1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:27,560 Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of I Heart Radio. Welcome 2 00:00:27,600 --> 00:00:30,400 Speaker 1: to the show Ridiculous Historians. Thank you so much for 3 00:00:30,640 --> 00:00:34,279 Speaker 1: tuning in. Uh. Several of our listeners today will be 4 00:00:34,320 --> 00:00:38,960 Speaker 1: familiar with a little country called Germany. I'm kidding Germany 5 00:00:38,960 --> 00:00:43,040 Speaker 1: as a huge country. As of seventeen, Germany alone accounted 6 00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:46,680 Speaker 1: for twenty eight percent of the economy in the EU, 7 00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:50,680 Speaker 1: according to the International Monetary Fund. I'm ben hey, I'm 8 00:00:50,760 --> 00:00:53,120 Speaker 1: no remember that weird Al song the Ryer the Kaiser. 9 00:00:53,960 --> 00:00:56,560 Speaker 1: It was like a joke on the eye of the tiger. 10 00:00:57,800 --> 00:01:01,440 Speaker 1: That's all I got. You know, weird Al is such 11 00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:06,440 Speaker 1: a technically phenomenal musician. Have you see him? Whale on 12 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:10,760 Speaker 1: an accordion? Absolutely shreds Those keys are flying everywhere. I 13 00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:13,000 Speaker 1: don't know how you must go through an accordion a day, 14 00:01:13,360 --> 00:01:17,280 Speaker 1: and you know who is shredding on the producer in today, 15 00:01:17,280 --> 00:01:20,720 Speaker 1: our super producer Casey Pegram is here in spirit and 16 00:01:20,880 --> 00:01:25,679 Speaker 1: has bequeathed the next few episodes to our guest super 17 00:01:25,720 --> 00:01:30,920 Speaker 1: producer j J. Pauseway, I love that word bequeath man. Yeah, yeah, 18 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:33,600 Speaker 1: it's so if it's very princely. What makes me think 19 00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:36,720 Speaker 1: of giving someone in a state or a fine castle 20 00:01:37,360 --> 00:01:40,760 Speaker 1: with linens and you know, high bedposts and things like that, 21 00:01:40,959 --> 00:01:45,720 Speaker 1: and everybody senses that that gravity. The drama that comes 22 00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:48,680 Speaker 1: with the use of that word such that if you 23 00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:51,200 Speaker 1: if you, if, if you're on the street and someone 24 00:01:51,240 --> 00:01:53,840 Speaker 1: asks you for a dollar or something and you say, yeah, 25 00:01:53,880 --> 00:01:56,880 Speaker 1: I'll bequeath you a dollar, they'll think you're being rude, 26 00:01:57,160 --> 00:01:59,920 Speaker 1: you know, because words have power. That's misuse of the 27 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:02,720 Speaker 1: word band. That is gross negligence when using that where 28 00:02:02,720 --> 00:02:06,480 Speaker 1: you can just throw around bequeath. It's like bestowing right now, 29 00:02:06,480 --> 00:02:08,400 Speaker 1: there's there has to be respect on both sides of 30 00:02:08,440 --> 00:02:11,440 Speaker 1: the equation. But when bequeathing something, I think, at least 31 00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:14,880 Speaker 1: in modern English here in the States, the implication is 32 00:02:14,919 --> 00:02:19,160 Speaker 1: that something is posthumously given to someone. I have bequeathed 33 00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:27,760 Speaker 1: this and yeah, exactly, j J is JJ is looking on. 34 00:02:27,919 --> 00:02:30,920 Speaker 1: This is his first time working with us on Ridiculous History. 35 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:33,440 Speaker 1: JJ thumbs up, thumbs down. How you doing well, that's 36 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:36,119 Speaker 1: a strong thumbs up. Okay, we're gonna have to check 37 00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:37,760 Speaker 1: back in the end and see why he was always 38 00:02:37,760 --> 00:02:44,720 Speaker 1: my favorite son. Strong thumbs So, as you know, longtime listeners, 39 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:48,400 Speaker 1: our show is based here in Atlanta, Georgia, which is 40 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:53,080 Speaker 1: based here in these United States of ours. We mentioned 41 00:02:53,160 --> 00:02:58,360 Speaker 1: Germany at the top because today Germany is this incredibly powerful, 42 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:05,880 Speaker 1: strong econo coomic, cultural, socio political force, and this was 43 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:11,160 Speaker 1: not always the case. You see, Germany was kind of 44 00:03:11,280 --> 00:03:15,840 Speaker 1: late to the game of geopolitics. By the time the 45 00:03:15,960 --> 00:03:19,600 Speaker 1: nineteenth century came to close. It was sort of an 46 00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:24,680 Speaker 1: upstart in many other countries eyes because Germany, as we 47 00:03:24,800 --> 00:03:28,639 Speaker 1: know it really coalesces in eighteen seventy one when a 48 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:32,120 Speaker 1: bunch of different provinces are unified at the end of 49 00:03:32,160 --> 00:03:36,160 Speaker 1: the Franco Prussian War, and at the time there was 50 00:03:36,200 --> 00:03:40,400 Speaker 1: this Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, and he adopted this policy 51 00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:44,840 Speaker 1: he called real politic. This meant what they wanted to 52 00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:48,600 Speaker 1: do through the pursuit of real politics was to kind 53 00:03:48,640 --> 00:03:53,960 Speaker 1: of make Germany the go to mediator for European affairs, 54 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:57,800 Speaker 1: such that like, if France and Britain have a problem, 55 00:03:58,040 --> 00:04:02,080 Speaker 1: they will speak with Germany and Germany will help try 56 00:04:02,120 --> 00:04:06,920 Speaker 1: to solve it. But the weird thing is, soon after 57 00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:11,560 Speaker 1: a guy named Kaiser Wilhelm the Second took over the 58 00:04:11,760 --> 00:04:20,159 Speaker 1: nation change the tone became nationalistic, militarily aggressive, and they said, 59 00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:23,600 Speaker 1: you know, why be mediators when we can expand our 60 00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:27,080 