In order for the Germans to invade the UK they needed to win the Battle of Britain - The German navy wasn't sufficient to protect an invasion force from the British Navy - In order to defeat the British Navy they needed to be able to eliminate their presence from the air. It had to destroy the air cover the UK could provide the Navy.

Apart from the German U-boat fleet, the German navy was insignificant by comparison to the British Fleet.

Of course they could have risked a 'surprise invasion' but given the numbers, the risk of being caught by the Navy and airforce is just too high.

"One Nation Under God, has turned into One Nation Under the Influence of One Drug"
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Really?

Hitler had spoken of his admiration for certain British institutions. While everyone was subservient to Germany it wouldn't have been as bad as for the slavic nations for example.

As opposed to Stalin who wasn't particularly brutal with anyone who spoke out???

You could actually debate with Hitler if you were apart of his inner circle and he didn't regard you as a threat....Hitler complained about generals complaining all the time....Stalin just murdered them.

Stalin was brutal and paranoid. You had more chance of being executed if you were actually good at your job.....unless that job was being his murderer...and even that wouldn't save you if you hung around long enough.

They were both brutal and horrendous examples of inhumanity....but they had subtly different modes of operation.

'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)

Im amazed any of the usual suspects haven't come out with, ' if it was left to your sort we'd all be speaking German' or suchlike yet.

Thinking about it, if losing a war meant you had to speak the victors language, why aren't the German's speaking English?

As I understand it, Goring had an opportunity to finish of British air resistance but chose to start bombing London instead after an accidental bombing of London started a tit for tat.
If he'd stuck to bombing airfields and the war of attrition we would have run out of planes and pilots.

They have ways of making people talk ...

We have now sunk to a depth at which the restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men. [Orwell]

Pretty much, although the German air force losses were also a factor, the provision of fighter support was decreasing and the decision to switch to the Blitz was partially influenced by resources and the experience of the Spanish civil war. This wasn't specifically limited to London though, the Germans were bombing most British cities that were in range.

Without fighter escorts targeting British airfields was increasingly dangerous (Especially given the use of Radar which was effective in allowing British Fighters to intercept German aircraft).

"One Nation Under God, has turned into One Nation Under the Influence of One Drug"
[Link]