Hitler came to power based partly on the Germans believing that they had not been defeated in WWI, but stabbed in the back by traitors. Hitler was going to make Germany Great Again, and in the beginning he was highly successful. He restored the economy, he put people to work, and he restored the nationalistc pride of the nation. If Hitler had died in a military coup in the Summer of '44, then the German people may have always thought that his "murder" would have been the reason for Germany's defeat. There would have always been the feeling that the promised "miracle weapons" would have saved Germany had Hitler survived. Stabbed in the back may have been the root of WWIII.
It is indisputable that far too may people died between July 20, '44 and May of '45. In the Summer of '44, the German people, if not senior military leadership, still believed that they could and would win the war. Hitler, if killed in the coup, may well have gone into the German history books as a martyr rather than a villain. When Hitler killed himself, the German citys were burned out, the population had be devestated and the Russian "untermench" were in Hitler's garden. The German people knew that the Furher had failed and that the nation had been soundly defeated; it allowed the German nation to be able to move forward, rather than wallow in a Nazi fantasy land. It is just a damn shame that millions had to pay the price for the lesson.
We do not know how the history of Europe and the rest of the world would have unfolded if such a drastic change of key events had occured, but you can bet that things would be different. Whether things would have been better or worse in the long run is speculation. It is satisfying to imagine Hitler blown to bits in the plot, and that a better Germany would have surfaced 10 months sooner. It is fun to play "what if" but in the end, what was, was, and what is, is. The best thing we can do is learn from the history.
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