History has a weird way of making things look inevitable. When we look back at the Third Reich, it feels like this monolithic, unstoppable machine that only ground to a halt because of massive Allied armies. But that’s not really the whole story. Honestly, the internal resistance was constant. There were dozens of assassination attempts on Hitler, and the fact that he survived every single one of them isn't just a matter of luck—it’s borderline eerie. We’re talking about bombs that didn't go off because the room was too chilly, or a target leaving a building exactly thirteen minutes before a massive explosion. It’s the kind of stuff that makes you wonder about fate, or at least about how incredibly incompetent or unlucky the German resistance actually was.
Some historians, like Ian Kershaw, have documented at least 42 distinct plots. That's a lot. Most people only know about the big one—the suitcase bomb in the forest—but the reality is much messier. It wasn't just high-ranking generals; it was lone carpenters, students, and even disillusioned officers who just couldn't stomach the genocide anymore.
The lone carpenter who almost changed everything
Let’s talk about Georg Elser. He’s basically the hero nobody knew about for decades. Elser wasn’t a general or a politician. He was just a guy who worked with wood and had a really good eye for mechanics. He saw the war coming way before the "intellectuals" did. In 1939, he decided he was going to kill Hitler during the annual anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch at the Bürgerbräukeller in Munich.
He spent months. Every single night, he hid in the gallery of the hall after it closed. He hollowed out a stone pillar right behind where Hitler would be standing. He built a clockwork bomb that was, frankly, a masterpiece of engineering for a guy working in the dark with hand tools. He set the timer. He left.
Then, the weather happened.
There was a heavy fog that night. Usually, Hitler would fly back to Berlin, but the fog grounded his plane. He had to take a private train instead. Because he had to catch that train, he cut his speech short. He left the building at 9:07 PM. The bomb went off at 9:20 PM. It killed eight people and brought the roof down exactly where Hitler had been standing 13 minutes earlier. If the sky had been clear, the 1940s would have looked very, very different. Elser was eventually caught and spent years in Dachau before being executed just days before the end of the war. It’s one of those "what if" moments that makes your head spin.
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Why the military brass couldn't get it right
You'd think the German military—the Wehrmacht—would be better at this. They had the explosives. They had the access. But the assassination attempts on Hitler coming from within the army were plagued by a mix of bad luck and a weird, lingering sense of "officer's honor" that kept them from just shooting him in the face.
Take Henning von Tresckow. He was a brilliant strategist who realized early on that Hitler was leading Germany into an abyss. In March 1943, he managed to smuggle a bomb onto Hitler's plane. He disguised it as two bottles of Cointreau. This was a sophisticated plastic explosive device. The plane took off, the fuse was triggered, and... nothing. The cargo hold was too cold. The chemicals in the detonator failed to react because of the altitude and the freezing temperatures. They had to frantically recover the "gift" before it was discovered. It’s almost comedic if the stakes weren't so high.
The Stauffenberg plot (Operation Valkyrie)
This is the big one. July 20, 1944. Claus von Stauffenberg, a colonel who had lost an eye and a hand in North Africa, carried a briefcase into the "Wolf’s Lair" headquarters.
- The meeting was moved from a concrete bunker to a wooden hut because of the summer heat.
- Stauffenberg only managed to prime one of the two explosive charges because he was interrupted while dressing.
- Another officer moved the briefcase behind a thick table leg to get it out of his way.
When the bomb went off, the wooden walls blew outward, venting the pressure. The heavy oak table leg shielded Hitler. He walked away with singed trousers and a burst eardrum. Stauffenberg thought he’d succeeded and flew to Berlin to trigger "Valkyrie," a plan to use the Reserve Army to seize control of the government. By midnight, he was standing in front of a firing squad.
The psychological toll of surviving
Hitler became convinced he was "providentially" protected. Every failed attempt reinforced his belief that he was destined for greatness. This made him more erratic. He stopped listening to his generals. He became increasingly paranoid, which, to be fair, was justified given that his own inner circle was trying to blow him up.
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But it’s important to look at the "Why." Why did so many people fail?
- Security shifts: Hitler was notoriously impulsive. He would change his schedule at the last second.
- Technical failures: WWII-era explosives and fuses were finicky.
- The Oath: German soldiers swore a personal oath of loyalty to Hitler, not the state. For many, breaking that was a psychological barrier they couldn't cross until it was too late.
There was also the "White Rose" movement—Sophie and Hans Scholl. They weren't trying to bomb him; they were trying to wake up the German soul through leaflets. They were caught and executed via guillotine. Their story is a reminder that the resistance wasn't just about guns and bombs; it was about the moral failure of an entire nation.
What we can actually learn from this history
If you're looking for the "so what" of this, it's about the fragility of power. We often think of dictators as these untouchable figures, but Hitler was constantly looking over his shoulder. The assassination attempts on Hitler show us that even in a total surveillance state, people will find ways to resist.
It also highlights the "Great Man" theory vs. structural history. If Stauffenberg had succeeded, would the Holocaust have stopped? Probably not immediately. The machinery was already in motion. But the war might have ended a year earlier, saving millions of lives in the process.
Practical takeaways for history buffs and researchers:
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- Check the primary sources: If you’re really digging into this, look for the "Kaltenbrunner Reports." These were the internal SS investigations into the July 20 plot. They are chilling but provide a window into how the Nazis viewed the resistance.
- Visit the Memorial to the German Resistance: It's in Berlin (the Bendlerblock). It’s the actual site where Stauffenberg was executed. It’s a sobering place that puts the scale of the risk into perspective.
- Understand the "Fate" narrative: Be careful with the idea that Hitler was "lucky." Luck is just the intersection of poor planning by the assassins and random environmental variables. Labeling it "fate" plays into the very propaganda Hitler used to justify his rule.
The history of these plots isn't just about the moments of the explosions. It’s about the long, slow realization by many Germans that their leader was a monster, and the desperate, often botched, attempts to fix a mistake that had already grown too large to control. It's a lesson in the high cost of waiting too long to act.
If you want to understand the modern German psyche, you have to understand this internal conflict. They don't just remember the war; they remember the people who tried—and failed—to stop it from within. That legacy of "resistance from the inside" is a cornerstone of how the modern German military is trained today, with a heavy emphasis on "Innere Führung" or "inner leadership," which basically means a soldier has a duty to disobey an illegal or immoral order. That concept was written in the blood of the people who failed to kill Hitler.
Ultimately, the story of these attempts is a story of "almosts." Almost a different world. Almost a shorter war. It’s a reminder that history turns on small hinges—like a wooden table leg or a patch of fog over a Munich airfield.
Next steps for exploring this topic:
Start by researching the "Kreisau Circle." Most people focus on the bombs, but this group was planning the intellectual and legal framework for a post-Hitler Germany. Understanding their work shows that the resistance had a vision for the future, not just a desire for destruction. After that, look into the "July 20" trials filmed by the Nazis. Seeing the bravery of men like Erwin von Witzleben as they were mocked by Judge Roland Freisler provides a visceral sense of what these conspirators were up against.