Given the fact that the Nazis already posed a significant threat towards Europe before WWII, were there ever plans to invade Nazi Germany before the war?

by Rosetopia
cdreus

Follow-up: If there were no plans for an all-out war, were there any for an assassination or coup similar to what the CIA did later in Syria and Congo?

Gregrog

source

Recognizing that Hitler was immune to normal diplomacy, Piłsudski began preparations for a preventive war. Unlike the situation in 1939, in March 1933, Poland was in a position to carry out this threat. As Hitler knew, the Polish army possessed more than 250,000 highly trained and well-equipped soldiers. Although in the initial stages of secretly rearming, in 1933 the German military had no modern weapons, namely airplanes, tanks, or armored cars, and according to the terms of the Versailles Treaty its army was limited to 100,000 men. Piłsudski was prepared to send Polish troops to occupy Danzig, East Prussia, and possibly Upper Silesia, while France would march through the Rhineland into the Ruhr. The move would expose the weakness of the boisterous young Nazi regime, humiliate Hitler, and possibly remove him from power. The occupying troops would then refuse to evacuate German territory until the Reich made assurances to honor the peace treaty.

Raugi

This is not a direct answer to your question, but might be important for context:

By 1939, the majority of Europe was under authoritarian rule. Czechoslovakia was the only democratic nation in Eastern Europe after 33, and in Western Europe Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal were lead by far-right dictators.