Johann Georg Elser (4 January 1903 – 9 April 1945) was a German worker who planned and carried out an elaborate assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler and other high-ranking Nazi leaders on 8 November 1939 at the Bürgerbräukeller in Munich. A time bomb that Elser constructed and placed near the speaking platform failed to kill Hitler but killed eight people and injured over sixty-two others. This what happened in reality, but what if the bomb managed to kill Hitler on the 8 of november. What happens next?
>>430808
Germany falls into an indecisive shitheap and loses the war without nearly as many gains.
>>430808
I remember this was included in the History Channel documentary about all the attempts on Hitler's life. It was released right before/after Valkyrie. By shear luck, Hitler made it out of there just before it went off. I mean just before it went off.
What happens next? Well, remember, Hitler didn't designate a successor until 1941 (Goering). So you would have had von Papen (Vice-Chancellor), von Ribbentrop, Frick, Keitel, Goering, and Himmler probably all trying to take over.
Who wins? I'd say the guy with 200,000 SS troops under his command at the time - Himmler.
>>431260
The fact that Beria managed to not take over the USSR seems to show that merely controlling the major paramilitary body in a country wasnt a garuntee
>>431260
Von Papen is out by that point (killed already)
Frick, von Ribbentrop, and Keitel all had high position, but at the end of the day no military backing (which is probably the thing that would count at that point).
It's either going to be Goering or Himmler at that point, but seeing as Himmler only had the SS (and really though, it's unlikely the SS as a whole would back Himmler, so actual numbers are shakey) and Goering was much more Charismatic and Hitler's Vice Chancellor to boot.
The nomination would go to Goering, but looking at all the egos in the Nazi brass you'd wonder how long it would take before a civil war to break out.
>>433600
Hess was Vice Fuhrer. One absolute madman would have replaced another.
>>433605
Hess flew his plane to Britain in order to convince the British people to abandon their fight with Germany in 1941. He pretty much lost all his significance at that point though.
Goering had so many ministeries to his name he might aswel be deputy fuhrer
>>435819
I'll add to this. Himmler could have used the SS and Gestapo (via Heydrich) to round up the key threats easily and swiftly.
>>433600
Gotta be Goering.
Any successor to Hitler needs one thing, and one thing only: the backing of the MIlitary.
Himmler is not going to have that, because they resented him starting his own paramilitary.
Goering is overwhelmingly the most likely option.
This actually might have been a good thing, because Goering was the most sane member of the Nazi leadership, and probably would have realized the war was lost.
The death of Hitler would have ended the Fuhrer state however, and the successor would have to deal with an independent and restive military and civil service.
>>435861
The attack happened in 1939, the war was far from lost at that point.
I agree that Goering most likely would have taken power. Hitler created a diplomatic nightmare with different departments and ministries all serving similar purposes and vying for power. Goering would have to sort that mess out, but hypothetically from 1939 onwards with Goering at the helm he could have steered Germany in a much more effective direction with regards to the war (i.e. not using so much infrastructure/resources/manpower carrying out the Final Solution, waiting for a more opportune time to attack Russia, etc) and could have possibly even won the war. Goering accepted the anti-Semitism of the Nazis but didn't share the same obsession and repugnance felt by Hitler, even helping a number of friends of him and his wife to find safety, and was reprimanded for it.
It should be noted too that Goering had a large addiction issue with painkillers and tonics, so this could have caused issues in this hypothetical situation.
