# Stopping Hitler (no 1920s death rays allowed) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 24, 2007, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stopping-hitler-no-1920s-death-rays-allowed/389303 "2007-01-24T20:44:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2007, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stopping-hitler-no-1920s-death-rays-allowed/389303/21 "2007-01-25T07:32:05Z")
If I could just go to 1935, I would go to the French frontier with a whistle. When the German troops entered the Rhineland, I’d blow the whistle, which would be identical to the one the lieutenants used. The french army would cross the border, crush the Germans, and Hitler would be overthrown by his own army. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2007, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stopping-hitler-no-1920s-death-rays-allowed/389303/22 "2007-01-25T07:47:20Z")
You can put a sterlization pill in the well of his village, to prevent his mother from ever concieving. Worked in _The Liar_. No, really, that exact scenario. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_C](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Captain\_C](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_C)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2007, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stopping-hitler-no-1920s-death-rays-allowed/389303/23 "2007-01-25T10:21:01Z")
Is going further back in time and picking up Napolean an option? No one can rile up a frenchman for winning wars like Napolean. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2007, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stopping-hitler-no-1920s-death-rays-allowed/389303/24 "2007-01-25T10:35:46Z")
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright] You can put a sterlization pill in the well of his village, to prevent his mother from ever concieving. Worked in _The Liar_. No, really, that exact scenario. [/QUOTE] For certain values of ‘worked’. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2007, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stopping-hitler-no-1920s-death-rays-allowed/389303/25 "2007-01-25T12:25:22Z")
I would say screw you I’m not killing myself and eveybody I know before they’re born. I destroy the time machine because the worst thing that can happen is a government has a time machine to fuck up history. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2007, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stopping-hitler-no-1920s-death-rays-allowed/389303/26 "2007-01-25T13:25:55Z")
I would visit him in 1912, & give him $75,000 (1912 money), a boat ticket to South America, & a commission to paint landscapes of all the Mayan/Incan/Aztec ruins. Full oil paintings. He wouldn’t be home before the end of WW1. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2007, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stopping-hitler-no-1920s-death-rays-allowed/389303/27 "2007-01-25T13:44:42Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant] I will take your unlimited funds in US dollars and pay off the war debt of the Weimar Republic. Germany will not be influenced by Hitler and he will not rise to power. [/QUOTE] Wasn’t the US on the gold standard at the time? Doing that in US dollars would pretty much destroy the US National Reserve, wouldn’t it? Thanks a lot, you just shifted the rise of Nazism from Germany to our country! ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2007, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stopping-hitler-no-1920s-death-rays-allowed/389303/28 "2007-01-25T13:45:50Z")
Go back in time and kill his _parents_. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2007, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stopping-hitler-no-1920s-death-rays-allowed/389303/29 "2007-01-25T13:47:56Z")
[QUOTE=Harmonious Discord] I would say screw you I’m not killing myself and eveybody I know before they’re born. I destroy the time machine because the worst thing that can happen is a government has a time machine to fuck up history. [/QUOTE] If Science Fiction has taught us anything, it’s that you _can’t destroy time travel technology_ where it involves traveling into the past. They’ll just send another copy of it back from the future. There’s an infinite amount of “future”, after all (or so we hope). In fact this is one of the “proofs” that time travel (into the past) doesn’t exist or isn’t possible. 'Cause if it were, we’d know already from all the future travelers coming back to now or earlier. (Unless they’re really, really good at blending in… :eek: _puts on tinfoil hat and underwear_) ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2007, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stopping-hitler-no-1920s-death-rays-allowed/389303/30 "2007-01-25T13:48:01Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] Go back in time and kill his _parents_. [/QUOTE] Go back in time, & pay his father to move to another country. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2007, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stopping-hitler-no-1920s-death-rays-allowed/389303/31 "2007-01-25T13:53:30Z")
[QUOTE=robardin] Wasn’t the US on the gold standard at the time? Doing that in US dollars would pretty much destroy the US National Reserve, wouldn’t it? Thanks a lot, you just shifted the rise of Nazism from Germany to our country! [/QUOTE] Hey, the OP said “unlimited funds”. I take that to be poetic license, like the time machine. 🙂 What does preventing WWII do to the US as a super power? Preventing WWI may prevent or put off the Russian revolution. Does Great Britain remain the lone superpower? ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2007, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stopping-hitler-no-1920s-death-rays-allowed/389303/32 "2007-01-25T13:55:21Z")
Just drop the damn time machine on hime from 10 feet up. ---
**Author:** ![Sonia\_Montdore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Sonia\_Montdore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sonia_Montdore)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2007, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stopping-hitler-no-1920s-death-rays-allowed/389303/33 "2007-01-25T14:19:31Z")
[QUOTE=Harmonious Discord] Just drop the damn time machine on hime from 10 feet up. [/QUOTE] And then steal his shoes to help you get home? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2007, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stopping-hitler-no-1920s-death-rays-allowed/389303/34 "2007-01-25T14:31:38Z")
“There’s no place like the Sudetenland… there’s no place like the Sudetenland…” ---
**Author:** ![Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2007, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stopping-hitler-no-1920s-death-rays-allowed/389303/35 "2007-01-25T15:31:09Z")
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright] You can put a sterlization pill in the well of his village, to prevent his mother from ever concieving. [/QUOTE] No you can’t. The OP said your time machine can’t go back beyond 1889. Hitler was born in April 1889 and therefore conceived the previous year. Likewise you can’t prevent his parents from ever meeting. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2007, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stopping-hitler-no-1920s-death-rays-allowed/389303/36 "2007-01-25T15:47:43Z")
[QUOTE=Alive At Both Ends] Likewise you can’t prevent his parents from ever meeting. [/QUOTE] But you could prevent them from meeting a _second_ time. HO! Get me! I’m scorin’ on Hitler. It wouldn’t be a good idea to prevent WWI. Too many poeples finally got their independence as a result of the war. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2007, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stopping-hitler-no-1920s-death-rays-allowed/389303/37 "2007-01-25T16:27:16Z")
Forget Hitler. Go back and give Franz Ferdinand’s driver a map to the Sarajevo hospital. Stopping Hitler would have only been one slight fringe benefit of that plan. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2007, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stopping-hitler-no-1920s-death-rays-allowed/389303/38 "2007-01-25T16:35:22Z")
British Intelligence had amde contact with the german Army COS (General Ludwig Beck); this was in 1936 or so. The german generals wanted two things from the British, in return for which they would order their troops to revolt against the nazi government: -(1) recognition of the coup leaders as the legitimate government of germany -(2) British military support of the coup Sadly, the British waffled-and lost their one (and only) chance to do away with Hitler and the nazis! ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2007, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stopping-hitler-no-1920s-death-rays-allowed/389303/39 "2007-01-25T16:36:37Z")
Gavrillo Princeps is drowning his sorrows in a beer garden when Ferdinand’s driver stops right in front of him, I believe. At least standing dejected on the street corner. Buy Princeps a drink. A very strong drink. Get him under the table before the car shows up. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2007, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stopping-hitler-no-1920s-death-rays-allowed/389303/40 "2007-01-25T16:37:48Z")
I recently heard a comedian (Louis C.K., maybe?) talking about something just like this. He said he wouldn’t even have to kill Hitler, he’d just rape him as a child, which would give him lifelong depression and self-esteem issues. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stopping-hitler-no-1920s-death-rays-allowed/389303.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stopping-hitler-no-1920s-death-rays-allowed/389303.md?page=3)