July 20, 1944. Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg carried a time bomb in a briefcase into a conference with Adolf Hitler. After wedging the briefcase directly in front of Hitler under a table, Stauffenberg took his leave. Only ill luck and divine providence could have caused what happened next; a junior staffer accidentally kicked the case, moving it further from Hitler. When the bomb exploded, four died, but none was the megalomaniacal Führer.

Men from all walks of German life--the army, Military Intelligence, civilian life--came together at great personal risk to conspire over a span of six years to save their beloved Germany from the clutches of a madman and halt a further descent into war. This is the incredible documented account of their work and collaboration with "Department Z," the twenty-four individuals who operated under the leadership of Admiral Wilhelm Canaris to secretly engineer this intricate scheme to kill Adolf Hitler and take over the Third Reich. Only by a matter of minutes and inches did these courageous men fail in their daring plot, changing the course of history. Meet the conspirators and learn the plots behind The Canaris Conspiracy, a near-continuous web of planning and frustrated action which came nearer to achieving the longed-for coup d'état than anyone realizes.