Speaker 1: empire into a world power. And this is where our 61 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:30,480 Speaker 1: story sort of takes place. Right like two decades before 62 00:04:30,839 --> 00:04:35,320 Speaker 1: World War One even began, the Kaiser had a plan 63 00:04:35,560 --> 00:04:38,159 Speaker 1: for the US. Yeah, the guy had a real priapism 64 00:04:38,320 --> 00:04:41,440 Speaker 1: for the for the United States. Here he was not uh, 65 00:04:41,480 --> 00:04:46,960 Speaker 1: he wanted it. He wanted to flex his superiority, or 66 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:50,159 Speaker 1: in his mind, you know, what was superior. And he 67 00:04:50,360 --> 00:04:53,960 Speaker 1: did not like this thing called the Monroe Doctrine one bit, 68 00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:57,480 Speaker 1: which was a thing that we adopted that established us 69 00:04:57,480 --> 00:05:00,600 Speaker 1: as sort of a sort of world police almost like 70 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:04,640 Speaker 1: I'm sort of standing in the way of UH colonization. 71 00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:08,960 Speaker 1: That would, you know, affect our relationship with other countries, 72 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:14,200 Speaker 1: for example, like Germany had relationships with UH South American countries, 73 00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:16,520 Speaker 1: and we wanted to kind of stem the tide of 74 00:05:16,600 --> 00:05:18,800 Speaker 1: that stuff. And Wilhelm was like, who are you gonna say, 75 00:05:19,080 --> 00:05:21,760 Speaker 1: I'm Kaiser, Wilhelm, I have a golden I have a 76 00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:26,000 Speaker 1: golden horned helmet. You can tell me nothing. Yeah, it's true. 77 00:05:26,120 --> 00:05:29,640 Speaker 1: And this this is weird because it was a slow 78 00:05:29,680 --> 00:05:34,640 Speaker 1: burned situation way before World War One. The Kaiser thought, 79 00:05:34,839 --> 00:05:38,280 Speaker 1: you know, it's in the cards for Germany and the 80 00:05:38,400 --> 00:05:41,800 Speaker 1: United States to come into conflict, and it's not too 81 00:05:41,800 --> 00:05:45,680 Speaker 1: far down the road because we had already had as 82 00:05:45,720 --> 00:05:48,960 Speaker 1: you said, no, they had already been some budding of heads, 83 00:05:49,279 --> 00:05:53,960 Speaker 1: especially in eighteen eighty nine when the two countries were 84 00:05:54,080 --> 00:05:58,440 Speaker 1: fighting over control of the Samoan Islands, and Germany, as 85 00:05:58,480 --> 00:06:02,080 Speaker 1: you said, wanted to grow. Right, we had established that 86 00:06:02,480 --> 00:06:05,640 Speaker 1: it went from real politics to what it called velt 87 00:06:05,720 --> 00:06:10,200 Speaker 1: politic world politics, and so it needed to expand. But 88 00:06:10,960 --> 00:06:13,400 Speaker 1: as it was trying to expand, especially in the Far 89 00:06:13,480 --> 00:06:19,120 Speaker 1: East in the Pacific theater, it also found another country 90 00:06:19,279 --> 00:06:22,600 Speaker 1: trying to rapidly expand, that be in the US. This 91 00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:25,599 Speaker 1: kind of situation is something that you can play out 92 00:06:25,640 --> 00:06:28,640 Speaker 1: for yourself. If you have you know, six bucks and 93 00:06:28,839 --> 00:06:32,160 Speaker 1: hours of free time. You can pick up the game Civilization. 94 00:06:32,200 --> 00:06:33,719 Speaker 1: Are you aware of that? Have you ever played that? 95 00:06:33,960 --> 00:06:36,400 Speaker 1: It's sort of like the SIMS or sim City, but 96 00:06:36,560 --> 00:06:40,640 Speaker 1: with you know, countries, countries and world events. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 97 00:06:40,640 --> 00:06:45,000 Speaker 1: And you run into this idea of mutually conflicting expansionist 98 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:49,919 Speaker 1: goals pretty often. And the other thing is, you know, 99 00:06:50,040 --> 00:06:52,880 Speaker 1: how okay, so we're pretty hesitant, and rightly so to 100 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:58,240 Speaker 1: ascribe personal or emotional motivation to historical figures were not 101 00:06:58,320 --> 00:07:00,200 Speaker 1: in their heads. We don't know. We only know what 102 00:07:00,240 --> 00:07:02,400 Speaker 1: they wrote, or we only know what was written about 103 00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:05,159 Speaker 1: them or what they said, especially in the days before 104 00:07:05,240 --> 00:07:11,000 Speaker 1: widespread audio video capture. We do know, however, that Kaiser 105 00:07:11,040 --> 00:07:17,080 Speaker 1: Willhelm the second Uh really hated the US. It was like, 106 00:07:17,280 --> 00:07:22,720 Speaker 1: it's corrupt, it's decadent, democracy, capitalism, it's for the birds, 107 00:07:22,960 --> 00:07:26,000 Speaker 1: it's all gone to the dogs, and various other animal 108 00:07:26,080 --> 00:07:32,880 Speaker 1: related figures of speech. We we know this um through multiple, 109 00:07:33,760 --> 00:07:40,120 Speaker 1: multiple different accounts, and the Monroe doctrine, which had been 110 00:07:40,120 --> 00:07:43,600 Speaker 1: in place for a long time, I think half a century. Yeah, yeah, 111 00:07:43,760 --> 00:07:49,239 Speaker 1: the Monroe doctrine really really stuck. In the Kaiser's Crawl. 112 00:07:49,480 --> 00:07:51,560 Speaker 1: I don't know. I just wanted to say the Kaiser's Craw. 113 00:07:51,920 --> 00:07:55,000 Speaker 1: It feels like maybe it's the name of the beach 114 00:07:55,240 --> 00:07:59,840 Speaker 1: Cobrat Restaurants, Florida, perhaps a brand of margarine, the Kaisers, 115 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:03,240 Speaker 1: the Kaisers, I don't know, I'm thinking Kroc. It's different 116 00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:05,560 Speaker 1: than kraw. Well, we could have a whole Kaiser line 117 00:08:05,560 --> 00:08:10,239 Speaker 1: and the Kaiser's Kroc, the Kaiser's Craw, the Kaiser's crab, 118 00:08:12,200 --> 00:08:16,000 Speaker 1: crab dip, the Kaiser's crab dip. Not the Kaiser's crabs. 