What if...?

Yesterday was the 66th anniversary of the failed attempt by Claus von Stauffenberg and the other conspirators to assassinate Hitler. Nobody can doubt their courage and equally there is no doubt that they were acting in what they saw as the best interest of Germany. But suppose they had succeeded - what would it have meant for us, the Allies? The immediate assumption is that the death of Hitler would have been a good thing - but would it? There is a school of thought that says that without Hitler, who by that stage was beginning to come apart at the seams, Germany's war effort would have fared much better and they might even have been in a position to negotiate for peace rather than have to unconditionally surrender.