20 July plot

Significance

The 20 July plot was an internal attempt by members of the German resistance, principally Wehrmacht officers, to assassinate Adolf Hitler and overthrow the Nazi government during World War II. The failure of the assassination—attributed to the position of the bomb at the moment of detonation, which left Hitler with only minor injuries—foreclosed the possibility of an internally driven end to Nazi rule. The failed coup that followed triggered a purge of the Wehrmacht, removing or eliminating officers associated with the resistance and consolidating Hitler's hold over the military establishment at a critical stage of the war.