119 00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:18,360 Speaker 1: That's a that's probably a medical condition. Go get it 120 00:08:18,440 --> 00:08:23,600 Speaker 1: checked out. So so what what happens. He's he's mad 121 00:08:23,640 --> 00:08:28,040 Speaker 1: about the Monroe doctrine. Well, he's in sense's sense, he's 122 00:08:28,040 --> 00:08:32,920 Speaker 1: thinking big though, right, UM. He wanted to essentially get 123 00:08:33,480 --> 00:08:38,320 Speaker 1: unfeathered access to the Pacific Ocean. UM. He wanted to 124 00:08:38,480 --> 00:08:41,720 Speaker 1: completely go against the Monroe doctrine and had all of 125 00:08:41,760 --> 00:08:45,719 Speaker 1: these very detailed military plans in place to establish a 126 00:08:45,840 --> 00:08:49,920 Speaker 1: naval base in the Caribbean in Cuba or possibly Puerto Rico, 127 00:08:50,400 --> 00:08:53,280 Speaker 1: and then that would give them access to South America, 128 00:08:53,600 --> 00:08:57,280 Speaker 1: Central America and the Panama Canal UM, which it was 129 00:08:57,400 --> 00:09:00,480 Speaker 1: hoping to take over once it was done being built. 130 00:09:00,480 --> 00:09:02,559 Speaker 1: It was still in the process of being built. You know. 131 00:09:02,640 --> 00:09:05,720 Speaker 1: He had big, big designs on the future, UM and 132 00:09:06,320 --> 00:09:10,080 Speaker 1: in order to do that, he needed to deal with 133 00:09:10,120 --> 00:09:14,040 Speaker 1: the United States. And there's a fantastic article from Gizmoto 134 00:09:14,120 --> 00:09:18,480 Speaker 1: called the Secret German Scheme to Invade America UM before 135 00:09:18,480 --> 00:09:23,000 Speaker 1: the First World War, and it outlines this story beautifully. Yes, yes, 136 00:09:23,080 --> 00:09:27,559 Speaker 1: you heard the line correctly there, folks. You see, will Helm, 137 00:09:27,880 --> 00:09:32,760 Speaker 1: while very aggressive, very bellicosts, belligerent, and agro as we 138 00:09:32,800 --> 00:09:35,200 Speaker 1: would say today. While he was all those things, he 139 00:09:35,360 --> 00:09:39,240 Speaker 1: was not a nincompoop. He was not a dunderhead. Right. 140 00:09:39,679 --> 00:09:43,480 Speaker 1: He knew that there had to be some sort of 141 00:09:44,320 --> 00:09:48,079 Speaker 1: plan addressing the US, because the US, like any other country, 142 00:09:48,240 --> 00:09:52,000 Speaker 1: would not be particularly happy with this foreign empire being 143 00:09:52,040 --> 00:09:55,480 Speaker 1: in their backyard, especially on what they considered already is 144 00:09:55,520 --> 00:09:59,920 Speaker 1: their domain. There the um, the place where they were Hedgemon's. 145 00:10:00,400 --> 00:10:03,920 Speaker 1: So he says to his military thinkers, he says, Okay, 146 00:10:04,040 --> 00:10:06,679 Speaker 1: let's let's sketch out plans for how to deal with 147 00:10:06,800 --> 00:10:09,160 Speaker 1: the US. Do we want to offer the money, No? 148 00:10:09,720 --> 00:10:13,480 Speaker 1: Do we want to uh seek their approval for this 149 00:10:13,600 --> 00:10:16,760 Speaker 1: naval base and then access to the Panama Canal, No, 150 00:10:17,600 --> 00:10:21,679 Speaker 1: So let's just figure out how to attack and invade 151 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:25,480 Speaker 1: the United States. The US is big, right, It's much 152 00:10:25,559 --> 00:10:28,680 Speaker 1: larger than Germany. So we don't want to take over 153 00:10:28,720 --> 00:10:33,000 Speaker 1: the US. But we want to force them to bargain 154 00:10:33,320 --> 00:10:35,080 Speaker 1: with us. We want to get them to the point 155 00:10:35,080 --> 00:10:42,320 Speaker 1: where we make them an offer they can't refuse. This 156 00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:47,000 Speaker 1: information only came to light in two thousand two, when 157 00:10:47,080 --> 00:10:49,480 Speaker 1: some of these plans, of which there are three, you 158 00:10:49,600 --> 00:10:54,520 Speaker 1: gotta have options were uncovered at the German military archives 159 00:10:54,760 --> 00:10:58,080 Speaker 1: in Freiburg. So why don't we start with UM plan one, 160 00:10:58,160 --> 00:11:01,360 Speaker 1: which we will call attack in Blockade so UM. The 161 00:11:01,480 --> 00:11:08,160 Speaker 1: naval lieutenant Eberhard von mante Um in eighteen night helped 162 00:11:08,320 --> 00:11:12,800 Speaker 1: draft up this plan that would essentially UM have the 163 00:11:12,880 --> 00:11:18,840 Speaker 1: German Navy sailing across the Atlantic UM making laying waste 164 00:11:18,960 --> 00:11:22,320 Speaker 1: to the U. S. Navy forces in the Atlantic UM. 165 00:11:22,440 --> 00:11:27,080 Speaker 1: And then there would be a targeted artillery attacks against 166 00:11:27,080 --> 00:11:31,320 Speaker 1: some very key infrastructure points like the Newport News ship 167 00:11:31,400 --> 00:11:35,480 Speaker 1: Building Center and the Norfolk Naval Shipyard UM and also 168 00:11:36,040 --> 00:11:39,600 Speaker 1: uh an area in Virginia known as the Hampton Roads area, 169 00:11:39,640 --> 00:11:43,360 Speaker 1: which is another military strong point that was seen. These 170 00:11:43,360 --> 00:11:45,520 Speaker 1: were seen as being the weakest points are the most 171 00:11:45,520 --> 00:11:50,360 Speaker 1: sensitive spots to conquer by Lieutenant von mante Um. And 172 00:11:50,440 --> 00:11:53,520 Speaker 1: then once you know they've made quick work of the 173 00:11:53,559 --> 00:11:58,560 Speaker 1: American forces, they would send some folks outs to parlay. 174 00:11:58,720 --> 00:12:01,640 Speaker 1: Big problem with this plan. Huge problem. What's that they 175 00:12:01,640 --> 00:12:03,720 Speaker 1: didn't have any of this stuff. They didn't have enough 176 00:12:03,840 --> 00:12:06,880 Speaker 1: ships to pull this stuff off. I mean, you know, 177 00:12:06,920 --> 00:12:08,880 Speaker 1: like you said, I mean the Kaiser wasn't an idiot, 178 00:12:09,160 --> 00:12:12,000 Speaker 1: but his reach definitely exceeded his grasp and just about 179 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:13,640 Speaker 1: all of these plans. We don't want to spoil the 180 00:12:13,679 --> 00:12:17,000 Speaker 1: fun equals of poetry. I like it there. Yeah, yeah, So, 181 00:12:17,280 --> 00:12:20,600 Speaker 1: as you said, there there are three plans. Plan one 182 00:12:21,200 --> 00:12:24,800 Speaker 1: has some operational problems, right, has some non starters, not 183 00:12:24,960 --> 00:12:28,920 Speaker 1: just the lack of naval units on the German side, 184 00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:33,840 Speaker 1: but the fact that post Spanish American War, the cribbing 185 00:12:34,000 --> 00:12:36,720 Speaker 1: is lousy with US ships they're all over the place. 186 00:12:37,280 --> 00:12:40,320 Speaker 1: So they make another plan, Plan two of three. This 187 00:12:40,400 --> 00:12:43,360 Speaker 1: is the land invasion. Did they make? Is the land 188 00:12:43,360 --> 00:12:48,280 Speaker 1: invasion more reasonable now? Is it? Uh? Is it like 189 00:12:48,320 --> 00:12:52,280 Speaker 1: a smaller scope plan? Absolutely not, It's crazier, it's even bigger. 