Hitler has died. It doesn't particularly matter how or why, (people die all the time!) but let's say he stepped on a rusty nail and died from a severe bout of Tetanus.
It is March 1939, Germany is gearing up for war and has just annexed the Czech Republic (map below for reference)
Germany has now vastly increased it's territory and wants more, but with Hitler suddenly dead, will an invasion of Poland still happen?
My real question is; was there enough fanatical, nationalistic fervor at this stage that war would have been inevitable even without Hitler? Who would have replaced him?
Some other questions in no particular order;
(i) If Hitlers successor decided against invading Poland, would the war based German economy begin to fail?
(ii) Would Stalin still invade Poland and if an invasion did occur, would Germany then support Poland against the Russians as they did in Finland during the Winter war? Also, would Britain and France's pledge to defend Poland still apply against Russia?
(iii) Mussolini's invasion of Albania in April 1939 would almost certainly have occurred regardless of Hitlers death, but would he still go on to invade Greece in the Spring of 1940? Chances are the Greeks would still have won anyway, but would the UK still intervene on their side or would they treat it as a local war and thus none of their business?
(iv) If WW2 as we know it did not break out, would Japan still have the confidence to launch their audacious attack on south-east Asia if they had had to face the full combined might of the French and British navies as well as the American fleet, now unhindered by Nazi Germany?
(v) If Hitlers successor(s) decided to invade Poland anyway, would the initial stages of the war gone better or worse? To my knowledge (and please correct me if I am wrong), but the Ardennes offensive/surprise attack which was a stunning success and essentially led to the fall of France, was mainly Hitlers idea. Many of Hitlers generals were skeptical of the plan, so if the war broke out after Hitlers death, would German generals have taken a more tried and tested method and not attempted something as risky as the Ardennes offensive, thus leading to a more static war similar to WW1 which likely would have gone in the favor of the more numerous British and French forces.
I know Hitlers death is a major what if, but all humans die, how and when is often a matter of complete chance and bad luck, so I think it's something worth discussing!