What if the bomb at Hitler's meeting place killed him? How would it affect the war? Who would take over and how would he change the direction of Germany?
What if to prevent civil war Hermann Göring forms a coalition government with leaders like Rommel with the main goal of making peace with the west.
Do you think perhaps that the bribes that Hitler paid his Generals, had anything to do with the Generals being reluctant to break their oaths?I'm just going to take advantage of the fact that nobody has yet said exactly which meeting place or when Hitler gets assassinated
If this specifically refers to the July 20 plot, then yes, by that time, Germany is toast no matter what. It almost certainly is in any scenario with a POD after the U.S. enters the war. By that point, everybody involved was hellbent on ending the Nazi reign of terror and making sure they couldn't do it again. Thinking went that two times in twenty years was WAY too often to be having to do this.
However, there were many assassination plots to kill Hitler: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_attempts_on_Adolf_Hitler
An interesting POD, for example, would be if he is assassinated in 1943. In this case, I foresee a brief power struggle at the higher levels of the Nazi leadership followed quickly by the Heer winning it and setting up a military dictatorship. If Hitler is killed, than Goering would have the strongest legal claim to the throne as deputy Furher, but actually exercising it is a different matter. Hitler (like most dictators) went out of his way to make himself as central to the government's function as he could and obscure the succession process to try to make himself irreplaceable. The Heer never overthrew him because of those defenses. There was also the fact that he was the undisputed head of the German state at that time, and that they all swore a personal oath to him. The generals felt it would be a slur on their honor to break such an oath and overthrow the government.
Interesting to think about, though.
An interesting POD, for example, would be if he is assassinated in 1943. In this case, I foresee a brief power struggle at the higher levels of the Nazi leadership followed quickly by the Heer winning it and setting up a military dictatorship.
Nah because then LL ends if he quits and then he cannot easily build up on his own resources to get back in the war; its far better to fight to liberate his territory on US LL than wait and try to do it on his own resources and ensure US/UK perfidy later. He was afraid then the Wallies would then cut a deal and leave the Germans breathing room against him or actually join in against him if he gave them any reason to. Stalin was uber-paranoid and wasn't going to change the set up of the alliance while it was working to his benefit and risk playing some game and having it go against him. Plus he was heavily relying on LL food for his military, so he's not giving that up.If this happens and the new German leadership starts shopping for a peace treaty would all three of the US/UK/USSR be adamant about pressing forward with unconditional surrender? Stalin accepted FDR's unconditional surrender policy at Casablanca. But he was an opportunist and if he thought he could get a breather and allow Germany and the western allies to exhaust themselves against each other while he built up his military he might think it wise to make a deal. He could always invade again if the situation opened up.
Do you think perhaps that the bribes that Hitler paid his Generals, had anything to do with the Generals being reluctant to break their oaths?
What is stopping another German leader from making such payments?
Was this shame at the stain upon the Generals honour, the same as the one that Paul Von Hindenburg, (a monarchist ) would have felt if he had faced a situation where he had to consider breaking his oath to his Emporer?
Himmler overthrows Goering. He begins to purge the military. German officers on the Western Front surrender. Which moves the WAllies move faster. They take Prague. The German war machine collapses. December 16, 1944 is VE Day. The Soviets declare war on Japan and invade Manchukuo on March 16, 1945. The Wallied European veterans arrive in the Pacific Theater in April. Okinawa surrenders on May 12, 1945. The bombing and blockade of Japan are more intense. Herohito surrenders on August 3, 1945. After the war, Czechoslavika comes in an end in 1945. There is a not so velvet divorce as Soviet occupied Slovakia breaks away. The Czech Republic and West Germany are the front line NATO nations. China is Soviet occupied. Jaing flees to Taiwan in 1946. There is no who lost China, which helps Truman. The PRC is a Soviet satellite. There is no Great Leap Forward or Cultural Revolution. The Soviets put Deng in power, so China will be less dependent on Soviet aid. China's economy develops as it did OTL.There is no playing the China card. US China relations open up under Reagan, after much lobbying by corporations who want to cash on the lucrative China trade. The atomic bomb is a military secret until 1949, when the Soviets announce they have developed one.
I don't see any reason to believe that you are promoting a clean Heer. I do have a problem in that you appear to be butterflying away anything you regard as being a mistake, without considering that there may be reasons why some of those mistakes happened. It is my experience that making misteaks is being human.I should clarify. I'm not trying to further the clean Heer myth because it's exactly that.
At the same time, the Prussian ideals seemed to have a tremendous impact on the will of the generals to overthrow Hitler, based on the literature I've read.
Such things are powerful; it wasn't as powerful as the brainwashing the Japanese were subjected to, but you know what the IJA was willing to do in the name of loyalty to Hirohito.
It took total military and political defeat to break through the ingrained codes of behavior held by Hindenburg, Imperial Japan, and OTL Nazi Germany.
I really do think it would have happened as I said.
The payments wouldn't have been a counterincentive because the Heer could simply have gifted themselves even greater sums of money if inclined.