190 00:12:52,760 --> 00:12:55,240 Speaker 1: The Kaiser says, okay, so the naval stuff is not 191 00:12:55,280 --> 00:12:57,959 Speaker 1: gonna work out in this eight. So he goes to 192 00:12:58,040 --> 00:13:01,720 Speaker 1: von Mante as you said, and he said, is this time, 193 00:13:02,400 --> 00:13:04,920 Speaker 1: give me a plan. Give me a scenario in which 194 00:13:05,240 --> 00:13:10,560 Speaker 1: we invade New York City and Boston will need and 195 00:13:10,600 --> 00:13:14,840 Speaker 1: the plan requires sixty warships. Remember again they don't have 196 00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:19,480 Speaker 1: very many ships. Uh, supply chain with sixty cargo and 197 00:13:19,640 --> 00:13:25,319 Speaker 1: troops ships carrying thousand tons of coal, hundred thousand soldiers 198 00:13:26,120 --> 00:13:30,560 Speaker 1: huge amount of artillery, and the invasion force would have 199 00:13:30,679 --> 00:13:34,120 Speaker 1: taken a little less than a month to cross the Atlantic. 200 00:13:34,160 --> 00:13:37,079 Speaker 1: It's twenty five days. You can you can read more 201 00:13:37,080 --> 00:13:39,800 Speaker 1: about this as well with some direct quotes on American 202 00:13:39,880 --> 00:13:43,040 Speaker 1: heritage dot com about the German plan to evade America. 203 00:13:43,360 --> 00:13:46,800 Speaker 1: The idea was that they would have this huge naval 204 00:13:46,840 --> 00:13:51,040 Speaker 1: battle and they would secure superiority over US ships and 205 00:13:51,120 --> 00:13:55,400 Speaker 1: naval forces, and then German troops would make an amphibious 206 00:13:55,480 --> 00:13:59,080 Speaker 1: landing at Cape Cod. From there they would go to Boston. 207 00:13:59,280 --> 00:14:02,440 Speaker 1: They would fire or artillery into the city, so they'd 208 00:14:02,440 --> 00:14:06,160 Speaker 1: be attacking civilians here. And for the attack on New York, 209 00:14:06,200 --> 00:14:09,800 Speaker 1: they would land at Sandy Hook, New Jersey, and warships 210 00:14:09,800 --> 00:14:13,840 Speaker 1: would fire at the harbor, going through Fort Hamilton's and Tompkins, 211 00:14:14,080 --> 00:14:16,680 Speaker 1: and then they would go to Manhattan and they would 212 00:14:16,720 --> 00:14:20,240 Speaker 1: try They were purposely going to target civilians to make 213 00:14:20,280 --> 00:14:24,000 Speaker 1: people panic, to make the authorities have to concentrate on 214 00:14:24,080 --> 00:14:27,880 Speaker 1: controlling and saving the civilian population as well as fighting 215 00:14:27,920 --> 00:14:33,840 Speaker 1: off these German forces. And then von Nantee was actually 216 00:14:33,880 --> 00:14:36,160 Speaker 1: kind of bullish on this one. He said, you know, 217 00:14:37,080 --> 00:14:40,200 Speaker 1: two to three battalions of infantry and just one battalion 218 00:14:40,280 --> 00:14:44,520 Speaker 1: of sappers should be efficient, and a sapper is a 219 00:14:45,360 --> 00:14:50,000 Speaker 1: term for a military engineer or combat engineer. So they'll 220 00:14:50,040 --> 00:14:54,440 Speaker 1: like lay mines, they'll prepare defenses. They're also specializing in 221 00:14:54,480 --> 00:14:58,400 Speaker 1: demolitions and breaching fortifications. Go, it was not aware of 222 00:14:58,400 --> 00:15:01,680 Speaker 1: this term. It's like lane sea essentially, doesn't it almost 223 00:15:01,680 --> 00:15:03,760 Speaker 1: sound like a term of abuse. Are sort of like 224 00:15:03,760 --> 00:15:05,920 Speaker 1: like a negative thing, like the old sap. Are you 225 00:15:06,840 --> 00:15:09,560 Speaker 1: it does? It does because we call people a sap. 226 00:15:10,720 --> 00:15:15,960 Speaker 1: So these two plans now are collectively called von Mantes 227 00:15:16,280 --> 00:15:21,640 Speaker 1: Winter Correspondence. If you use the right tone, winter Correspondence, 228 00:15:21,960 --> 00:15:24,840 Speaker 1: it sounds like it's the name of an outdated perfume, 229 00:15:25,120 --> 00:15:27,760 Speaker 1: you know what I mean. It sounds like Elizabeth Taylor's 230 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:32,360 Speaker 1: new fragrance Winter Correspondence. Very formal though it is. It is, 231 00:15:32,520 --> 00:15:36,360 Speaker 1: it is. It's definitely not not the late night perfume 232 00:15:36,440 --> 00:15:39,880 Speaker 1: exactly now. It's like for the formal, you know. Indeed, 233 00:15:40,400 --> 00:15:45,880 Speaker 1: So this stuff, these plans were kept active, which means 234 00:15:45,960 --> 00:15:50,880 Speaker 1: they were still being considered and maybe tinkered with for 235 00:15:50,360 --> 00:15:53,680 Speaker 1: a for about ten years as Berlin kept trying to 236 00:15:53,760 --> 00:15:59,000 Speaker 1: expand its influence, and uh von Mante we know, continued 237 00:15:59,080 --> 00:16:01,000 Speaker 1: to think about this. Sure. Have we talked a little 238 00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:04,640 Speaker 1: bit about Count Alfred von Schliffen, No, not yet. Yeah, 239 00:16:04,760 --> 00:16:08,640 Speaker 1: he was the chief of Staff at the time, and 240 00:16:08,720 --> 00:16:13,280 Speaker 1: he considered these plans to be a series of fools errands. Right. 241 00:16:13,600 --> 00:16:18,000 Speaker 1: He thought that the idea of attacking a country three 242 00:16:18,040 --> 00:16:22,840 Speaker 1: thousand miles away it is possibly not the best idea. 243 00:16:22,960 --> 00:16:25,200 Speaker 1: I thought it was a terrible idea. Yeah. He literally 244 00:16:25,240 --> 00:16:28,240 Speaker 1: thought that it could become some kind of ship show. 245 00:16:28,440 --> 00:16:30,440 Speaker 1: Literally would be a ship show because there's ships involved. 246 00:16:30,480 --> 00:16:32,840 Speaker 1: To um. So here's the thing. We also have a 247 00:16:32,840 --> 00:16:36,120 Speaker 1: guy named Admiral Turpitz, who was considered the father of 248 00:16:36,120 --> 00:16:38,120 Speaker 1: the German navy. He was all about it, but he's 249 00:16:38,200 --> 00:16:40,080 Speaker 1: like a hawk, you know, which you would refer to 250 00:16:40,160 --> 00:16:42,040 Speaker 1: as a war He wanted to just like go out 251 00:16:42,040 --> 00:16:43,880 Speaker 1: there and show off his new toys. He had these 252 00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:46,720 Speaker 1: flotilla that they hadn't been able to deploy yet. This 253 00:16:46,760 --> 00:16:49,520 Speaker 1: is a great opportunity well, and it also could turn 254 00:16:49,560 --> 00:16:53,800 Speaker 1: into more funding for the fleet because see, this is 255 00:16:53,840 --> 00:16:57,560 Speaker 1: a thing that happens in every military. Of course, the 256 00:16:57,600 --> 00:17:03,080 Speaker 1: guy who's in charge of hammers one to find nails everywhere, right, 257 00:17:03,320 --> 00:17:06,320 Speaker 1: So if you're a hammer, every problem it's like a nail, right, 258 00:17:06,520 --> 00:17:10,680 Speaker 1: and this is an opportunity for the admiral to receive 259 00:17:10,800 --> 00:17:14,359 Speaker 1: more funding to build more ships, which gives him more power. 