn on the nazis. a delayed Barbarossa meant a stronger Red Army.

That's predicated on the assumption that the Soviets were eager for a renewed conflict, when Stalin's "Communism in one country" model suggested they were perfectly content to play espionage games over the border without returning to the WW1/Russian Civil War era slaughter. Delaying Barbosa would give the Soviets time to fortify. But there's little to suggest they were eager to invade occupied German territory.

i don't know what kind of point this is that somehow the UK having higher standards of living post-war, but also not as much of an economic disruption, means something was wrong with their capacity to prosecute the war?

The UK had a starkly lower standard of living at the end of the war than at the start, to the point of malnutrition. And even that standard was enormously predicated on US support. If the US hadn't remained loyal to the British, they could not have maintained fuel for their navy or food for their people. The UK owes its existence to the US.

[–] Dolores@hexbear.net 3 points 10 months ago

there's the word Battle in the battle of the Atlantic, 783 of 1183 total submarines and most of the german surface fleet were destroyed in this same period. they weren't sitting on their asses letting germans plink their shipping, anti-submarine warfare technology was continually improving and letting the allies destroy german naval assets. there's a kernel of plausibility in a blockade being accomplished with submarines, like Japan was by the US, but the germans are missing the essential ingredient to that: the destruction of the enemy fleet so it can't retaliate and protect it's shipping. even so, how long did Japan keep up the fight under a total blockade? 2-3 years? i'd like to see the state of the mighty third reich in 1946 after 6 years of blockade, resistance, and cannibalization of industry

there's little to suggest they were eager to invade occupied German territory

just the universal view that war was inevitable, an ideological commitment to anti-fascism, and an unavoidable humanitarian impetus once the nazis start mass-killings? but they need not even advance, once the army is ready there'd be no reason to supply the germans further, precipitating their attack or collapse from lack of resources.

lower standard of living at the end of the war than at the start

nobody disputes this, but you're refusing to compare them to anybody else, people were dying of starvation in the rest of the world, in victorious nations like the USSR even. the germans were dying in the hundreds of thousands at the end of the war.

exactly how is british people being a bit malnutritioned compared to germany's literal plan to starve millions of people because germany could not feed itself under blockade a point for germany being able to starve out the UK? your conclusion is a perfect opposite of the what these facts suggest.