The 20 July plot refers to a 1944 assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler, who was the leader of Nazi Germany at the time. Needless to say, despite actually managing to detonate an explosive device in the same room as a meeting with Hitler, he managed to survive the blast.

The concept behind the conspiracy was that upon killing Hitler, the group would initiate a revised version of Operation Valkyrie to take control of Berlin. Project Valkyrie was put in place to allow a reserve army to quell any uprising in the capital in the event of a coup or breakdown in order following Allied bombing raids.