Wank the german-american population as much possible

[Gukpard]

Distribution of Germn americans in 2000:

With a 1900 PoD, what is the best way to wank the german american population? With that I mean having more german-americans than anglo-americans or at least the major number of german americans without getting into ASB territory
One of the ways I can imagine that happening is having the US stay neutral in WWI (thus preventing the forced assimilation of germans) and having Germany to win the war and approach the USA after that
Could also the american army adopt german militaria? The USA army used The pickelhaube for a while:

What do you think?

 

[yourworstnightmare]

Have Germany lose the war badly and have US taking in loads of German refugees.
Having more German Americans than Anglo Americans is pretty ASBish though.

 

[Byzantion]

What do you think?[/QUOTE]

Maybe without a WW1 less pressure to assimilate, thus still a visible German culture in the US. Newspapers, City names, Schools, German langue in public remains. In the early 20th Century up to WW1 this was the case. Maybe just statbilize the identity of Germans as Germans in the US rather than dramatically increasing their numbers.

 

[Cryhavoc101]

Have the war of 1870 go Frances way and Napoleon the 3rd's 2nd French Empire continues and becomes the big bad in Europe - having inflicted heavy sanctions on Germany as war reparations.

This drives a poorer period for Germany and the UK does not rebuild relations with the 3rd Republic (as it does not happen) and instead learns the German word for Entente Cordiale (which according to Google is um....Entente Cordiale) and by the 1st decade relations are awful between Britain and France - with several minor wars in the peripheries of Empire.

Given the above and France having an Alliance with Russia - Britain seeks to build an Alliance with Germany, AH and Italy and in the subsequent WW1 Analogy the Germanic-Italian alliance defeats the Franco-Russian one

In fact the Kaiser in this TL serves until his crowning as an officer in the Royal Navy

Given the above - greater numbers of Germans seek a better life in the new world in the period 1872-1910

As for US Uniforms - until 1871 the US Army had followed the French Army in all things including uniforms and facial hair trends - not surprising given the French army's support in the war of independence and for much of the 19C being perceived as the best army in the world.

This of course changed in 1871 and the US Army began to take greater notice of the German Army.

In my proposed TL this does not happen but with 10s of thousands of 'German Americans' joining the German Army in our WW1 analogy and the US eventually joining this Germanic - Italian Alliance and being on the victorious side the post WW1 US Army takes much away from the German One - including uniforms and facial hair trends.

There - how did I do?

 

[Carl Schwamberger]

What do you think?

Maybe without a WW1 less pressure to assimilate, thus still a visible German culture in the US. Newspapers, City names, Schools, German langue in public remains. In the early 20th Century up to WW1 this was the case. Maybe just statbilize the identity of Germans as Germans in the US rather than dramatically increasing their numbers.[/QUOTE]

This. What with being the bad guy in two major wars the Germans are not allowed nice things anymore. Absent the Great War my Grossvaters generation continues to use Deutch alongside English, there is more overt interchange with Germany German Kultur is more visible & prevalent. I mean wouldn't you rather party in a jolly biergarten than a dirty rough saloon?

Since a lot of the 'English' in the US is actually former French, Irish, Norse, Dutch, ect... who also abandoned their residual old world trappings during the 20th Century Americanization surge the proportion of English in the overall population is reduced.

 

[Carl Schwamberger]

I wonder how young Irwin would have done in the US had his father followed his Rommel cousins in emigrating to Benton County Indiana?

 

[Asami]

Since a lot of the 'English' in the US is actually former French, Irish, Norse, Dutch, ect... who also abandoned their residual old world trappings during the 20th Century Americanization surge the proportion of English in the overall population is reduced.

I wonder what the ramifications would be if 'American' comes to be a more broad overreaching unifying term, instead of the term for the idealized WASP?

Remove all that 'English is our national languages darm tootin'" stuff.

 

[Arkenfolm]

Germans to the US are basically like Italians are to Argentina or Uruguay. And we could've had more of them immigrate here.

Biggest thing, of course we have to prevent assimilation. The US seems almost as German as Anglo at times. But I've noticed that other American ethnic groups have a far more vibrant culture than German Americans. I'm a Finnish American, a small European immigrant group, and it seems German Americans are a no more vibrant group than my own ethnic group, which is strange by their size. I have a grandmother (born 1934) who tells me her parents warned her to only speak English during WWII--this is a common story of Germans in America, as far as I know--she is from New Hampshire, and still lives there. So much of the US was settled by Germans. That map showing the Midwest is only part of the story. New England had large German settlement, and even in the South, there was large German settlement. In Tennessee alone, there's two important settlements named "Germantown" (one by Memphis, one by Nashville) which were presumably named for German immigrants, where major highways pass through. Without the World Wars to help kill off German culture in the US, I think the German language would die a slower death in the US.

But how much of the issue is just because of Germany itself's actions in the 20th century? WWI did a critical blow to German American culture, but WWII finished it off. If the US stays out of it, or even better, joins the Germans, what becomes of things?

