What if Spain gave the Philippines to Germany before the Treaty of Paris, like what France did with the territory of Louisiana in 1762 with Spain.
A Protestant Philippines is a possibility...
A Protestant Philippines is a possibility...
What if Spain gave the Philippines to Germany before the Treaty of Paris, like what France did with the territory of Louisiana in 1762 with Spain.
Before the signing of the Treaty of Paris but after Dewey had taken Manila? Wouldn't be recognized by any other power and its a bit too late for Germany to do anything.
Let's have it before Dewey take Manila.
Before or after the sinking of the USS Maine?
Which would be better?
In a ground war? Get their asses handed to them, a naval war? What is the Konigreich to do? Sure Prussian's were tough but they aren't going to swim to Cuba.Tell you what, let's make this really interesting.
What would be the most desirable price Spain could get from Germany for the Phillipines.
But what would the Spanish really want?
Help.
So, how about the Spanish offer territorial concessions, basing rights, and even a large chunk of the Phillipine Islands to Germany in return for their assistance in the upcoming war with America?
The US lucked out in attacking an incompetent, under-equipped, and largely demoralized Spanish garrison in Cuba and being massively superior to the antiquated Spanish Navy.
How would they do against Prussians?
In a ground war? Get their asses handed to them, a naval war? What is the Konigreich to do? Sure Prussian's were tough but they aren't going to swim to Cuba.
Prussia was a Land Power. They won wars when they could get a hold of you if your on the water meters away before the 1880s (and by that time it was Germany) the Prussians had no way of projecting power and the Spanish navy was nothing to write home about.
A Spanish/Prussian alliance is difficult, and I can only see it coming maybe from Otto von Bismark and he had no interest in overseas territories.
What if Spain gave the Philippines to Germany before the Treaty of Paris, like what France did with the territory of Louisiana in 1762 with Spain.
the OP said anytime before 1898, I was stating that the only way I could see an alliance between the two was through Otto von Bismark who was against overseas territories, and didn't want to keep France as a mortal enemy and surrounding them with Hohenzollerns would do just that.That response seems poorly thought out. Otto Von Bismarck was retired as Chancellor in 1890.
Germany's acquisitions of overseas territories took place between 1883 and 1885, so they'd already established an international profile.
In 1888 Kaiser Wilhelm II took over. His rule was characterized by a more adventurous foreign policy and a commitment to naval expansion. By 1894 Germany had four Brandenberg class battleships. In 1895 they committed to five more battleships of the Kaiser Friedrich III class (completed in 1902) (but potentially some of these might have been available in 1898.) One assumes that in this context, the Germans had at least a reasonable contingent of cruisers, destroyers, support ships, etc.
The 1898 German navy was not a challenge to the British navy. But then, no Navy on earth at that time did. And to be fair, that's now what we're looking at them doing. Their mandate may be much simpler and achievable.
We can also assume that they would have, by 1898 had or been able to improvise substantial troop transport. Remember that in 1898 they did have Pacific Island holdings, a chunk of New Guineau, the Bismarck Islands and substantial interests in China. There was both infrastructure in place for them out there, and more importantly, pre-existing logistics chains out to the region - so they only needed to expand rather than build from scratch. The Phillipines was not too far away.
And an alliance with Spain would have paid dividends in a couple of ways. The option to take all or part of the Phillipines of course. But also creating at least the appearance of a second front with France.
So I don't see an alliance of convenience or opportunism emerging between Germany and Spain going into the Spanish American war as being impossible or even high orders of unlikelihood.
Mind you, I'm no expert.