From: Spudboy100@aol.com
Date: Wed May 08 2002 - 22:51:13 MDT
Kaiser Wilhelm's Germany Had Plan to Take New York
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Kaiser Wilhelm's Germany Had Plan to Take New York
Wed May 8, 7:35 AM ET BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany under Kaiser Wilhelm had
drawn up detailed plans in 1900 for an invasion of the United States centered
on attacks on New York City and Boston, according to documents in a military
archive published on Thursday.
The weekly newspaper Die Zeit published details from documents it said it
uncovered in Germany's official military archives in Freiburg. One plan
foresaw a force of 100,000 soldiers transported across the Atlantic on 60
ships. Beginning in 1897, a German navy lieutenant named Eberhard von Mantey
was assigned the task of preparing an invasion of the United States after
German and American interests had collided in the Pacific. "Wilhelm II wanted
colonies and military bases around the world," author Henning Sietz wrote in
Die Zeit. "The United States was increasingly getting in the Kaiser's way."
Von Mantey's aim was to find a way to force the United States to sign a
treaty giving Germany free reign in the Pacific and Atlantic. He rejected
ideas of a naval blockade or a naval battle and made plans for an invasion of
the northeast instead. "This is the core of America and this is where the
United States could be most effectively hit and most easily forced to sign a
peace treaty," von Mantey wrote. He said the morale and discipline of
American soldiers was low. The plans were reworked and revised over the next
decade.
Chief of staff Alfred von Schlieffen, who planned Germany's invasion of
France in World War One, was skeptical about the idea of attacking the United
States, 3,000 sea miles away. But his loyalty to the Kaiser prevented him
from rejecting the war planning outright, Sietz said. At one point the German
chief of staff had a plan to bombard New York City. "The greatest panic would
break out in New York over fears of a bombardment," von Mantey wrote
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