Oh, the US military post-Civil War had elements which were Prussian inspired, which were generally ignored by the higher command. Many New World militaries, like Chile and Bolivia, were highly German influenced.

I wonder what the ramifications would be if 'American' comes to be a more broad overreaching unifying term, instead of the term for the idealized WASP?

Remove all that 'English is our national languages darm tootin'" stuff.

Well those immigrants still wanted to learn English, and I think you'd still see a die off of non-English European languages over time.

 

[Max Sinister]

One dead German site had a TL where Germany under the new emperor (formerly von Stein) makes an agreement with the young US about German emigration. As a result, the US make German their official language, while the CSA still secedes. The TL was somewhat weird...

 

[Gukpard]

One dead German site had a TL where Germany under the new emperor (formerly von Stein) makes an agreement with the young US about German emigration. As a result, the US make German their official language, while the CSA still secedes. The TL was somewhat weird...

Well all live in amerika....Amerika....Is wondebra!

 

[Napoleonrules]

OTL already is a German-American wank. Now there are more people of German descent than admit to it (or know it) because of WWI and WWII many intentionally told others (and their kids) that they were xx. In NY and NJ it was most common to say Dutch.

 

[Salem_Saberhagen]

Henry Morgenthau succeeds in his harebrained scheme to turn Germany into a "pastoral state", dismantling all major industries and with no Marshall Plan aid, this would result in an impoverished, backwards Germany, and more German emigration to the New World after 1945, including the USA.

Eventually that policy will have to be reversed and replaced with some sort of Marshall Plan, or the US would risk Communist parties winning elections across Western Europe, but just by giving that disastrous idea a few years you could boost German emigration a lot.

Of course, such a Post-War world would result in lower economic growth overall, and Europe would be a mess, with a high chance of civil wars as Greece had, or possibly escalating into WW3 if policies are not reversed at some point.

 

[riggerrob]

With a POD in the 19th century, the Russian, Swedish, Dutch, Belgian, French, Polish, Ottoman, etc. Empires make Germans feel unwelcome so larger numbers move to the Americas.

Repeal Prohibition earlier because Prohibition was motivated by a desire to crush German-American social gatherings like beer gardens.

 

[Arkenfolm]

With a POD in the 19th century, the Russian, Swedish, Dutch, Belgian, French, Polish, Ottoman, etc. Empires make Germans feel unwelcome so larger numbers move to the Americas.

Repeal Prohibition earlier because Prohibition was motivated by a desire to crush German-American social gatherings like beer gardens.

You need a US bias toward agricultural policies, especially to help farmers in places like Montana and such, much more so than in OTL. Would help draw off many Volga Germans and attract others, since Volga Germans seemed to be good settlers of marginal parts of the Great Plains.

 

[Max Sinister]

Some other German AH (printed!) suggested: Germany loses the final of the football world cup against Hungary, German self-esteem breaks down, and Germans prefer emigrating to America instead of building up their country.

 

[Carl Schwamberger]

Sort of like US Southerners who are unaware great grandpa served in a Union uniform.

White folks who's ancestors have passed as white for so long they don't know they had slave ancestors.

Aryan supremists who are oblivious to the Jewish, Asian, Indian, or whatever ancestors.

 

[Luminous]

This is OTL last I looked. The German population in America is the largest single ethnic group.

Anglo-American is smaller. I think Anglo-American, combined with the American ethnic group (which I believe is Scotch-Irish majority, among others), may be larger. But if it is, it isn't by much, and then you're really picking at technicalities.

 

[Driftless]

I wonder how young Irwin would have done in the US had his father followed his Rommel cousins in emigrating to Benton County Indiana?

If I remember rightly, someone (TFSmith?) had a vignette along those lines, maybe two/three years ago. Winston Spencer Churchill also made the transatlantic crossing as a young man returning to New York with his mother.

 

[Gannt the chartist]

Fewer German Americans, too knackered to breed.

 

[Driftless]

Maybe without a WW1 less pressure to assimilate, thus still a visible German culture in the US. Newspapers, City names, Schools, German langue in public remains. In the early 20th Century up to WW1 this was the case. Maybe just statbilize the identity of Germans as Germans in the US rather than dramatically increasing their numbers.

This. What with being the bad guy in two major wars the Germans are not allowed nice things anymore. Absent the Great War my Grossvaters generation continues to use Deutch alongside English, there is more overt interchange with Germany German Kultur is more visible & prevalent. I mean wouldn't you rather party in a jolly biergarten than a dirty rough saloon?

Since a lot of the 'English' in the US is actually former French, Irish, Norse, Dutch, ect... who also abandoned their residual old world trappings during the 20th Century Americanization surge the proportion of English in the overall population is reduced.

When I was younger, I knew several American WW2 veterans & even a few WW1 veterans who bent over backwards disassociating themselves from their Germanic heritage; at least till German "reconstruction" got traction following WW2 and the fear of the Soviets supplanted the Germans as villains. Those gentlemen knick-named themselves: Dolph, Dutch, Buddy, etc; rather than Adolf, Gerhard, or Friederich. Pretty sad turn of events for those guys who were second and third generation Americans.