# I pit DrDeth **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 28, 2021, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971 "2021-02-28T19:52:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 2648
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2026, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/2648 "2026-09-03T04:32:53Z")
Dr. Dumbass came out with this gem of a hijack [in the thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-areas-where-the-imperial-japanese-navy-exceeded-the-us-navy-during-wwii/1032689) about whether there were any areas in which the Japanese navy was superior to the U.S. navy in WWII: > [@DrDeth](#): > > If you read _The Origins of the Second World War_ by A.J.P. Taylor, it seems like the Polish leadership were confident they were a _world power_, and that the fact the Britain backed them totally meant that they could ignore Germany’s requests to negotiate over the Polish Corridor. That over confidence and intransience was one of the causes of WW2 (besides Hitler of course). You see, it was the Poles’ fault for not giving in to Hitler and provoking him so that he invaded their country.(apparently, the Poles should have negotiated like the Czechs and avoided future problems). 🙄 Nice that he gives Hitler _some_ credit for precipitating WWII. This is DD’s pattern, he reads a book and takes a claim (or imagines one\*) and decides that the historical consensus is wrong and his daring interpretation is correct. \*DD pulled this before in arguing that the French were at least equally responsible with Imperial Germany for starting WWI, despite the Germans launching the invasion of Belgium and France. He stopped repeating that nonsense when another poster documented that he’d thoroughly misrepresented the book from which he drew his “evidence”. Now he’s re-inventing the outbreak of WWII. At least he doesn’t appear to be misrepresenting Taylor’s [ludicrous attempt at whitewashing Hitler’s war aims](https://time.com/archive/6625130/books-apologia-for-hitler/). > [@](#): > > He did not seize power,” writes Taylor. “He waited for it to be thrust upon him.” Like other statesmen of his time, he was defending the national interest in a cleanly Machiavellian way. He simply wanted to overturn the Treaty of Versailles and restore Germany as a great power. Minimizing the fact that Hitler committed his plans for conquest to paper as early as 1925 in Mein Kampf, Taylor claims that the dictator did not really want war. His threats were “daydreaming” or “play-acting” to impress German generals who wanted to slow him down. > > In Taylor’s view, it was always somebody else who put poor, passive Hitler in a mood to fight. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971)._