260 00:17:14,640 --> 00:17:18,280 Speaker 1: It's like the way Trump loves those invisible planes and right, 261 00:17:18,359 --> 00:17:20,600 Speaker 1: and he really wants to see them deployed. And von 262 00:17:20,680 --> 00:17:24,000 Speaker 1: Schlieflin he was still really loyal to the Kaiser. He 263 00:17:24,119 --> 00:17:28,080 Speaker 1: was his boy. So he didn't say anything. Yeah, he 264 00:17:28,119 --> 00:17:33,760 Speaker 1: didn't say anything. And at one at one very crucial point, 265 00:17:33,920 --> 00:17:36,400 Speaker 1: history hinges on this kind of stuff, folks. At one 266 00:17:36,480 --> 00:17:41,080 Speaker 1: crucial point, he was on the verge of ordering the 267 00:17:41,119 --> 00:17:44,960 Speaker 1: invasion of New York and then he stopped and he said, look, 268 00:17:45,280 --> 00:17:50,800 Speaker 1: the problem is, we just don't have the manpower for this, right. Uh. 269 00:17:51,040 --> 00:17:54,120 Speaker 1: It seems like a lot of people didn't even They 270 00:17:54,119 --> 00:17:56,520 Speaker 1: got so carried away, they got so in the bubble 271 00:17:56,960 --> 00:18:00,879 Speaker 1: that they didn't think of the implications of beginning this 272 00:18:01,080 --> 00:18:03,840 Speaker 1: much less actually carrying it out. And there's a great 273 00:18:03,920 --> 00:18:07,520 Speaker 1: article in the Guardian called German Archive reveals Kaiser's Plan 274 00:18:07,600 --> 00:18:11,359 Speaker 1: to Evade America by Kate Connolly, a journalists we've mentioned 275 00:18:11,400 --> 00:18:14,639 Speaker 1: before on this show, that breaks down some of the 276 00:18:14,880 --> 00:18:18,280 Speaker 1: blow by blow. Remember these are just the first two plans. 277 00:18:18,280 --> 00:18:23,920 Speaker 1: By nine, will Helm says, you know what, alright, alright, alright, alright, guys, 278 00:18:23,920 --> 00:18:26,119 Speaker 1: maybe I was getting a little hot under the collar. 279 00:18:26,600 --> 00:18:31,080 Speaker 1: Maybe we can't launch an invasion force from Germany, but 280 00:18:31,240 --> 00:18:34,560 Speaker 1: I still need that base in Cuba. And this leads 281 00:18:34,640 --> 00:18:36,760 Speaker 1: us to Plan three, Yeah, which is kind of a 282 00:18:36,760 --> 00:18:39,040 Speaker 1: mash shop, right, sort of a remix of the other 283 00:18:39,080 --> 00:18:41,840 Speaker 1: two that involves some some little tweaks. This was a 284 00:18:41,840 --> 00:18:43,440 Speaker 1: little bit more of a sensible kind of version of 285 00:18:43,440 --> 00:18:47,560 Speaker 1: the plan where they buy their time, they would establish 286 00:18:47,920 --> 00:18:51,879 Speaker 1: um a stronghold in Cuba, and uh, I don't know. 287 00:18:51,920 --> 00:18:55,119 Speaker 1: It kind of depended on sort of catching the attention 288 00:18:55,520 --> 00:18:57,359 Speaker 1: of the United States where it's like, oh man, they 289 00:18:57,400 --> 00:19:00,920 Speaker 1: mean business and now we're we're panicking. Um. That sort 290 00:19:00,960 --> 00:19:04,240 Speaker 1: of kills the element of surprise there. But uh, there's 291 00:19:04,320 --> 00:19:07,240 Speaker 1: will get into why none of these things were ever 292 00:19:07,320 --> 00:19:16,119 Speaker 1: going to happen. So all of these plans have a 293 00:19:16,160 --> 00:19:18,920 Speaker 1: couple of things in common. I would say maybe two 294 00:19:18,920 --> 00:19:22,439 Speaker 1: to three. First, it requires a massive build up of 295 00:19:22,480 --> 00:19:25,720 Speaker 1: German forces, right more than they have at the time, 296 00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:30,240 Speaker 1: and that build up has to occur in secret. That's 297 00:19:30,320 --> 00:19:35,520 Speaker 1: number one. Two, there can't be a big war in Europe, 298 00:19:35,920 --> 00:19:41,199 Speaker 1: a troubled, troubled continent that is pretty famous for having 299 00:19:41,320 --> 00:19:43,480 Speaker 1: at this time for having countries almost always a war 300 00:19:43,520 --> 00:19:46,760 Speaker 1: with one another totally. And then lastly they would have 301 00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:51,680 Speaker 1: to catch Uncle Sam by surprise. This is tough because 302 00:19:51,840 --> 00:19:56,760 Speaker 1: the US would likely, through its European allies, already be 303 00:19:56,960 --> 00:19:59,639 Speaker 1: very well aware of any German build up and probably 304 00:19:59,680 --> 00:20:02,199 Speaker 1: spend some manpower trying to figure out why they were 305 00:20:02,200 --> 00:20:05,359 Speaker 1: building up their forces. By the first decade of the 306 00:20:05,400 --> 00:20:09,040 Speaker 1: twenty century, we know that a lot of things started 307 00:20:09,359 --> 00:20:15,520 Speaker 1: going wrong. Germany witnessed a shift of domestic power in Europe. 308 00:20:16,240 --> 00:20:19,399 Speaker 1: France and Britain decided that they would grow up, so 309 00:20:19,560 --> 00:20:24,000 Speaker 1: now they're buddies, and they started shifting their forces elsewhere. 310 00:20:24,520 --> 00:20:29,280 Speaker 1: And then Germany wasn't able to get ahead of Britain 311 00:20:29,440 --> 00:20:33,359 Speaker 1: in the naval arms race. At the same time, well, 312 00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:37,000 Speaker 1: this is all happening in Europe. Can Currently, the US 313 00:20:37,119 --> 00:20:41,119 Speaker 1: begins to assert itself more in its sphere of influence 314 00:20:41,160 --> 00:20:45,280 Speaker 1: we talked about right the Caribbean, Central and South America. UH, 315 00:20:45,400 --> 00:20:49,879 Speaker 1: the US demonstrates a new variation on the Monroe doctrine, 316 00:20:50,320 --> 00:20:54,159 Speaker 1: something that people would call the Roosevelt corollary to the 317 00:20:54,240 --> 00:20:57,879 Speaker 1: Monroe doctrine. That's Theodore Roosevelt. Uh, And it's referring to 318 00:20:57,960 --> 00:21:02,320 Speaker 1: the time that the US sent naval forces to intervene 319 00:21:02,359 --> 00:21:06,320 Speaker 1: in the Venezuela Crisis of nineteen o two. The Roosevelt 320 00:21:06,320 --> 00:21:11,080 Speaker 1: corollary essentially states this that the US will intervene in 321 00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:15,840 Speaker 1: conflicts between European and Latin American countries. And this is 322 00:21:15,880 --> 00:21:19,280 Speaker 1: one of those policies that made the US what we 323 00:21:19,359 --> 00:21:23,280 Speaker 1: call a police power. Now. Just because these three plans 324 00:21:23,320 --> 00:21:27,760 Speaker 1: didn't work null, Uh, that doesn't mean Germany ever lost 325 00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:32,200 Speaker 1: its interest in, if not directly invading the US, seeing 326 00:21:32,240 --> 00:21:35,040 Speaker 1: it invaded. It kind of held onto that one, right, 327 00:21:35,520 --> 00:21:37,399 Speaker 1: I mean absolutely, Like as we established from the top 328 00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:41,199 Speaker 1: of the show, Um Kaiser Wilhelm was just you know, 329 00:21:41,640 --> 00:21:45,000 Speaker 1: he had a real bone to pick with everything about America. 