German Emperor Wilhelm II planned attack on the United States

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by faded glory
We would lose. Our army was 1500 cavalry out west fightin engines in 1900.

Who cares about the Army? It would be the Navy that would defeat a German attack.

[Dis]

good stuff.

I have no doubt they could have pulled off bombardments of New York City and Boston from the sea. But that is all they could have done. Their navy was far superior to ours at the time. If they brought an invasion force they might have been able to take one of the two cities. But that wouldn't last long. They would eventually lose.

[Andemagne]

I think that the Germans could have taken few cities,
capture panama canal and then force US to that
german-favorable peace treaty. Germans had better
navy and armed citizen aren't match for an Army.
after peace they would have given the captured cities
back. the world would be different place today if
that intervention had happened.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Damn Germans

Though I have to agree with Shi... the Brits wouldn't have allowed it. If we weren't going to have the canal, they would have to have it. They wouldn't let the Germans have it.

[Coracle]

The United States had in the 1890's war plans for fighting Germany - repelling an invasion and attacking them later.

All of these were just hypothetical exercises and scenarios. No one expected an actual war.

[Felch]

After WWI we had a contingency plan for the invasion of Great Britain. People come up with plans for any eventuality, it really doesn't mean much.

[chequita guevara]

I'm sure all of the great powers had plans for fighting each other ... if it ever came to it.

The US and Germany almost came to war over what is now American Somoa in 1903 (IIRC). A storm sank the German ships before fighting could break out, effectively postponing WWI for a decade.

[Dom Pedro II]

Well, the Germans probably wouldn't have actually wanted to mess with the Monroe Doctrine considering that they never had any colonies in the Americas to start with, and if the Monroe Doctrine were put aside Britain and France would be scrambling to reestablish power. Germany did want to get a foothold in the Americas, but they essentially accomplished their limited goals there. Now Britain on the other hand was much more interested in butting in Latin America, and they nearly went to war with the United States in 1895 over a Venezuelan crisis, but they needed an ally against... guess who! yes, the Germans!

I think though that it was rather naive of Wilhelm to think any sort of sea invasion of the U.S. would be possible. Hell, without Britain as a launch point, Normandy would've been utterly impossible. You can't sail a few dozen transports full of men 3,000 miles to land on a hostile shore and expect much success. At least in this era anyway.

Anyway, I think regarding Samoa, it probably wouldn't have dragged all of Europe into World War at that point. On the other hand, it could very well have weakened Germany's armaments in a drawn-out war with the U.S., which it is likely neither country could ever win decisively since the United States would likely repel the Germans but find the task of going TO Germany to be too daunting. Although good ol' Teddy was President then and he was nothing if not stubborn.

[Dis]

they could have used greenland as a staging point

[chequita guevara]

Germany was doing quite well in the Americas without having to take them over militarily. It was the leading investor and lender to Latin America in the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth century.

[David Floyd]

they could have used greenland as a staging point

You're joking, right?

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

IIRC in 1900 the British were still busy hating the French and Americans (remember, they sided with the Confederacy in the U.S. Civil War), and were quite cozy with the Germans, as the House of Hanover and the House of Windsor were practically the same people. So, the British might have interfered with a German invasion of the U.S., but only to ensure that they got their piece of the pie.

I'm sure the German military could have defeated the U.S. Army of the time, but the supply lines would be far too long to garrison the place effectively. It would have been a short occupation.

Come to think of it, speaking of short supply lines, I'd like to volunteer Canada as a base if Germany wants to give it a try now

[TCO]

how about ship chains?

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by faded glory
We would lose. Our army was 1500 cavalry out west fightin engines in 1900. And 5,000 volunteer's along our borders. Would take forever to mobilize. We were still using Muskets! lol

In the late 1700's, French privateers thought they could plunder U.S. shipping because we had no navy.

In 1801, the Tripoli pirates thought they could extract tribute from us because we were too weak to fight back, and after all, the French and English were both paying

In 1812, the British thought they could press sailors off our merchantmen because we were too weak ever to stand up to them.

In 1846, Mexico thought it was a good idea to use force to push us out of the disputed border area in Texas.

In 1941, the Japanese thought they could deal us a knock-out blow in the Pacific by taking out our ships at Pearl Harbor.

In 2001, Osama bin Laden thought he could demoralize the American people by striking at our economic heart.

An attack upon U.S. soil by the Germans in the late 1890's may have had some initial success, but in the long term, Kaiser Bill would have lost. Two centuries have shown that no nation, however strong, can enrage the American people and hope to emerge victorious.

[TCO]

Fvckin A, yeah!!