Any plausible way to invade US?

Glen

Moderator
Is it possible with any post-1900 POD to have a foreign invasion of the continental United States meet with some success?

I'm not talking about victory parades in San Francisco and Washington DC, just grab and occupy some territory for at least a month. Domestic revolt and the like don't count.

Actually, I could think of any number of ATLs that would allow Mexico or Canada to grab and hold a modest amount for a month or more.

Of course, payback's a b.....
 

Glen

Moderator
Actually, I could think of any number of ATLs that would allow Mexico or Canada to grab and hold a modest amount for a month or more.

Of course, payback's a b.....

A simple one would be to have the Zimmerman letter not be released, and Mexico decides to accept German aid in preparation for a possible military action against the US (I know the Mexicans would be foolish to do so, but they might feel emboldened once the Russians fold). With a heavy leavening of German advisors and arms, Mexico launches a somewhat surprise push into the US, though not very far, and just dig in. By the time the US is able to rouse itself to counterattack, the defensive works of the Mexican bulkwarks make them a slaughterhouse at first. The US takes a couple months to get its act together, but then simply bypasses the strongpoints in joint land and amphibious maneuvers to attack the Mexican heartland, and the Mexicans have to withdraw.

I can see them holding US territory for a couple months, but then they're going to get counter-invaded with a vengence, and their borders are too large to defend everywhere.
 

NothingNow

Banned
German Submariners Stranded on the Marquesas Keys In World War 2. The USCG doesn't notice them for a few months.
The stranded Submariners somehow manage to survive that period (No fresh water really, save that in the Coconuts.)

Rakhasa, that keeping the Keys thing is Totally ASB. (Not ripping into you. But Into the Author of the TL)
Key West wasn't called the "Gibraltar of the West" for nothing. The US wouldn't give up control of the Straights of Florida for anything in the period discussed.

BTW, They're not the Key Islands, They're The Keys, because they are the only things named that way on Earth. It's a local term that comes from the Spanish word Cayos. It was mistranslated by an Englishman and the term stuck.
 
With a heavy leavening of German advisors and arms,

I wonder why the Royal Navy should let these slip through the blockade. Would be a terrible logistical nightmare to get these from the Reich through - I have no idea where - to Mexico.
 
NothingNow, all you'd have to do to take over the Keys is cut the railroad and do a bit of shelling to blow whatever rainwater cisterns there are. Remember, no fresh water.
 
The Japanese might try for an invasion of Alaska, as they actually attempted in OTL during WW2.

It would seem that the Germans could get the Mexicans to do their dirty work for them in the Southwest, a la the Zimmerman telegram, and try to back it up with earlier development of submarine warfare (or maybe Zeppelin attacks?)
 
Well, a Mexican invasion is a possiblity but there is one real problem with it the nation of Mexico is in complete chaos. What forces the Mexican government could muster to invade the US would be of very low to low quality at best, infact it could turn out to be something like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ambos_Nogales except on a grander scale with the Mexican assualt just sort of petering out in the face of even a slim amount of real American resistance.

The US had been gradually building up forces on its Southern border for a long time, so even if those troops aren't exactly great in number they can provide enough of a defensive action to slow down a Mexican force that lacks any real artillery or heavy weapons of any kind. Also you COULD factor in American millitias who played a suprisingly a useful role in defence of border towns. Not exactly useful on the offense but the Pancho Villa raid on Columbus is any indication American millita could make a pontential headache for attack Mexican troops who are really, despite their uniforms (or what few had real ones) were in their own right of millitia quality any way.
 
I would like to add that any Mexican buildup or German interference was simply bound to be noticed and answered.
At the point the Mexicans attacked, I am sure the Yankees were more than ready to deal with them.

That is the naivete of the Zimmerman telegram. One could have sent it as well to the Apache.
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
The Soviet Union might have sent forces across the Bering Strait into Alaska in the event of a conventional World War III.
 
I suppose you could mass an army of peasants on the southern border and just walk into the Southwest United States... oh wait, Mexico already did that.

They decided it's in their interest to bring down the price of your produce and have hired millions of agents just for that...

It's still a less deadly invasion than the whites who walked across Mexico's northern border in the 1840s...and 1830s...and 1820s...and 1810s...and even 1800s. And they were heavily armed too.

Back to the POD.
The Plan of San Diego is delayed until the US is already in WWI. Carranza intervenes and south Texas, even with its Mexican majority, could still only hold out for a few months.
 
The best way to do this is go with the Royal Navy. The POD necessitates a falling out between the USA and Britain, but I think that is plausible with a 1900 POD--and I think the best POD would be to have war erupt in 1902 when both the British and Germans sent warships to the Venezuela coast and demanded the nation pay its debt. The USA also sent warships, saying this was a violation of the Monroe Doctrine. This erupts into war, and the USA moves into Canada. They meet stiff resistance by the British army, and by 1903, an Anglo-German task force is moving towards the Chesapeake...


Another POD, which is very easy, is to have Canada get bad information regarding American intentions in the mid-1920's. Thinking an invasion is inevitable. they launch Defense Scheme #1. Crazier things have happened.
 
Another POD, which is very easy, is to have Canada get bad information regarding American intentions in the mid-1920's. Thinking an invasion is inevitable. they launch Defense Scheme #1. Crazier things have happened.

I wonder how that would play out, when the Canadians meet almost no resistance and they seize their objectives and suddenly realize that there was no American threat. How would they weasle their way out of it? Would they just say sorry and go home? Would they dig and hold on? What do the British do now that one of the Commonwealth states attacked a neighbor without provication? Do they support Canada if the Americans attempt a counter attack? So much to think about.....
 
I assume you are talking about the contiguous 48, and a USA similar to the one in OTL. Anyone could create an AH in which the US is so weak, so divided, or so different from OTL that this could happen.

So we are talking about "our" USA, right? Anytime prior to the 1950's it would be fairly easy for a foreign power to invade and occupy (at least for a very short time) parts of Hawaii, Alaska. Regarding the contiguous 48, the only way in the 20th century a non-American power could sucessfully invade the US and stay for a while would be through Canada or Mexico, and then you have to presume some pretty odd things have happened in those places. I just don't see a successful seaborne or airborne invasion directly to the US working, period.

If I had to create a scenario, it might involve some way that Mexico gets allied (officially or unofficially) with someone like Germany or Japan in the early 20th century without invoking a US invasion right off the bat. Unlikely, but perhaps possible if the Mexicans and their allies are very, very careful, and the US undergoes an earlier transition away from Monroe Doctrine imperialism. Perhaps, after several decades of a gradual influx of (let's say German) military advisors, technicians, etc without any obvious threats to the US, the US lets its guard down and the Germans begin to build up military forces in Mexico, perhaps under the pretext of assisting Mexico in keeping Mayan rebellions in Yucatan or whatever under control. Create some multiple diversions making the US look elsewhere in the world at the critical time and the evil Krauts start a war, their forces and their Mexican puppets attack the SW USA, and the US cannot respond as effectively as it would like. The invasion would eventually be defeated, probably sooner rather than later, but the image of the Texas capitol dome in flames while Jackbooted forces of the Kaiser march into Austin is pretty darned irresistable.
 
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