I hope my inclusion of your last main point, (The 'domino effect' of Christianization) is not too implicitly written about. If it is I stand due to much correction.
I also do not want to downplay the harsh feelings between the two largest linguistic-ethnic groups in Europe. The fault line between the Oder river and environs is thousands of years old, its sand is littered with the bones of the bravest warriors of both sides.
David Irving's "Hitler's War" answered a question I always asked as to why Hitler rejected leibenstraum in Africa, it certainly would have been more efficient than alienating the entirety of Slavdom (millions of people who awaited liberation from the yoke of Bolshevism by stitching together swastika flags from their last tableclothe threads as the panzer divisions approached), who could add to his manpower to march into Moscow and hang Stalin up by the toes.
The German leibenstraum in Eastern Europe was too hard fought for and too many lives had been shed. As a "sunk cost" it was too emotional a theme to let go of. This is another theme that is developed in "Perun's War," and as much as I would like to see the possibility of a Slavic/German truce, in the spirit of Jan Sobieski and Vienna, I still remain skeptical.
I also do not want to downplay the harsh feelings between the two largest linguistic-ethnic groups in Europe. The fault line between the Oder river and environs is thousands of years old, its sand is littered with the bones of the bravest warriors of both sides.
David Irving's "Hitler's War" answered a question I always asked as to why Hitler rejected leibenstraum in Africa, it certainly would have been more efficient than alienating the entirety of Slavdom (millions of people who awaited liberation from the yoke of Bolshevism by stitching together swastika flags from their last tableclothe threads as the panzer divisions approached), who could add to his manpower to march into Moscow and hang Stalin up by the toes.
The German leibenstraum in Eastern Europe was too hard fought for and too many lives had been shed. As a "sunk cost" it was too emotional a theme to let go of. This is another theme that is developed in "Perun's War," and as much as I would like to see the possibility of a Slavic/German truce, in the spirit of Jan Sobieski and Vienna, I still remain skeptical.
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