WWI; Germany Bombs The Hell Out Of The U.S

What if the German Empire, during WWI, had managed to improve their Zeppelins to the point where they could fly across the Atlantic and bomb the eastern seaboard?, besides psychological impact, would this have any impact on the war effort?, or was it too late by the time America entered anyway?
 

whitecrow

Banned
IIRC OTL there was a group of Zeppelins that were heading accross the Atlantic to possibly carry out what you describe but they got intercepted by Canadian fighters without ever reaching North America.
 
IIRC OTL there was a group of Zeppelins that were heading accross the Atlantic to possibly carry out what you describe but they got intercepted by Canadian fighters without ever reaching North America.

Not exactly, the Zeppelin that was supposed to eventually bomb America was defeated in a separate mission.

I Just wonder what would have happened if they had been successful.
 
correct me if I'm wrong, but I do not believe WWI era zeppelins could carry very large loads.

so even with the hypothetical improvements, they still wouldn't have much in the way of bombs, due to the other supplies that would be needed.

Not to mention that it seems very...pointless.
Anywhere between 1914 and 1915, would just drag the US into the war earlier, and any latter is just going to have them shot down.

that, and Zeppelin bombing campaigns were largely seen as a waste of resources.
 

sharlin

Banned
To get that far a Zepplin would not be able to carry much in the way of a warload, it at best would be a harassment strike and the damage would be psychological more than anything, the US would not pull out of the war because of a few bomb hits.
 
It would have far less impact than efforts by German espionage agents in the US to blow up ammo dumps and factories and spread anthrax infections among US Army draft horses.
 

Cook

Banned
Dropping ten tons of explosives on the eastern seaboard of America is not ‘bombing the hell out of’.
 
I'd be rather surprised if German airmen could find targets much less bomb them with any accuracy. And if they do manage to land some of their munitions on a target of some symbolic or strategic value, here is what happens: the US government capitalizes on the tragic deaths of any victims by plastering their photographs on war bond posters and the like. It'll be like the sinking of the Lusitania as far as pro-war propaganda coups go, only far more compelling (eg US citizens dying on US soil).

At any rate, whoever won a war from the air? Across all 20th century conflicts, one truth is self evident: strategic bombing alone has never obliterated the morale of the enemy's civilian populace. The Blitz brought Britons together, and the Allied bombing campaigns over Nazi Germany and Japan stiffened resistance and resentment while offering excellent propaganda opportunities for the fascist regimes.
 
Do the US have any real anti-aircraft guns at this point? Zeppelins may be comparatively fast, but they're also very big, and thus, shouldn't be too hard to hit.
 

Cook

Banned
Do the US have any real anti-aircraft guns at this point? Zeppelins may be comparatively fast, but they're also very big, and thus, shouldn't be too hard to hit.
No, but with prior warning they’d have some biplanes with incendiary bullets.

Comparatively fast compared to what, a ship? Compared to an aircraft they were sitting ducks.
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
Even if such a mission succeeded, it would be purely symbolic and psychological. There'd be some panic (London seems almost to have panicked more from the Zeppelins in 1915-1916 then they did during the Blitz of 1940-41), but the end result would just be to make Americans more angry at Germany. If it had any real impact on the course of the war, it would probably be by reducing anti-war sentiment in the United States.
 
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