What is How Hitler Could've Won?

It is a parody format based on a 2020 X post that listed supposed strategic fixes for Nazi Germany in World War II, now applied to other historical figures who lost.

Where did How Hitler Could've Won come from?

X user @RoaylistW posted the original on August 13, 2020, before it went viral via a September 3, 2023 repost by @RuNoseP.

What does How Hitler Could've Won mean?

It mocks armchair historians who think complex historical defeats could have been avoided with a few simple corrections like "Zerg rush Stalingrad".

How do you use How Hitler Could've Won?

Pick a famous loser, write four to six confident but shallow bullet points about what they should have done differently, like @N3weis did for Hannibal.

Is How Hitler Could've Won still popular?

Parody posts kept appearing through 2024, covering failed generals and politicians such as George McGovern.

How Hitler Could've Won

2020copypasta / parody formatsemi-active

Published November 15, 2026

On August 13, 2020, X user @RoaylistW posted a bulleted list of amateur strategic suggestions arguing Nazi Germany could have won World War II, drawing mockery across Twitter and Reddit. The text was reshared three years later, sparking a parody template where users write absurd checklists for other historical figures and lost causes. By late 2023, the format produced posts about Hannibal, George McGovern and other famous historical failures.

snowclone memes delayed virality memes sarcasm memes twitter memes armchair expert memes

Overview

The 2020 original listed six confident but dubious suggestions, including "Don't siege Leningrad, take it immediately," "Zerg rush Stalingrad" and "Ally with the Slavs against the commies"1. Parody posts apply that same bulleted structure to other historical figures, generals or politicians, writing simple corrections the loser supposedly missed. Humor comes from the mismatch between video game logic (the "zerg rush" phrase borrowed from StarCraft) and actual military or political complexity2.

A typical parody picks a famous loser, often a general, presidential candidate or fallen empire, and writes four to six punchy bullets with the voice of an overconfident armchair expert4. Posts mock the strategy-gamer voice as much as they mock the figure in question. A screenshot of the 2020 tweet, preserved after @RoaylistW's account went private, circulated widely on Reddit and X as the template reference3.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

X / Twitter (origin), Reddit then X (viral spread)

Creator

@RoaylistW

Date

2020

On August 13, 2020, X user @RoaylistW posted a since-deleted tweet arguing that Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany could have changed the outcome of World War II with six strategic adjustments2. The list described Nazi defeats as correctable oversights, pairing serious-sounding military advice with gaming slang like "Zerg rush Stalingrad."

Four days later, on August 17, 2020, Redditor Ekster666 cross-posted a screenshot to /r/ShitWehraboosSay, a subreddit for mocking Nazi apologists, where it accumulated over 1,400 reposts over the following four years3.

How It Spread

The screenshot stayed a subreddit in-joke until September 3, 2023, when X user @RuNoseP reshared it with the caption "one of the funniest tweets ever made," gathering over 2,200 reposts and 60,000 likes1. That repost set off the parody trend on X. A few months earlier, on May 29, 2023, @N3weis had already written a parody applying the same bullet format to the Carthaginian general Hannibal's failure against Rome, which received over 50 reposts and 490 likes5.

Through September 2023 and into 2024, more parodies appeared covering different historical losers. On September 5, 2023, @souljagoytellem posted a version about U.S. politician George McGovern, the 1972 Democratic nominee who lost 49 states to Richard Nixon, earning over 20 reposts and 280 likes6. Additional parody posts covered failed generals and candidates through 2024, with authors keeping the confident bullet-point voice of the Hitler original4.

Timeline

2020-08-13

X user @RoaylistW posts the original tweet listing six supposed strategic fixes for Nazi Germany in WWII.

2020-08-17

Redditor Ekster666 cross-posts a screenshot to /r/ShitWehraboosSay, where it gathers over 1,400 reposts.

2023-05-29

X user @N3weis posts the earliest known parody, a Hannibal version applying the same bullet format.

2023-09-03

X user @RuNoseP reshares the original screenshot, triggering a viral spike with 2,200+ reposts and 60,000+ likes.

2023-09-05

X user @souljagoytellem posts a parody about George McGovern's 1972 presidential loss.

2024