330 00:21:45,080 --> 00:21:47,840 Speaker 1: I was gonna do whatever he could to either see 331 00:21:47,960 --> 00:21:52,119 Speaker 1: it fail, invade it personally, or just bad mouth that, 332 00:21:52,320 --> 00:21:55,040 Speaker 1: you know in his diaries. On a microcosmic level. It's 333 00:21:55,080 --> 00:21:57,240 Speaker 1: kind of like the way some people talk about their exes, 334 00:21:57,560 --> 00:22:00,320 Speaker 1: you know what I mean. It's strange. And even during 335 00:22:00,359 --> 00:22:02,960 Speaker 1: World War One, just like a little more in ten 336 00:22:03,040 --> 00:22:07,440 Speaker 1: years later, Germany was talking to Mexico and saying, hey, 337 00:22:07,480 --> 00:22:10,360 Speaker 1: you know what you should do. You should invade the US. 338 00:22:10,400 --> 00:22:14,320 Speaker 1: That would be hilarious and it would be awesome, and 339 00:22:14,359 --> 00:22:17,040 Speaker 1: we can both agree that's a pretty snooty country, right. 340 00:22:17,840 --> 00:22:21,760 Speaker 1: The US learned about this proposal because of something called 341 00:22:21,760 --> 00:22:25,040 Speaker 1: the Zimmerman Telegram. But let's let's pause for a second, because, 342 00:22:25,080 --> 00:22:28,600 Speaker 1: as we said, none of these plans came to fruition. 343 00:22:29,440 --> 00:22:33,000 Speaker 1: But it does give us an interesting opportunity. There were 344 00:22:33,040 --> 00:22:36,520 Speaker 1: several close calls, and this allows us to speculate on 345 00:22:36,840 --> 00:22:41,199 Speaker 1: what might have happened. We know the Kaiser and his 346 00:22:41,200 --> 00:22:44,880 Speaker 1: administration were seriously planning this, and they put a lot 347 00:22:44,880 --> 00:22:48,679 Speaker 1: of thought into it. But would it have worked, What 348 00:22:48,720 --> 00:22:51,320 Speaker 1: would have happened if they tried at least? I mean, 349 00:22:51,359 --> 00:22:53,440 Speaker 1: it's hard to say. We know a little bit about 350 00:22:53,440 --> 00:22:56,320 Speaker 1: what might have happened, but we also know that Germany 351 00:22:56,400 --> 00:22:59,439 Speaker 1: just wasn't set up for this at all, like in 352 00:22:59,520 --> 00:23:02,560 Speaker 1: terms of sheer number of ships. And that's even if 353 00:23:02,600 --> 00:23:07,280 Speaker 1: they had some kind of you know, stronghold fortress, impenetrable 354 00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:10,480 Speaker 1: you know, base close enough to United States to actually 355 00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:14,720 Speaker 1: amass some forces. Um. But the thing is the US 356 00:23:14,760 --> 00:23:17,440 Speaker 1: probably would have known about that before they even met 357 00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:21,080 Speaker 1: on the field or the waters of battle. Right, we 358 00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:26,040 Speaker 1: just have this un mess with Herble Navy that you 359 00:23:26,119 --> 00:23:28,560 Speaker 1: just can't you can't really go up against unless you're 360 00:23:29,359 --> 00:23:32,159 Speaker 1: set up to do so. They just weren't. Plus it's 361 00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:36,480 Speaker 1: tough to cross an ocean in that with those numbers 362 00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:40,720 Speaker 1: in secret. And even if okay, even if they had 363 00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:43,280 Speaker 1: attacked let's say they weren't with the plan to attack 364 00:23:43,359 --> 00:23:47,600 Speaker 1: New York City in Boston. Theodore Roosevelt is president at 365 00:23:47,600 --> 00:23:51,800 Speaker 1: the time, and as as we know from previous episodes 366 00:23:51,880 --> 00:23:55,160 Speaker 1: on this president, he's not really a backdown guy. Right 367 00:23:55,240 --> 00:23:58,280 Speaker 1: he faces down Rhino's Big Game and so on. Not 368 00:23:58,400 --> 00:24:03,879 Speaker 1: only would he probably have refused to negotiate, Uh, it 369 00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:06,840 Speaker 1: also doesn't really matter who the president was at the time. 370 00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:11,000 Speaker 1: Just in the numbers of forces, the US would be 371 00:24:11,040 --> 00:24:14,200 Speaker 1: able to pull things together very quickly because it's a 372 00:24:14,320 --> 00:24:18,200 Speaker 1: it's a home game for them, But the German forces 373 00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:20,960 Speaker 1: would be at the mercy of supply chains and any 374 00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:25,919 Speaker 1: assistance they could get from third parties, whatever those might be. Right. Also, 375 00:24:26,280 --> 00:24:30,000 Speaker 1: this is an ugly truth if it lasted for any 376 00:24:30,359 --> 00:24:33,480 Speaker 1: long amount of time or met with any modicum of success. 377 00:24:33,960 --> 00:24:37,399 Speaker 1: Um in any fashion. Then it's quite possible that a 378 00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:40,800 Speaker 1: lot of German Americans would have been discriminated against, maybe 379 00:24:40,800 --> 00:24:43,560 Speaker 1: even placed in camps the way Japanese Americans were during 380 00:24:43,560 --> 00:24:46,919 Speaker 1: World War Two. It's very good that this didn't happen. 381 00:24:47,560 --> 00:24:53,600 Speaker 1: It's one of those close calls, just from from multiple angles. 382 00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:57,840 Speaker 1: It's very difficult to physically invade the US because of 383 00:24:57,880 --> 00:25:02,320 Speaker 1: the rise and information technology and what we call asymmetrical warfare. 