How Texas Almost Became A New Germany | What If
By: Monsieur Z
Tags: Historical Fiction, History, What If, Alternate History, Texas

It’s sometimes forgotten that between the periods of Texan unity with Mexico and later the United States, it had been independent for not merely a few weeks or months, but an entire decade. That’s quite a bit of time for an American state, albeit a fairly large one, to remain independent, and this wasn’t a relatively uneventful period either; it was a time marked by conflicts with both Mexico and the Western Comanche over claims to Texan land, a time of political dispute over the future of the republic, and a time of cultural struggle for what Texan identity would mean.

Aside from being well within the view of it’s American and Mexican neighbors, the Republic of Texas had also caught the attention of various spectators far overseas: The French, British, and Dutch offering official recognition to the young Republic, but elsewhere in Europe, an interest of a different kind was growing.

Within the German Confederation, a proposition between a handful of nobles had been put forward, a plan to colonize the sparsely populated Texan Republic and beyond by facilitating large-scale migration of Germans to settle and eventually dominate the new country.

An association known as the Society for the Protection of German immigrants in Texas, also known as The Noble Society or Adelsverein for short, would emerge, acquire large plots of land, and begin promoting migration to these domains so as to lay the foundations for a New Germany.

In 1844, within two years of it’s foundation, Commissioner General of the society, Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels would journey to Texas with high ambitions for the creation of a new German homeland. His task there was to inspect the recently purchased Fisher-Miller Land Grant a territory deep within the Comanche sphere of influence, and although he failed to secure colonization of the area due to Comanche resistance, he established the separate colony of New Braunfels and laid additional foundations for continued German colonization there. Growing uncertain of the colonization effort’s feasibility, he would resign and pass the title of Commissioner General to John O. Meusebach just months after New Braunfels’ establishment. Meusebach, upon his arrival, would be greeted by one discouraging discovery after another; the would-be colony had been terribly neglected, it’s funds mismanaged, and the resources promised by suppliers were never delivered.

Meusebach, determined to make something valuable of this effort, successfully negotiated a peace treaty with the Comanche, allowing for settlement of the originally decided upon lands so long as the Comanche could freely pass through and conduct business with the Germans, however, by this point, Texas had already been annexed into the United States, making the goal of turning Texas into a New Germany far more difficult.

Meusebach, despite his achievements on behalf of the colonial venture, saw numerous attempts made on his life by both disgruntled settlers and rivals. The sense that his work was going unappreciated, as well as frustration with the incompetent's management of the Society eventually led him to resign only months after the signing of the treaty.

One last attempt was made before funds were finally exhausted, and management of the colonies was abandoned…but what if that changed? What if in an alternate timeline, Texas became a New Germany?

From the beginning, it seemed the downfall of the effort was simply a lack of cohesion and proper planning; it’s been said by some that the key issue of management stemmed from the Society’s founders not having had the proper backgrounds to colonize the region wisely, and had they taken on more merchants, surveyors, soldiers, and statesman into the Society, they might have had the economic, geographic, military, and political expertise to tackle this project more effectively.

Instead, money was repeatedly thrown at the project in hopes that it’s luck might turn, but with communication between on-site colonial directors and their overseas sponsors being so poorly carried out, and said directors becoming disillusioned due to an overall lack of cooperation, it’s no wonder the colonial project was ultimately scrapped as it had been. But had Meusebach not been targeted by his local German rivals, and continued to work as he had, or the whole venture been better planned from the start, things could have been very different.

Following Meusebach’s path, post annexation, the Society would remain largely unnoticed by the federal government, and German immigration to Texas would continue smoothly, leading to more land purchases and the creation of more towns. Further exploration of the region would uncover vast silver deposits which encourage the Society to invest even more.

Tales of the society’s success and new opportunity reach wider audiences in Europe, garnering the attention of thousands of Germans caught in the crossfires of the 1848 Revolutions, just as the Mexican-American War would come to an end back in the Americas. With the now more hostile conditions of Germanic Europe, and with Texan security seemingly having been reassured by the US’s victory against Mexico, a massive influx of German immigrants arrive in the U.S. settling in the Great Lake states and in Texas.

As the 1850s progress, the issue of slavery becomes a divisive issue in the United States, splitting the country evenly between the northern free states and the southern slave states. The Adelsverein Society (being located in central and southern Texas) unintentionally becomes a beacon of freedom for runaway slaves west of the Mississippi River, with hundreds of runaway slaves successfully finding sanctuary within the lands of the German immigrants (who saw themselves not as Americans, but as Germans).

