Page 49 - All About History - Issue 38-16

15 Mad Murder Plots

Robert Harley,
1st Earl of

Oxford

Adolf Hitler METHOD: HATBOX BOOBY TRAPPED WITH PISTOLS
WHEN: 4 NOVEMBER 1712
In this early version of a
METHOD: BOMB HIDDEN IN A BRIEFCASE 08 letter bomb, a hatbox was
WHEN: 20 JULY 1944 rigged with three loaded
In a plot better known as Operation Valkyrie, pistols. When the lid was
opened, the guns would
07 Hitler was targeted by conspirators who wanted to fire as one and kill the recipient, who
seize control of Germany and make peace with
the Allies. Led by Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg, happened to be the lord treasurer, Robert
a German noble and decorated army officer, a Harley. The Bandbox Plot, as it became
scheme was hatched to blow up the Führer with two bombs known, was foiled when author Jonathan
concealed within a briefcase. Only one bomb was ready on the Swift spotted the threads that were
day, and when it exploded, it killed four people – but Hitler wasn’t attached to the triggers and cut them, thus
one of them. The Führer survived with scorched trousers and a disarming the booby-trap. The would-be
perforated eardrum; Stauffenberg and his co-conspirators were assassins were never apprehended, and
executed on 21 July 1944. both Swift and Harley enjoyed a swell of
popularity and support when news of the
foiled plot reached the public.
Emperor

Chandragupta

Maurya

METHOD: POISONED FOOD
WHEN: 320 BCE
Fearing that Emperor
09 Chandragupta Maurya
might fall victim to
assassination, his
assistants secretly fed him
poison to build up his immunity. Unaware
that his food was laced with deadly toxins,
he shared a particularly tasty morsel with
his heavily pregnant wife, Durdhara. She
was not immune and died within minutes,
leaving her husband to cut her still-living
child from her womb. According to legend,
the poison had already reached the baby,
and he had been left with a blue bindu on
his forehead. He was named Bindusara in
recognition of his miraculous survival.
21 JULY 1944

12.37pm 12.38pm 12.42pm 12.45pm 4.00pm 12.10am

● The decoy phone call ● The bomb is moved ● The bomb detonates ● The aftermath ● Stau enberg in Berlin ● Conspirators executed

With the clock ticking, Unable to see a map When the bomb As the smoke clears, Initially believing that Less than 12 hours after
Stau enberg receives a on the table, Colonel goes o , the room it is apparent that the Hitler is dead, the the bomb detonated,

pre-planned telephone Heinz Brandt moves is destroyed but the plan has failed. With conspirators are dismayed Stau enberg and his co-
call and makes his the briefcase out of table shields Hitler only a perforated to hear the Führer make conspirators are executed

excuses. Instead of the way, placing it from the blast, saving eardrum and some a live radio broadcast. by ‡ring squad in Berlin.
taking the call and then behind a thick, strong his life. Among the singed and torn Following a gun battle Historians agree that, had

returning to the meeting, table leg. When the four fatalities is trousers, Adolf in which Stau enberg the second bomb also
he is seen leaving the bomb explodes, this Brandt, who moved Hitler has survived is wounded, they are detonated, Hitler would
Wolf’s Lair by car as the decision will cost the briefcase. He dies Operation Valkyrie, and arrested and immediately almost certainly have
bomb explodes. Brandt his life. the following day. retribution will be swift. court-martialled. been killed.
49

044-051_AAH_038_15 Crazy Assasination Plots.indd 49 13/04/2016 22:35