384 00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:05,960 Speaker 1: The best and most popular way to invade the United 385 00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:12,400 Speaker 1: States now from within is from within, through through telecommunications 386 00:25:12,560 --> 00:25:15,680 Speaker 1: right and through you know bots, things like that, to 387 00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:18,960 Speaker 1: to mess with the mind, to gaslight the nation, rather 388 00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:23,080 Speaker 1: than to attack its harbor's physically. Uh. And that's that's 389 00:25:23,080 --> 00:25:26,480 Speaker 1: our story. If if Kaiser Wilhelm too had Twitter, who 390 00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:29,040 Speaker 1: knows what would be happening right now? He would be 391 00:25:29,080 --> 00:25:32,440 Speaker 1: tweeting up storms. I guarantee, don't you think I believe you? 392 00:25:32,480 --> 00:25:34,280 Speaker 1: Guys seem to really like to hear himself talking. He 393 00:25:34,359 --> 00:25:37,480 Speaker 1: was also a big fan of of wiener dogs, you 394 00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:42,640 Speaker 1: know that been Docksin's. They're called deaf tubes for badgers 395 00:25:42,680 --> 00:25:46,080 Speaker 1: and other bowering animals. That's right. Um. He actually was 396 00:25:46,200 --> 00:25:50,800 Speaker 1: eventually exiled from Germany because he was responsible, I mean 397 00:25:50,840 --> 00:25:54,520 Speaker 1: this kind of blustering nature that he had, Um was 398 00:25:54,600 --> 00:25:58,639 Speaker 1: responsible for steering Germany into the First World War. They 399 00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:04,080 Speaker 1: ended up being disastrously defeated in nineteen eighteen, and Um 400 00:26:04,160 --> 00:26:07,960 Speaker 1: he was kind of seen as the scapegoat, the fall 401 00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:10,439 Speaker 1: guy for that, and he was because he single handedly 402 00:26:10,760 --> 00:26:14,320 Speaker 1: pushed the country into that. Um. But he was actually 403 00:26:14,359 --> 00:26:18,480 Speaker 1: allowed to escape being charged with war crimes for a 404 00:26:18,520 --> 00:26:21,359 Speaker 1: lot of the German atrocities and was eventually exiled to 405 00:26:21,480 --> 00:26:24,480 Speaker 1: Holland where he lived in a you know, a modest 406 00:26:24,560 --> 00:26:31,000 Speaker 1: castle called hoss dorn Um where he kept several docsins Um. 407 00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:35,240 Speaker 1: He had Wattle, Hexel and senta Um and he had 408 00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:37,560 Speaker 1: a few others as well and had five of them 409 00:26:37,600 --> 00:26:41,760 Speaker 1: buried at this this modest castle where he lived in exile. 410 00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:44,159 Speaker 1: Um and those are the most famous ones that I 411 00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:47,840 Speaker 1: mentioned the names of. And Senta was always with him 412 00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:51,159 Speaker 1: when he was during during the war, and that is 413 00:26:51,560 --> 00:26:55,800 Speaker 1: what earned that creature an actual like a headstone with 414 00:26:55,880 --> 00:27:00,440 Speaker 1: a with a very sentimental um dedication. He also reminds 415 00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:05,760 Speaker 1: me of the Prussian King Frederick Wilhelm, the First of Prussia, 416 00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:10,680 Speaker 1: in that he had he had this weird military. I 417 00:27:10,800 --> 00:27:13,200 Speaker 1: hesitate to use the word, but he had a military fetish, 418 00:27:13,320 --> 00:27:17,439 Speaker 1: especially for uniforms. He was obsessed with them. Apparently he 419 00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:21,479 Speaker 1: thought dressing gowns were for WIMPs and milk toast types, 420 00:27:21,960 --> 00:27:26,800 Speaker 1: but he himself had more than four hundred military uniforms. 421 00:27:27,200 --> 00:27:30,480 Speaker 1: He was known to have them for every occasion. He 422 00:27:30,520 --> 00:27:35,160 Speaker 1: would have uniforms for going to parties, uniforms for eating out, uh, 423 00:27:35,359 --> 00:27:38,119 Speaker 1: some informal uniforms when he's just kind of doing his 424 00:27:38,240 --> 00:27:41,320 Speaker 1: version in Netflix and chill at home. He had uniforms 425 00:27:41,359 --> 00:27:46,439 Speaker 1: to greet other uniform people. And he also did really 426 00:27:46,920 --> 00:27:48,879 Speaker 1: we're not joking at the beginning there. He did have 427 00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:54,040 Speaker 1: a helmet of solid gold, and when he was informal receptions, 428 00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:57,680 Speaker 1: he would change his wardrobe like five or six times 429 00:27:57,720 --> 00:28:02,080 Speaker 1: in one night. And like, here's how here's how specific 430 00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:06,320 Speaker 1: and strange it was. And picture this description with a 431 00:28:06,400 --> 00:28:09,600 Speaker 1: bevy of of wiener dogs or badger death tubes running 432 00:28:09,640 --> 00:28:14,520 Speaker 1: around his ankles. Whenever he ate plumb pudding, he insisted 433 00:28:14,560 --> 00:28:18,840 Speaker 1: on dressing as a British admiral. He also wanted to 434 00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:23,760 Speaker 1: design his army's uniforms, but they were pretty horrible designs 435 00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:27,240 Speaker 1: like they didn't really fit the soldiers. Uh. They you 436 00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:30,959 Speaker 1: couldn't move around in them. They itched in the summer, 437 00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:34,960 Speaker 1: they weren't warm in the winter. But the big Daddy 438 00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:38,920 Speaker 1: of the army liked their style. So a lot of 439 00:28:39,040 --> 00:28:43,960 Speaker 1: us listening to today's episode are wondering about the timing. 