Old Brandenberg had a colony on Africa's Gold Coast from 1682-1721, when it was sold to the Dutch.
Picture them keeping it, then later acquiring one small West Indies island.
Then, as part of the Second Schleswig War against Denmark in the 1860s, imagine that Bismarck demands the Danish Virgin Islands, as well as Schleswig and Holstein, be handed over to the German Confederation, if not Prussia. Imagine that he takes them, along with those two lands, after the Seven Weeks War.
And, then, 1914.
Germany has a naval base in the Caribbean during World War I. A direct threat to neighboring Puerto Rico, should the U.S. have entered the war as it did. It primarily would have housed commerce raiders but could have done more.
Imagine that the Kaiser, or somebody, would have said, "Yes, submarines aren't sexy, and Captain Mahan might not have incorporated them in his book on sea power, but they're cheap, they're a new, disruptive weapon, and a submarine base in the German Virgin Islands will allow them to roam all across the North Atlantic.
And, then, 1914.
Germany has a naval base in the Caribbean during World War I. A direct threat to neighboring Puerto Rico, should the U.S. have entered the war as it did. It primarily would have housed commerce raiders but could have done more.
Imagine that the Kaiser, or somebody, would have said, "Yes, submarines aren't sexy, and Captain Mahan might not have incorporated them in his book on sea power, but they're cheap, they're a new, disruptive weapon, and a submarine base in the German Virgin Islands will allow them to roam all across the North Atlantic.
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