20 Important Historical Figures Who Survived Assassination Attempts

1. The subject of dozens of assassination plots, German dictator Adolf Hitler survived them all before eventually killing himself at the end of the Second World War

Adolf Hitler (b. 1889) was the leader of the German Nazi Party, Chancellor of Germany, and subsequently Führer of Germany from 1934 until his death in 1945. Initiating a one-party dictatorship in 1933, Hitler presided over a policy of extreme nationalism, aggressive expansionism, and racial purity, contributing to the outbreak of World War II and the mass murder of civilians during the Holocaust. Due to the radical nature of his politics, Hitler was the subject of countless assassination plots, with current estimates placing the confirmed number at forty-two, with many more believed to remain undocumented.

Surviving them all, the earliest known attempt was made in 1932, with Hitler and several close members of staff falling dangerously ill after consuming meals at the Kaiserhof Hotel believed to have been laced with poison. The most famous and closest to success, the July 20 Plot came within centimeters of assassinating the Führer, along with the preponderance of the German High Command, during a meeting at the Wolf’s Lair. Spared by a table-leg which muted the blast from a bomb planted by Claus von Stauffenberg, Hitler survived with only minor injuries, whilst three officers died and more than twenty suffered serious wounds.

Where do we find this stuff? Here are our sources:

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“The First Emperor: Selections from the Historical Records”, Qian Sima, Raymond Stanley Dawson, and K.E. Brashier, Oxford University Press (2007)

“A Thousand Pieces of Gold: Growing Up Through China’s Proverbs”, Adeline Yen Mah, Harper Collins (2003)

“Alexander to Actium”, Peter Green, University of California Press (1990)

“Lenin: Life and Legacy”, Dimitri Volkogonov, Harper Collins (1995)

“Lenin: A Biography”, David Shub, Pelican Books (1966)

“A History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea”, William of Tyre (translated by Emily Atwater Babcock and A.C. Krey) (1943)

“Monarchy and Lordships in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, 1099-1291”, Steve Tibble, Clarendin Press (1990)

“Republicanism, Anarchism, Anticlericalism, and the Attempted Regicide of 1906”, Enrique A. Sanabria, Palgrave Macmillan (2009)

“A Great and Terrible King: Edward I and the Forging of Britain”, Marc Morris”, Windmill Books (2009)