Spark!

In 1940, a group of High-ranking, anti-Nazi German officers came together for one reason; to kill Hitler. Known as the Schwarze Kapelle, the Black Orchestra, they came up with a plan called Operation Spark.

Operation Spark was called so because the leader of the group, Major General Henning von Tresckow, believed that the death of Hitler would be the spark that would sweep the Nazis out of control.

Several plans were attempted but due to bad luck, none succeeded, until Lt. Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg came up with a plan; to bomb Hitler in his Wolfschannze haven, then launch a coup to take control of Germany. Operation Spark (better known as Valkyrie) was put into action on July 20th, 1944.

... Unfortunately, it didn't work. Hitler survived the bombing and the coup fell apart. An estimated 4980 German military officers were executed in relation to the coup.

This TL is in memory of them, of those who saw evil and stood against it. The plotters knew they might fail, but also knew they had to try, if nothing else just to prove that there were some in Germany who were brave enough to stand up for their morals.

 What if, on July 20th, 1944, Hitler and most prominent members of his government were killed in the plot. What if the coup succeeded?

 Goebbels was arrested and given a summary trial before his execution. Of Hitler's close confidants, only Keitel and Bormann survived. They fled north, to Flensburg, and mounted a defense there with loyal members of the Wehrmacht and SS. Rommel now declared his support for the coup and though hospitalized he urged all troops to make a ceasefire with the Western allies.

After a short civil war, in which Bormann was killed and Keitel arrested (though at the cost of the life of Ludwig Beck), the Republic of Germany was declared, and a ceasefire asked for on the Western front. In exchange for the German evacuation of France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Alsace-Lorraine, and Belgium, the Allied forces- with the exception of the USSR- agreed to an armistice. When the Allies ended their war with Germany, the Soviets viewed this as a deep betrayal, causing rifts that would never properly heal. With Germany now prepared to bring the full brunt of their military against the Eastern Front- and the supplies from the US and UK now cut off- the USSR was reluctantly forced to agree to a ceasefire along a Line of Control.

Von Tresckow's Spark would not just change Germany- but the fate of the entire world.