Posted on 05/08/2002 5:38:26 PM PDT by Pokey78
DRIVEN by a desire for world domination, Kaiser Wilhelm II, the last German emperor, drew up plans to send an amphibious force of 100,000 troops to attack New York and Boston at the end of the 19th century, according to a military archive.
The documents detail how the Kaiser authorised the planning of an attack on east coast cites during the 1890s as he sought to advance Germany's geopolitical ambitions, not least against the emerging power of America.
One option, he believed, was to launch huge naval assaults on this new rival on the world stage, forcing it to recognise Germany's might. "Wilhelm II wanted colonies and military bases around the world. The United States was increasingly getting in the Kaiser's way," said the Die Ziet newspaper, which published contents of the letters and other documents yesterday.
The Kaiser rejected ideas of a naval blockade or a naval battle and made plans for an invasion of the north-eastern US. As early as 1897 a young naval lieutenant, Eberhard von Mantey, was authorised to plot the dispatch of a huge fleet across the Atlantic.
The main targets, under his first plan, were the towns of Norfolk, Hampton Roads and Newport News. "That is where the United States can be hit at its most sensitive point and be forced into peace," Lt von Mantey wrote.
The challenge from America seemed even greater to the Kaiser after its victory in 1898 in the Spanish-American war allowed it to acquire Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines in addition to some of Samoa and Hawaii.
The German response was a second plan from Lt von Mantey which named New York as the main target. "The greatest panic would break out in New York over fears of a bombardment," he wrote, adding: "Two to three battalions of infantry and one battalion of sappers should be sufficient."
Prof John Rohl, a research professor in German history at the University of Sussex and the author of many books on the Kaiser said that, while the outline of the plans had been known to scholars for some time, the documents helped to explain the Kaiser's limitless ambition and lack of grasp on reality.
"This is typical of the unpredictability of the Kaiser and shows his worldwide ambition to make Germany into a superpower. It was a crazy idea.
"All the European powers had thought they had the world to themselves. Then suddenly, alas, there are two new players on the scene, America and Japan."
As Germany expanded its navy and eyed its European rivals, more and more detailed plans for the American attacks were put together under the Kaiser's guidance. A naval attache at the German embassy in Washington had already begun scouting for landing locations when a high-ranking officer cast doubt over whether the mission could succeed.
The final draft of the attack was abandoned in 1906, when the Germans began to realise the risks of tackling an ever-more powerful America.
The papers, stored in a record office in Freiburg, south-western Germany, illuminate a little known chapter of German military history and support claims that the expansionist ambitions of the Nazis had roots in the Kaiser's drive for empire.
Die Zeit said: "Once again this proves the continuity between the Kaiserreich and the Third Reich because the Nazis also wanted to risk a final fight for world domination with the US 40 years later."
The really absurd part of this article is at the end:
The papers, stored in a record office in Freiburg, south-western Germany, illuminate a little known chapter of German military history and support claims that the expansionist ambitions of the Nazis had roots in the Kaiser's drive for empire.The plans were drawn up by a lieutenant, for Heaven's sake! And we are to construe this as a sign of HM the Kaiser's intent to attack the United States? And as a prefiguration of Hitler's alleged intention to take over the whole world? Let me guess, the Schlieffen Plan was actually authored by a Feldwebel in East Prussia.Die Zeit said: "Once again this proves the continuity between the Kaiserreich and the Third Reich because the Nazis also wanted to risk a final fight for world domination with the US 40 years later."
All significant operational plans are drawn up by Generals and Admirals, or at the very least Majors attached to the Generalstab. Staff officers do this stuff the way single girls thumb through Bride magazine.
At least since the Why We Fight series, and Erikson's mendacious post-mortem psychoanalysis of Martin Luther, it has become customary to view every single aspect of Germanic culture all the way back to Tacitus as a prefiguration and cause of Nazism. I fully expect to see a cookbook some day that pompously explains how a diet of red cabbage, potato salad, sausage and beer is an infallible sign of fascist tendencies, and the Reinheitsgebot of 1516 was merely the first step on the long (but direct) road to the Nuremberg Laws.
von Mantey was apparently one of the Kaiser's personal favorites, and the All-Highest Kaiser Wilhelm II was just plain loopy. And Lieutenant in the Navy is equal to Captain in the Army. Somewhat junior, but not REALLY junior.
And much of Hitler's desire for Lebensraum was rooted in a 19th-century German intellectual fashion for creating a Germanic superstate--Mitteleuropa--that incorporated most of Eastern and a good chunk of Southeastern Europe. My take on this concept is that it was a reflection of the All-Highest's fundamental loopiness.
Kaiser Billy had two permanent enemies: Russia and France. He had no need to make a third--but he did, and he did so because he loved battleships, not because of any fundamental strategic imperative for Germany.
All significant operational plans are drawn up by Generals and Admirals, or at the very least Majors attached to the Generalstab. Staff officers do this stuff the way single girls thumb through Bride magazine.
The fact that this stuff made its way into the official archives indicates that it was taken seriously by the Generalstab, instead of being thrown out and the good Leutnant getting sent to command the Vistula garbage scow flotilla until retirement...
A lot of folks on both sides of the Atlantic thought otherwise, but it was usually the equivalent of those Freepers that believe China is going to be able to invade America Real Soon Now.
I do not concede that point.
Not in the slightest.
"Conroy reconstructs history, imagining a German invasion of the U.S. in 1901 to enforce German claims to the colonies the U.S. took over in the Spanish-American War. The novel is clearly a labor of love. Conroy seems to have conceived the story out of a lifetime's dedication to military history, and he puts into it a host of apparently favorite ideas and historic characters. The writing doesn't attain the level of Conroy's aspirations but keeps us turning pages, anyway. Conroy focuses on his central character, Patrick Mahan, as he rises from captain to major general, but fills out the book with many engaging side characters, including African American officers and Theodore Roosevelt, as well as with the pleasant fancy of having erstwhile Confederate General Longstreet appointed commanding general of the U.S. Army (Longstreet actually did return to U.S. service, but as a diplomat, and lived until 1904). The yarn is likely to please both military history and alternative history buffs."
By the way, in the book, the invasion plan was drawn up by von Schlieffen, not a mere lieutenant.
HM the Kaiser may have felt he had some bridge-building to do with respect to the smaller states after the Prince's attempts to run rough-shod over them. (cf. Kulturkampf). I would have advised "dropping the pilot" as well, although HM's foreign policy thereafter was admittedly somewhat clumsy.
There have been clumsier, however -- even in the U.S.
Silliness. While I will concede that at the time of this plan's inception the U.S. was not yet the industrial behemoth of the WWII years, no student of the U.S. Civil War (and the Europeans were better military students of that conflict than their American counterparts) could imagine a force projection of this size would do anything but get eaten. An interesting exercise in planning, IMHO, but hardly a serious set of intentions.
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