1938: The First Coup Attempt and How Neville Chamberlain Saved Hitler... Contrary to popular opinion, the coup of 20 July 1944 was not the first attempt by Germans to bring down the Nazi regime. The first conspiracy against the Hitler and his criminally aggressive policies pre-dated the out-break of the Second World War. Furthermore, it was arguably the conspiracy with the greatest objective chances of success. It was headed by the Chief of the German General Staff at the time, Franz Halder, and supported by many senior army generals including the later Field Marshal Erwin v. Witzleben and General Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel. The intellectual and moral guidance of this first conspiracy came, however, from the same man who would inspire and mentor all the latter coup attempts against Hitler: Generaloberst Ludwig Beck... Neville Chamberlain, they all claimed, was the villain! By agreeing to come to Munich he had forced them at the very last minute to call off their plans to overthrow Hitler and the Nazi regime. Halder said after the war, We were firmly convinced that we would be successful. But now came Mr. Chamberlain and with one stroke the danger of war was averted … The critical hour for force was avoided … One could only wait in case a new chance should come. In the autumn of 1938 it was still possible to count on bringing Hitler to trial before the Supreme Court, but all subsequent efforts to get rid of him necessarily involved attempts on his life … I had made preparations for a coup d’etat in good time and I had brought them to within an ace of success. History had decided against me. The intervention of foreign statesmen was something I could not possibly have taken into account In his further interrogation at Nuremberg Halder explained to Captain Harris that there were three conditions for a successful “revolutionary action”: The first condition is a clear and resolute leadership. The second condition is the readiness of the masses of the people to follow the idea of the revolution. The third condition is the right choice of time. Halder continued : According to our views, the first condition of a clear resolute leadership was there. The second condition we thought fulfilled too, because … the German people did not want war. Therefore the nation was ready to consent to a revolutionary act for fear of war. The third condition—the right choice of time—was good because we had to expect within forty-eight hours the order for carrying out a military action. Therefore we were firmly convinced that we would be successful. But then came Mr. Chamberlain and with one stroke the danger of war was avoided.
Posted on: Sat, 26 Jul 2014 10:47:09 +0000
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