 After the war, his widow maintained that Rommel believed an assassination attempt would spark a civil war.Historian Ian Beckett argues that "there is no credible evidence that Rommel had more than limited and superficial knowledge of the plot" and concludes that Rommel would not have acted to aid the plotters on 20 July, while Ralf Georg Reuth contends that "there was no indication of any active participation of Rommel in the conspiracy".Historian Richard J. Evans concluded that he knew of a plot, but was not involved.