Operational Plan Three

Operational Plan Three

Imperial German plans for the invasion of the United States were ordered by Germany's Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm II from 1897 to 1903. Wilhelm II did not intend to conquer the US; he wanted only to reduce the country's influence. His planned invasion was supposed to force the US to bargain from a weak position; to sever its growing economic and political connections in the Pacific, the Caribbean and South America; and to increase Germany's influence in those places.

The first plan was made in the winter of 1897–1898 by Lieutenant Eberhard von Mantey; it mainly targeted American naval bases in Hampton Roads in order to reduce and constrain the US Navy and threaten Washington, D.C.. In March 1899, after significant gains made by the US in the Spanish–American War, the plan was altered to focus on a land invasion of New York City and Boston. In August 1901, Lieutenant Hubert von Rebeur-Paschwitz spied on the target areas and reported back. A third plan was drawn up in November 1903 by naval staff officer Wilhelm Büchsel, called Operation Plan III (Operationsplan III in German), with minor adjustments made to the amphibious landing locations and immediate tactical goals.

The Imperial German Navy under Alfred von Tirpitz expanded greatly from 1898 to 1906 but was never large enough to carry out the plans. The German Army under Alfred von Schlieffen, responsible for at least 100,000 troops in the invasion, was certain the proposal would end in defeat. The plans were permanently shelved in 1906 and did not become public until 2002 when they were rediscovered in the German military archive in Freiburg.