Operation Valkyrie was an assassination attempt against Adolf Hitler on July 20, 1944. After numerous failed assassination attempts, Claus von Stauffenburg wore a briefcase with a time bomb inside. in a conference room with Hitler and twenty other people. Stauffenburg and the other conspirators planned to kill Hitler and take control of the German government, to end the war. Even though Germany was already engaged in World War II, Operation Valkyrie would have changed the course of the war if it had succeeded. By 1944, Germany was already too involved in World War II for Hitler's death to make a difference. It had been almost five years since the war began, in September 1939. Germany invaded Poland on September 1, and France and England declared war on Germany. Operation Valkyrie was attempted in 1944, so the war had already been raging for about five years. Germany had also invaded thirteen countries during the attempted Operation Valkyrie, and Germany's enemies would not let it end the war with all the new territories. Millions of people had been killed during the Holocaust in 1944. The Holocaust began in 1933 and in total 11 million people were killed, including two-thirds of all European Jews. The whole world would not have allowed Germany to kill millions of people without Germany also suffering, losing the war. Another Nazi leader could have taken Hitler's position if he had been killed. Himmler would have taken power if Hitler had died. Himmler was the leader of the SS and would have succeeded Hitler if the coup had not succeeded, but Hitler was dead (Galante and Silianoff 36). Operation Valkyrie was originally a... middle of paper... contingency plan, and proved easier for them than the treaties made after their defeat. The Nazi Party would have no power in Germany after the successful coup. Modified Operation Valkyrie was just a code word for a Nazi Party coup. The plan was for the German army in Berlin to take power and secure its districts. Even though Germany was heavily engaged in World War II, Operation Valkyrie would have changed the course of the war if it had succeeded. If Operation Valkyrie had succeeded, Germany could have reached peace agreements with the Western Allies, and the war would have ended before the latter were completely destroyed. Germany could have annexed and kept some of its conquered territories. The Nazi Party's coup would expel all Nazis from the government. And above all, Adolf Hitler would be dead.