Except Hitler never set out to start a war

That is debatable. Hitler very intentionally tied Lebensraum, an old idea from ww1 that Germans require certain predesignated, traditionally Germanic regions as living space, to his hatred of communist Slavs. He says it in plain language in Mein Kampf. He wasn't stupid. He knew taking land from the Soviet Union meant war. Lebensraum never even historically included Russian territory, until Hitler decided they were more deserving and right to take the land from sub humans.

I'm not saying this would definitely have happened. I'm just merely pointing out the possibility is high, from my persspective

There were too many things Hitler did in the run up to WW2 that were all his doing, that were the reason WW2 did not remain a regional conflict. The axis alliance as we know it today, flagrant rearmament, annexation of Germanic areas that risked pissing off western powers, having a leader with in irrational hatred for Slavic communists, Invading a country with a war pact with a member state of a very large alliance opposed to the subject of this paragraph, Russian non-aggression pact, and then the subsequent betrayal of said pact. But the most damning thing was when hitler spelled out before the war in mein kampf that Lebensraum (an old idea a few people used to justify keeping what they took for germany in world war 1) meant that they had the right as superior germans to take the land from those they deemed subhumans... like those dirty slavic communists.

Pretty much 80% of that stuff all had to happen for the conflict in question to go from a greater regional conflict between German speaking countries against an Anglo-french alliance, in a one front war, in to any kind of second world conflict between a russia-anglo/french alliance, america and japan optional. You might be able to find some one in german history who would have had to take over germany, and do SOME of those things, but i doubt any one else would have been capable of starting a second world war.

I think only hitler was willing to do ALL those things at the same time. Or, if any one else was, you'd be hard pressed to find some one who had what it took to make them happen. Its like, in Hitler, Germany won the worst lottery ever.