What if Rommel really took over the rein when the plot of murdering Hitler succeed?

Answer 1

Rommel was arguably not involved directly with the plot though he had wanted to end the war quickly and peacefully for the sake of his country & countrymen.

In fact, it was some conspirators who wanted him to take over the reins due to his fame which was much promoted by the German propaganda machine.

In any case, if he did take over the reins, he would have tried to negotiate with the allies though one would suspect that the Russians & French wold make many difficult, if not impossible, demands especially since Stalin was to control as much of Central Europe as he can.

Answer 2

The failed assasination attempt on Hitler occured on 20th July 1944. The conspirators were called the 20th July coup plotters.

The coup plotters didn't chose Rommel to take over the reins. They had chosen Generals Beck, Witzleben, and Fromm to control the Army, and Franz von Pappen as head of the government. Their plan was to assasinate Hitler, arrest all Nazi officers and soldiers, declarare a new government, and then dissolve the Nazi Party (It is to be noted that the military was still largely composed of professional soldiers who were not members of the Nazi Party. The Nazi officers and soldiers mainly belong to the SS or Waffen-SS). The coup plotters also had a plan to call for an immediate armistice with the Anglo-American forces, but planned to continue fighting against the Russians. Most of the coup plotters had fought in the First World War against the Russians and were ardent anti-communists. So it is unthinkable for them to negotiate any agreement with Stalin.

So now, there are two scenarios.

First scenario: Great Britain and the USA will continue to take side with their Russian ally and proceed with the war until Germany is defeated. The result will be the same as when WW2 ended (only without Hitler). Germany will still be partitioned among the victorious allies. There would still be Cold War after that.

Second Scenario: Great Britain and the USA will take side with Germany, then fight against the Russians (which was unlikely because Great Britain and the USA would still uphold their alliance with the Russians. But this was what exactly the scenario the coup plotters were hoping for). If this scenario happened, Russia will be defeated. Russia will then be partitioned between the victors. Germany's government will be a moderate one (with Hitler and the Nazis gone). Russia will cease to be communist, and there will not be any Cold War. In addition to this, the whole of Europe would have been free from the communist menace, and there wouldn't have been a nuclear arms escalation after the war.

Just one clarification:
Most people tend to think of Hitler's generals as all Nazis. Well, not all of them. The following generals and Field Marshalls are straight professional soldiers and hated the Nazis: von Rundstedt, Guderian, von Manstein, Rommel, Heinrici, Wenck, Haider, von Bock. The well-known Nazi Generals were: Keitel, Jodl, Burgdorf, Richshoffen, Model, Zeitzler. In the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial after the war, those generals who were hanged were Nazi generals. Nobody among the non-Nazi generals were ever hanged.

About the German soldier's oath of allegiance to Hitler, well that was true also. However, that oath won't be binding anymore if Hitler was dead, and every soldier is thereafter free from that oath.

Answer 3

Excellent question, there has been a lot of speculation on that theory, first of all I would look up Rommel on the site of
www.history.com
However he probably would have negotiated with the British and try to conquer Russia, but we might not have been too happy either way about that because an aggressor is an aggressor, like after Russia, we would be next, they already had Japan as an ally and you saw what they were willing to do with their Kamakazi's. The outcome might have been much different, and not so much of the Third Reich seniority belief but more a military operation and not that much of racist nonsense, He was more intelligent than his comrades, he knew that America was a threat and so was Russia, and that Hitlers plan was insane, and without reason, so he would have been more diplomatic, and yet because of all the death camps his position would have been very weak, even though people would have praised him for killing the monster Rommel himself was still a Nazi and that would not make for a good bargaining power with anyone, for he could not rely on saying "I was only following orders".

Answer 4

If the attack of July 1944 had succeeded, Rommel would never have been the Leader of the new regime. He had always taken a backstage position in this plot and has covered his butt. He committed suicide to avoid the infamy of a trial where all his prestige would have been ruined. He was in France during the attack and not directly involved in the plot. The real personality of Rommel is not as grandiose as some people see it and his military genius was argued by many historians.

Answer 5

I doubt whether the Waffen SS divisions would've followed him. All of the German soldiers took a personal oath to A. Hitler and it would've taken alot for them to follow, but Rommel was charismatic and was the 'darling' of the Army and public in general...which was why the conspirators were bent on getting his support. I haven't read how he felt about carrying on the war against the Bolsheviks, but it seems reasonable that they would've tried to sue for a separate peace with the West.

Answer 6

Rommel in the main contemporary e book approximately him replaced into nearer to Hitler than some would think of. that's a actuality that Rommel had specific privileges and used them particularly generally to "get what he needed through chatting with Hitler in my opinion". In June 5th 1944 Rommel left for Germany to visit his spouse and to attend a meeting he had arranged with Adolf Hitler. That assembly replaced into mostly so he ought to tension container Marshal Von Rundstedt to launch the 709th Anti airplane branch for use on the seashores of Normandy. It replaced right into a freak twist of fate that we attacked right here morning at 0300 hrs.

Answer 7

Rommel (and his partners) were even more ambitous then Hitler. It would have simply been a differently run War if they succeded. We may actually be lucky that table was so strong.

Answer 8

Interesting question. Probably he would work out a truce and Russia would have never taken over which might have avoided the cold war and billions upon billions of dollars spent on nukes instead of housing, food, education, art. Yes, the effect could have been quite profound.

Answer 9

Then there would have been a small chance of a dignified peace.