Wilhelm II’s plan to invade America,By the late 19th century it was becoming apparent that a n

Wilhelm II’s plan to invade America,By the late 19th century it was becoming apparent that a new world power was entering the world stage.  The United States was a large and prosperous new nation, with an overabundance of resources, a large population, and a degree of industrialization that easily dwarfed nations such as Britain, France, and Germany.  America’s imperial ambitions were realized when in 1898 the United States won a war with Spain and secured control of Cuba, Porto Rico, the Philippines, then had taken control of Central America with the intent of establishing American businesses and constructing an important canal between the Atlantic and Pacific in Panama.  America’s colonial ambitions began to conflict with Germany’s colonial ambitions, which at the time had several naval bases in the Pacific and was expanding its influence within Latin America.  Tensions with Germany were high during the Spanish American War, as US and German warships fired warning shots at each other in a game of brinksmanship.  Years before, in 1889, both countries nearly went to war with each other over the control of the Samoan Islands.To put America in its place, Kaiser Wilhelm II crafted a bold plan which called for the invasion of the Unites States.  Involving 60 ships and 100,000 men, the plan called for the shelling of US naval bases, harbors, and cities.  Once the US Navy was destroyed, the German Navy would then blockade the East Coast, then conduct amphibious landings to capture Boston and New York City, at the time the most industrialized cities on the coast.  Once captured, Wilhelm II believed he would then have the leverage he needed to negotiate a deal with the US which would give Germany a free hand in the Pacific and Latin America.An ambitious plan, Kaiser Wilhelm II charged the operation to his two most talented commanders, Field Marshal Alfred Von Schlieffen and Grand Admiral Alfred Von Tirpitz.  Both men thought the idea was ridiculous, but held their tongues thinking that the idea was merely one of the Kaiser’s wacky fantasies that would eventually pass, then the whole idea would be forgotten.  Unfortunately, it was not, as the Kaiser decreed laws expanding the navy and organizing the army for war.  By 1901, Tirpitz was happy to announce that the German Navy was now larger than the US Navy, and the invasion could proceed.  The Kaiser almost ordered the operation to begin, when Field Marshal Von Schlieffen stepped forward and admitted that the idea was ludicrous and that the invasion was doomed to failure.  As soon as Von Schlieffen spoke up, so too did the rest of the German General Staff, who voiced many objections.  Among them was the fact that they would have to transport supplies thousands of miles across the Atlantic, would have to hold larges amounts of territory populated with tens of millions with 100,000 soldiers, and that while the US Army was comparatively small, it had more combat experience after the Spanish and Philippine Wars, and the nation as a whole could mobilize a gigantic force if they chose to continue fighting after the invasion.  Given that Theodore Roosevelt was in office, a man who took shit from nobody, it was doubtful that the American government was going to negotiate with an invader.  After the top commanders of the German Army expressed their sincere doubts, Grand Admiral Tirpitz stepped forward and announced that he did not have enough ships to conduct a successful invasion.  Furthermore he stated that while the German Navy was larger than the US Navy, the Americans had better naval technology, with larger more powerful ships armed with bigger guns, manned by sailors and officers with plenty of combat experience.  The plan was put on temporary hold.  Then in 1904 the British and French signed the Entente Cordiale, forming a powerful military alliance on Germany’s western border.  To the east Russia was becoming more and more aggressive in foreign policy as well.  It became apparent that the Kaiser’s invasion of America was no longer tenable with monsters to deal with at home.  In 1906, the Kaiser’s invasion plans were scrapped for good.  They would be rediscovered in German military archives in 2002. -- source link

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