Germany's Plan to Attack America in 1897

Kaiser Wilhelm II

     In November 1889, Secretary of the Navy Benjamin F. Tracy called for the rapid expansion of the United States Navy, stating that for twenty years the fleet had been neglected and become technologically obsolete.  America stood twelfth among the naval powers of the earth.  The U.S. fleet consisted of 11 armored and 31 unarmored vessels, whereas the British fleet boasted 76 armored and 291 unarmored vessels.  The German fleet had 40 armored and 105 unarmored ships.  The American fleet was outranked by even the eleventh rate navy of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire which had 12 armored and 44 unarmored ships.

In 1897 a staff officer, Lieutenant Eberhard von Mantley was ordered to draft an operational plan for a combined German naval and infantry attack on America. In the late 19th century both America and Imperial Germany were expanding in the Pacific and German military planners could envision a day when the two countries might clash. Known as Operational Plan 3, the German strategy involved a combined arms thrust against America’s strategic center of gravity, the East Coast. "Here is the core of America and it is here that the United States could be most effectively hit and most easily forced to sign a peace deal," von Mantley wrote.

Sixty German ships with troops and supplies were to make their way across the Atlantic and attack the important U.S. Naval facilities at Norfolk and Newport News, Virginia. Simultaneously, several thousand troops were to occupy Boston, while heavy cruisers bombarded Manhattan. 

The plan was scrapped in 1907, the same year that President Theodore Roosevelt sent the greatly strengthened and enlarged U.S. Navy on an around the world “goodwill” mission.  Known as the “Great White Fleet”, the mission demonstrated America’s new role as a world power.

Sneak Attack! (Four Alternative History Stories)

Sun Tzu, the Master of War, once said, “Those who are skilled in producing surprises will win. In conflict, surprise will lead to victory. ” Here are four stories about the history of the world IF wars we know about happened differently or IF wars that never happened actually took place.

Including:
1.The Hostage, in which Abraham Lincoln is kidnapped by the rebels.

2.The German Invasion of America of 1889, in which Germany unexpectedly launches its might against the United States.

3.The Invasion of Canada 1933, in which the new American dictator launches a sneak attack on Canada.

4.Cherry Blossoms at Night: Japan Attacks the American Homeland (1942), in which Japan attacks the American homeland in a very surprising way.