Many Southerners grow angry and demand their slaves be returned, citing the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 as the basis of their argument. The German immigrants and the Adelsverein Society refuse, and instead grant freedom to any slave that stepped onto German land. This action sparks resentment and occasional skirmishes between American Southerners and German colonists, the latter of which would even go so far as to supply slaves with weapons and instigate slave revolts, receiving support from the liberal Germans in the North who had become a prominent component of the newly formed Republican party.

The United States would finally erupt into a civil war by 1861, with its southern states forming the Confederate States of America.

With Texas in the C.S.A., the Germans, Comanche, and freed blacks living in New Germany immediately come under fire from Texan-led Confederate forces in the region seeking to weed out any pro-Union supporters and possible spies. This creates a new major front for the Confederacy at no expense to the Union. This front would help open up the gulf region, and eventually allow the Union to gain total control of the Mississippi.

While the German colonies had long gone unrecognized by the US, but were tolerated for their helping develop the frontier, their significant action in the civil war would bring them to national attention, but Lincoln, refusing to allow any state to secede, would only see the New Germans as allies for the moment, but a threat to unity in the long-term, and so, planned to crack-down on them post-war, however, the Radical Republicans in congress, many of their own being proudly German themselves, would sympathize with the faction, and promise them control over all eastern portions of the state previously held by slave-owners, much against Lincoln’s wishes.

These unconfirmed promises would encourage the German Texans to fight even harder, and fully throw their support behind the Union upon thinking up with their armies. Following the War, a German-American Republic would be declared, and Lincoln would move to suppress it, however, not long after, he would be assassinated, and Andrew Johnson would step in as president. Johnson too would have been an opponent of secession, however lacked the support within congress which Lincoln carried, and very soon, he’d find himself struggling to maintain control of the country.

New Germany would find itself in something of a stand off with federal forces still operating under executive direction, but confidence remained strong that the Radical Republicans would soon hold total control, and so, the Germans endured, finally achieving total recognition from Radical Republican Sympathizer Ulysses S Grant once he took the presidency in 1869.

Modeling itself after the United States with some European influences, the new country drafts a constitution, creates its own Congress, and allows all male citizens to run for public offices regardless of race.

Fast forward to 1871, and Prussia unites Germany after the Franco-Prussian War. With mainland Germany finally united, Kaiser Wilhelm I and Chancellor Otto von Bismarck dig up the details of the Society’s colonial venture, and begin to evaluate what it’s relationship to Germany should be moving forward. While Bismarck opposed the idea of having overseas colonies, preferring to instead focus German resources on domestic and European matters, Wilhelm I argues that for the sake of unifying the German people, New Germany should be annexed into Germany proper. Bismarck eventually concedes, granting that integration of New Germany would not be a traditional colonial venture, but merely an expanding of the German Empire to include yet another German state, even if it is far across the sea.

The New Germans are divided on the matter. Some fully support the idea of reuniting with the fatherland for the purpose of not only securing additional resources and securities, but also to create a unified Empire of the German people, a desire shared by many of the liberal Germans who fled to America back in 1848. In contrast, there also existed a population who recognized colonial German-American culture as it’s own thing, as well as recent settlers who moved to Texas to escape Prussian domination back in Germany, or who moved from the US, bringing with them a preference for American policy, and that’s not even mentioning the local black and Comanche populations who would now have a say in New German politics, but shared no ties to the German Empire.

This would ultimately create a divide between the liberal pro-Empire Germans, and a coalition of pro-American, Anti-Prussian Germans, blacks, and Comanche who would form something of a Nativist or American Party.

Similar to what had occurred within the German Confederation back in Europe, the Empire would invite New Germany to join a shared customs union, and propose a series of military alliances, all with the intention of gradually integrating it into the Empire; these invitations would be opposed by the rising population of Nativists, encouraging the Pro-Unity faction to begin curtailing the political rights of blacks, Comanche, and new immigrants, creating great tension within the state.

To the North, the United States would become increasingly weary of Germany’s Empire establishing a solid foothold on the continent, fostering similar tensions within it’s own borders; but whereas the New Germans would crack-down on what it would consider “American influences”, the US would pressure it’s German descendant population to fully integrate or face persecution.

