Operation Valkyrie Research Paper

What were the motivations and goals of the participants of Operation Valkyrie? Operation Valkyrie, better known as the July Plot of 1944, was a significant assassination attempt against Adolf Hitler, the dictator of Nazi Germany, during World War II. This plot was led by Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, with a group of high-ranking military officers and civilians who sought to assassinate Hitler and his inner circle to bring an end to the war and prevent further destruction of Germany. The plot involved planting a bomb at Hitler's headquarters, but it failed to kill Hitler and was quickly stopped. Despite its defeat, the July Plot demonstrated the reality of internal resistance within Germany against Hitler's regime. Towards the end of World

Despite the failure of the assassination attempt and the following harsh retaliations by the Nazi regime, the plot's importance lies in the exposure of internal resistance against Hitler's rule. According to, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, in the article, How and why did ordinary people across Europe contribute to the persecution of their Jewish neighbors? They state that "The discovery that there were individuals within Germany's military and civilian nobility who were willing to risk their lives to remove Hitler from power provided a ray of hope for those opposed to the Nazi regime." This quote highlights how the plot revealed the existence of individuals within influential circles who were willing to challenge Hitler's leadership. The failure of the operation also allowed civilians to see just how many people Hitler was killing. Statistics from HistoryExtra state that “Thousands of people thought to be implicated in the conspiracy were arrested, and nearly 5,000 were eventually executed.” (HistoryExtra, Should we be glad the 1944 July plot to kill Hitler failed? 2022). It is crucial to recognise that not all of these individuals were even directly involved in the plot itself. These statistics connected to the plot ignited and encouraged people to see how evil Hitler really was. The plot's revelation inspired following resistance movements and strengthened the perseverance of those who continued to resist Hitler's autocratic leadership and tyrannical rule. The deaths of this failed assassination served as a reminder that not everyone in Germany supported Hitler and that some were willing to take extraordinary risks to bring about