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[NB This post will be edited once the exact divergence is decided on]

An alternate 'Nazi Victory' timeline - I would like advice on the possibility of a surviving (not necessarily victorious) Third Reich (actually recognisable as such) after the Second World War.

The one most often put forward is the July 20th bombing plot being a success - certainly von Stauffenberg wanted a negotiated peace with the Western powers and that might have been enough to save the Reich and both he and Schulenberg wanted to retain the Reich as it had been before, according to Gisevius ''they would paint the ship of state a military gray and set it afloat again''.

Certainly, Hitler might well be killed, but whether or not the coup is a success is another matter.

What sort of borders would we see for what I shall call Stauffenberg's Reich? I assume we would see western borders (bearing in mind this is '44), as Germany still has at the time of the Plot the whole of France, we might see 1936 borders or at a stretch Alsace-Lorraine. I expect Germany would be allowed to keep all of her other western gains - Schleswig, for instance.



As for the East, that is where it all would turn. In '44, according to this map, German armies were still deep in Russia although they were being pushed back. The question really hinges on whether or not the Western powers would be willing to fight alongside Stauffenberg against Stalin (which might lead to considerable Eastern borders for the Reich as a bulwark against Communism, maybe even as far as the borders of 1939 e.g. (although probably less Bialystok, the Italian territories and possibly less the General Government). What do you think?
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