The poor treatment of Germans within the US, and a now very active interest on the continent would see Germany place a greater emphasis on North America, inspiring the empire to improve it’s navy so it might stand a chance of enforcing it’s will in the region. This naval build up attracts the ire of Britain, triggering an arms-race between the two which the Germans would attempt to defuse with a series of non-aggression pacts and treaties, but still, Britain would continue to strengthen it’s navy just in case.

Though tensions would have cooled for the moment, they would once again escalate under the reign of Kaiser Wilhelm II, who would adopt an aggressively expansionist foreign policy, and regularly antagonize Britain.

With Texas still on the fence, Wilhelm would see it as necessary to secure another foothold in North America to better look after and sway New Germany, turning to Spain’s colonies of Cuba and Puerto Rico as viable options. Spain had become a shell of an empire, and in our world, the US would move upon it’s colonies come the turn of the century, but this time, things are different.

Following a local war with Spain, Germany would lay claim to not only it’s Caribbean colonies, but the Philippine Islands, Guam, and Spanish Sahara. If the US still sought to challenge imperial rule in Cuba and Puerto Rico, it would now need to contend with the very capable and growing Empire of Germany instead of the sickly Spain; if a German-American War still happened to break out over the islands, we could expect German Texas to involve itself as well, given it’s close proximity, finally solidifying it’s place at Germany’s side.

Immediately following an armistice, moves are made to further integrate New Germany into the Empire, and laws are implemented recognizing only those of ethnic German descent as proper citizens, sparking domestic unrest, and eventually a revolution. The German naval begins bombarding rebelling cities on the Texan coast, motivating the US to reengage the Germans in a continuation of the war.

Several pro-Imperial citizens flee the chaos unfolding within Texas to Cuba and Puerto Rico, and gradually the US shifts it’s approach from a naval offensive to a land-invasion, occupying much of the North, and forging alliances with the pro-American factions.

A bombardment of the American North East is carried out by Germany to divert resources away from the Caribbean theater, all the while German-American communities in the Great Lakes region launch their own uprisings in support of the Empire, and in rebellion of anti-German sentiment within the US. Realizing it could still conquer the German Caribbean, but at the cost of inciting further hostility within the country, a peace treaty is ultimately made to resolves conflicts quickly; likewise, the Germans would not have been able to continue this effort much longer with out leaving themselves significantly vulnerable in Europe.

Cuba and Puerto Rico remain German colonies, but German naval activity in the Caribbean is heavily regulated. Following annexation of North West Texas by the United States, New Germany is significantly reduced of size, and it’s demographics are significantly altered: Comancheria would be fully under US control, as would a number of the original German settlements, these areas having become hotbeds for German-American immigrants from the North; what would remain are the Coastal Prairies and Southern Plains occupied largely by recent anti-Imperial German immigrants, blacks, and German-Americans escaping persecution from the US, the majority of Imperial Loyalists having relocated to the Caribbean.

Wilhelm II is upset with the result of the war and vows revenge on America, driving him to seek alliances with other American nations, Mexico in particular.

The U.S. becomes staunchly anti-German after the war with more violence being directed towards German-Americans, driving this population to leave for the new local havens to the south. The influx of German-American and plainly German refugees boosts the populations of both New Germany and the Colonies, fostering a clearer German-American identity in the former, while reinforcing anti-American sentiment in the latter.

The United States becomes more imperialistic in nature as its anti-German views along with Germany’s growing presence in North America force it to secure additional territories in Central and South America to keep them out of German hands.

Eventually, the powder keg in Europe erupts in 1914. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria starts a war in Europe, splitting the continent between the Triple Alliance (Central Powers) and the Triple Entente (Allied Powers). The United States joins the Allies in 1914 against Germany, who is able to pull Mexico and the German-American Republic into the conflict against the US.

While the Southern border would be secured relatively quickly, the German-American Republic being fully annexed, and the Mexican invasion being repelled, Caribbean and North central American lands would fall under German and Mexican influence, however, Germany would still be defeated in the great war, and ultimately stripped of these territories, though Cuba and Puerto Rico would be granted total independence in the name of self-determination, a luxury not awarded to the German-Americans who would have come to be recognized as both politically unstable, and a threat to American security.

In the end, Germany itself would emerge not much better off than in our world, however, through all that struggle, the German settlement of Texas would have dramatically changed North America; producing two newly majority German states in the Caribbean, drastically altering the demographics of the United States by siphoning away a large number of German-Americans, and forcing the US to adopt harsher colonial policies in the name of fending off a greater local threat than ever before.