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Germany withdrawing From France in exchange for Britain agreeing to German Control of the Rest of Europe (Including Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Hungary, the Balkans, Poland etc). There is speculation that such a treaty was about to be agreed to in late 1940 early 1941, but FDR told Churchill that if Churchill agreed to such a treaty the US would withdraw all aid to Britain (In effect FDR Vetoed the purposed treaty).
Churchill could have agreed to such a treaty, leaving Hitler free to invade Russia, probably in 1942 (When the USSR was expecting the invasion). A peace treaty would have solved Hitler's dilemma when it came to Russia, where was he going to get the oil for the invasion? Prior to the German Invasion of Russia, Germany's main source of oil was Russia. Once the Invasion took place they had six months before they ran out of fuel. If a peace treaty had been entered in 1941 with Britain, Hitler could have purchased his fuel from the US or Britain (Britain controlled Iraqi and Iranian oil at that time period) thus avoiding the problems the German forces faced from December 1941 onward, working with severe oil shortage (German Infantry unit, to free up fuel for the Air Force and Panzer Forces, where allocated only 10% of their pre-war oil usage after December 1941, you try to operate a modern army unit on just 10% of its peace time oil usage).
In simple terms, oil was the key to winning WWII, those that had access to oil, the US, Britain and the USSR won, those that did not, Germany, Italy and Japan lost. Germany was winning the war as long as it had access to Soviet Oil. Japan was winning its war in China as long as it had access to Dutch East Indies (Now Indonesian) oil. This was also one of the reason the US did NOT want a war with the USSR in 1945, the Russian had access to oil and the US supply lines were at a breaking point. The US could NOT supply any force that penetrated any further into Germany then it did (even Berlin was a stretch). To engage the Soviet Red Army with its access to oil would have lead to massive lost of life for little or no gain. The US could stop any Soviet invasion of Western Europe, especially as it fell back on its supply lines, while the Soviets could do the same regarding any Allied invasion of Eastern Europe. Thus no war occurred for both sides saw they were at the end of their supply lines.
As to the Invasion of Russia by Hitler, had he waited he may have secured a new supply line of oil by 1942 (When Stalin thought Hitler would invade) but by then the Red Army would have been prepared for such an invasion. Unlike what happened in WWII, a 1942 invasion would NOT have gone as far as it did, but then the Germans would have been able to do MORE in the second year of the War (The German Army would have had access to oil to do what they wanted to do) then the German Army was able to do in 1942 (Through the whole attack on Southern Russia to try to grab the Caspian Oil fields would NOT have been done, German would NOT have needed that oil to go after it, instead another push to take Moscow probably would have been ordered).
The big question would have been how would FDR and Churchill view an attack on Russia IF BRITAIN HAD SIGNED A PEACE TREATY WITH HITLER IN 1941? Could Churchill convince the British people to support going BACK to war? Could FDR convince Congress to support Communist Russia while Britain was at peace with Germany? This latter question is why I think FDR vetoed the speculated treaty I mentioned above. Everyone knew Hitler was going to attack Russia, the only question was when. As long as Britain was at war with Germany, FDR would go to Congress and ask support for BRITAIN, even of most of the actual support would have gone to Russia. FDR basically determined that if Britain signed a Peace Treaty with Germany, FDR did NOT think he could get support for Russia through Congress whenever Hitler invaded Russia. FDR also did not think Churchill could convince the British people to go back to war with Germany, once Germany invaded Russia. Thus FDR told Churchill that any peace treaty with Germany would come at the cost of any and all support from the US (And the US would demand back all it had given Britain since 1940). That was unacceptable to Churchill so the peace talks died out (And the end of the peace talk probably was what lead Rudolf Hess to fly to Britain in 1941, to try to get the peace talks re-started so Germany would be at peace with Britain BEFORE Hitler's invasion of Russia in June 1941).
Rudolf Hess imprisonment was always questionable. Technically the USSR refused to leave him out, but there is talk that Khrushchev or his successor Brezhnev almost ended the Russian Veto of leaving him out of jail (Hess had been in Jail in Britain when the Holocaust technically was started in December 1941 so his connection with the killing of the Jews in the Camps was the weakest of all of the German Leadership of WWII) but Britain threatened to Veto and the Russian resumed their veto (and according to this story, Britain made a deal with the Russians, the Russians would keep up their Veto so Britain can still vote to release Hess and look like Britain supports being "Humane" for a person of questionable sanity in the West, i.e. Hess even in the Nuremberg trials of 1941 was of questionable sanity, and Britain gave the Russians something, what is unknown but soon after the Russian mentioned they would stop their veto the Russians then resumed it no one really knows why but the speculation is high on why).
Did Hess think Britain could be talked into a peace treaty BEFORE Hitler invaded Russia? Did people in the British Government NOT want this out? (Remember it would have been embarrassing for the British Government even as late as the 1980s to have it shown that they were about to sign a peace treaty with Hitler in 1941).
Now that I have gone way off topic it is time for me to end this discussion. As my father use to say, "The Dog would have caught the Rabbit if he didn't stop to take a shit". What was the highest priority for the Dog? to relieve himself NOT to catch the Rabbit. To speculate that the Dog would have caught the Rabbit is to ignore all the other things going on at the same time. The same with the above, most speculation ignores the factors that forced the people of that time period to do what they did. In the case of Hitler and Russia, he wanted to invade no matter the costs, thus he attacked in 1941 and tied himself up in Russia. FDR wanted to make sure Germany did NOT dominate Europe, even if that meant supporting the Communists. Churchill wanted to preserve the British Empire, even at the cost of British independence from the US. Thus the problem with historical speculation, we have to examine all of the factors NOT just the factors that favors the alternative historical point of view.
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