440 00:28:44,760 --> 00:28:48,880 Speaker 1: Kaiser Wilhelm the Second was born in eighteen fifty nine 441 00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:53,640 Speaker 1: on the seven January, and he passed away in June four, 442 00:28:54,040 --> 00:28:58,360 Speaker 1: nineteen forty one. He was the last German Emperor and 443 00:28:58,720 --> 00:29:02,160 Speaker 1: King of Prussia. However, if you if you noticed the 444 00:29:02,240 --> 00:29:07,000 Speaker 1: timeline there, he was alive while Adolf Hitler was alive, 445 00:29:08,480 --> 00:29:10,600 Speaker 1: you know, after he had steered Germany in the World 446 00:29:10,600 --> 00:29:13,880 Speaker 1: War One. In Germany was defeated ninet eighteen, and he 447 00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:17,120 Speaker 1: was exiled in Holland, as as I believe you mentioned earlier, 448 00:29:17,240 --> 00:29:20,760 Speaker 1: not yet he lived in that he lived in that 449 00:29:20,880 --> 00:29:25,360 Speaker 1: small castle, but he kept his eyes on Germany. He 450 00:29:25,480 --> 00:29:28,880 Speaker 1: was writing his memoirs and blaming the First World War 451 00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:33,920 Speaker 1: on everyone except for one guy himself. And yeah, and 452 00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:38,280 Speaker 1: in nineteen forty he wrote a really weird telegram to 453 00:29:38,440 --> 00:29:43,240 Speaker 1: Adolf Hitler and said, congratulations, you have one using my troops, 454 00:29:43,640 --> 00:29:46,120 Speaker 1: and he was thinking he was like, all right, as 455 00:29:46,160 --> 00:29:49,560 Speaker 1: a good German, Hitler is going to restore my throne 456 00:29:49,720 --> 00:29:53,760 Speaker 1: right now. Hitler already was was on record as having 457 00:29:53,960 --> 00:29:57,840 Speaker 1: as not liking right at all. Right, he turned him down, 458 00:29:58,120 --> 00:30:00,840 Speaker 1: he said nope, and didn't get him a soft pass, 459 00:30:00,960 --> 00:30:05,120 Speaker 1: really just snubbed him. Kaiser was mad, and he said, okay, 460 00:30:05,280 --> 00:30:08,800 Speaker 1: don't send my body back to Germany until the monarchy 461 00:30:08,840 --> 00:30:12,000 Speaker 1: and the real rule of laws restored. And he said, 462 00:30:12,040 --> 00:30:15,200 Speaker 1: and also no Nazi stuff at my funeral. Yeah, they 463 00:30:15,720 --> 00:30:20,920 Speaker 1: did not honor those wishes whatsoever. His his estate was 464 00:30:21,000 --> 00:30:27,640 Speaker 1: absolutely covered with swastika's. Yeah, and there there ends the 465 00:30:27,760 --> 00:30:33,400 Speaker 1: story of Kaiser Wilhelm two's ill faded plan to invade 466 00:30:33,440 --> 00:30:35,800 Speaker 1: the United States. He did get a little bit of 467 00:30:35,800 --> 00:30:38,000 Speaker 1: a bone thrown to him, literally, his his own bones 468 00:30:38,320 --> 00:30:41,560 Speaker 1: were left there in a masoleum um in Holland rather 469 00:30:41,560 --> 00:30:44,160 Speaker 1: than returned back to Germany. So he got a little 470 00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:47,120 Speaker 1: song that he wanted, I guess. So. Yeah, but look, 471 00:30:47,160 --> 00:30:49,080 Speaker 1: if you look at the list of stuff, this guy 472 00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:53,160 Speaker 1: wanted a lot. He wanted a lot and didn't have 473 00:30:53,240 --> 00:30:56,000 Speaker 1: too much reciprocation. I think it was just so focused 474 00:30:56,040 --> 00:30:58,840 Speaker 1: on expanding his empire that he went a little bit 475 00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:01,440 Speaker 1: into mad king terry. Absolutely this thing I always wonder 476 00:31:01,440 --> 00:31:04,840 Speaker 1: about these kinds of monarchs, like is it all it's 477 00:31:04,880 --> 00:31:08,280 Speaker 1: all just for their own glory, Like it's not even 478 00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:14,000 Speaker 1: like even these plans were so poorly thought out, they 479 00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:17,280 Speaker 1: weren't realistic to achieve it was obviously does he was 480 00:31:17,320 --> 00:31:20,200 Speaker 1: just bluster and just wanting to kind of make himself 481 00:31:20,240 --> 00:31:23,280 Speaker 1: out to be some sort of you know, military genius 482 00:31:23,320 --> 00:31:26,000 Speaker 1: when his own military advisors are like, no, man, this 483 00:31:26,080 --> 00:31:28,239 Speaker 1: is this is not gonna work. He wanted to be 484 00:31:28,280 --> 00:31:32,160 Speaker 1: a conquering king. And the strange thing about conquering kings 485 00:31:32,280 --> 00:31:37,360 Speaker 1: or any kind of conquering, despot expansionist oriented leader is 486 00:31:37,400 --> 00:31:41,840 Speaker 1: that often they're they're piss poor maintainers of a kingdom 487 00:31:41,840 --> 00:31:44,720 Speaker 1: and empire or a country. You know, they spend so 488 00:31:44,760 --> 00:31:48,280 Speaker 1: much time focusing on growing stuff that they don't support 489 00:31:48,800 --> 00:31:52,120 Speaker 1: the people who already lived there, were already part of 490 00:31:52,120 --> 00:31:54,720 Speaker 1: their kingdom, their empire or their country. Yeah, that feels 491 00:31:54,760 --> 00:31:57,280 Speaker 1: like tales all as time. It's almost like, you know, 492 00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:01,120 Speaker 1: they're the least of of their concern. And so we 493 00:32:01,240 --> 00:32:05,520 Speaker 1: draw a close to today's episode, but not the show. 494 00:32:05,640 --> 00:32:08,080 Speaker 1: As we said at the beginning, let's check back in 495 00:32:08,200 --> 00:32:10,600 Speaker 1: with our guests. Super producer j J j J was 496 00:32:10,680 --> 00:32:13,720 Speaker 1: still thumbs up or thumbs down? Oh, thumbs up. Okay, 497 00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:16,640 Speaker 1: you're not thumbs upping the Kaiser's plan, are you? I 498 00:32:16,640 --> 00:32:20,400 Speaker 1: am not thumbs upping the Kaiser's plan. Not into that great, 499 00:32:21,320 --> 00:32:24,880 Speaker 1: that's j j uh. So Thank you so thanks so much, man, 500 00:32:24,920 --> 00:32:28,200 Speaker 1: seriously for for joining us on today's episode. Thanks as 501 00:32:28,240 --> 00:32:31,800 Speaker 1: always to our super producer Casey Pegram. Thanks to Alex Williams, 502 00:32:31,800 --> 00:32:36,160 Speaker 1: who composed our theme, um research associate Gabe Losier and 503 00:32:36,560 --> 00:32:40,520 Speaker 1: Ryan Barrish. Christopher Haciota is here in spirit as always. 504 00:32:40,840 --> 00:32:44,560 Speaker 1: Thanks of course to Eve's Jeff Coat, who recently finally 505 00:32:44,600 --> 00:32:47,320 Speaker 1: appeared on an episode of our show. Thanks for classing 506 00:32:47,320 --> 00:32:51,240 Speaker 1: it up their Eves uh And I don't want to 507 00:32:51,280 --> 00:32:55,479 Speaker 1: say thanks to the Kaiser, but I will say thanks 508 00:32:55,480 --> 00:32:59,120 Speaker 1: to everyone in the government at that time who kept 509 00:32:59,160 --> 00:33:02,400 Speaker 1: him from trying to invade the US. We'll see you 510 00:33:02,400 --> 00:33:16,720 Speaker 1: next time, Fooks. For more podcasts from My Heart Radio, 511 00:33:16,800 --> 00:33:19,440 Speaker 1: visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever 512 00:33:19,600 --> 00:33:21,120 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.