Answered on the History Stack Exchange.
Between that and the Zimmerman Telegraph, the Junkers in WWI were in some ways as nutty as the Nazis in WWII. A lot of the Nazis' alleged world domination schemes were just exaggerated rumors or Alfred Rosenberg or somebody scribbling into notebooks. The German Empire really did want to mess with the Entente on other continents. You can see how one reich led to another.
Starting in September 1914, Papen abused his diplomatic immunity (which he enjoyed as German military attaché) and US neutrality to start organising plans for an invasion of Canada, recruiting both German-Americans and Irish-Americans who were to wear a cowboy uniform of Papen's own design to seize Canada in order to force the UK to make peace with Germany on German terms. In a prelude to the invasion of Canada, Papen planned on sending men into Canada to sabotage the Welland Canal together with plans to blow up bridges and railroads all over Canada, thereby shutting down the Canadian economy and making it impossible for the Canadians to send troops to Europe.In his reports to Berlin, Papen stated that he gave a US man, a Mr. Bridgeman-Taylor, some $500 to buy explosives to blow up the Welland Canal.
Between that and the Zimmerman Telegraph, the Junkers in WWI were in some ways as nutty as the Nazis in WWII. A lot of the Nazis' alleged world domination schemes were just exaggerated rumors or Alfred Rosenberg or somebody scribbling into notebooks. The German Empire really did want to mess with the Entente on other continents. You can see how one reich led to another.