page_title: Franz von Papen
section_title: Military attaché in Washington, DC
hierarchical_section_title: Franz von Papen / Military attaché in Washington, DC
caption_attribution_description: English: Franz von Papen circa 1915 in helmet
context_page_description: Franz Joseph Hermann Michael Maria von Papen, Erbsälzer zu Werl und Neuwerk, was a German conservative politician, diplomat, Prussian nobleman and General Staff officer. He served as Chancellor of Germany in 1932 and as Vice-Chancellor under Adolf Hitler from 1933 to 1934.
  Born into a wealthy family of Westphalian Roman Catholic aristocrats, Papen served in the Imperial German Army from 1898 onward and was trained as a German General Staff officer. He served as military attaché in Mexico and the United States from 1913 to 1915, organising acts of sabotage in the United States and financing Mexican forces in the Mexican Revolution. After being expelled from the United States in 1915, he served as a battalion commander on the Western Front of World War I and finished his war service in the Middle Eastern theatre as a lieutenant colonel.
  Appointed Chancellor in 1932 by President Paul von Hindenburg, Papen ruled by presidential decree. He negotiated the end of reparations at the Lausanne Conference of 1932. He launched the Preußenschlag coup against the Social Democratic government of the Free State of Prussia.
context_section_description: He entered the diplomatic service in December 1913 as a military attaché to the German ambassador in the United States. In early 1914 he travelled to Mexico (to which he was also accredited) and observed the Mexican Revolution. At one time, when the anti-Huerta Zapatistas were advancing on Mexico City, Papen organised a group of European volunteers to fight for Mexican General Victoriano Huerta. In the spring of 1914, as German military attaché to Mexico, Papen was deeply involved in selling arms to the government of General Huerta, believing he could place Mexico in the German sphere of influence, though the collapse of Huerta's regime in July 1914 ended that hope. In April 1914, Papen personally observed the United States occupation of Veracruz when the US seized the city of Veracruz, despite orders from Berlin to stay in Mexico City. During his time in Mexico, Papen acquired the love of international intrigue and adventure that characterised his later diplomatic postings in the United States, Austria and Turkey. On 30 July 1914, Papen arrived in Washington, DC from Mexico to take up his post as German military attaché to the United States.
  During the First World War, he tried to buy weapons in the United States for his country, but the UK's blockade made shipping arms to Germany almost impossible. On 22 August 1914, Papen hired US private detective Paul Koeing, based in New York City, to conduct a sabotage and bombing campaign against businesses in New York owned by citizens from the Allied nations. Papen, who was given an unlimited fund of cash to draw on by Berlin, attempted to block the UK, French and Russian governments from buying war supplies in the United States. Papen set up a front company that tried to preclusively purchase every hydraulic press in the US for the next two years to limit artillery shell production by US firms with contracts with the Allies. To enable German citizens living in the Americas to go home to Germany, Papen set up an operation in New York to forge US passports.
  Starting in September 1914, Papen abused his diplomatic immunity as German military attaché and US neutrality to start organising plans for an invasion of Canada, as well as a campaign of sabotage against canals, bridges and railroads. In October 1914, Papen became involved in the Hindu–German Conspiracy, when he contacted anti-UK Indian nationalists living in California, arranging for weapons to be handed over to them. In February 1915, he organised the Vanceboro international bridge bombing, while his diplomatic immunity protected him from arrest. At the same time, he was involved in plans to restore Huerta to power, arranging for the arming and financing of the planned invasion of Mexico.
  Papen's activities were known to UK intelligence, which shared its information with the US government. As a result he was expelled from the United States for complicity in the planning of acts of sabotage. On 28 December 1915, he was declared persona non grata after his exposure and was recalled to Germany. Upon his return, he was given the Iron Cross.
  Papen remained involved in plots in the Americas. He contacted in February 1916 the Mexican Colonel Gonzalo Enrile, living in Cuba, in an attempt to arrange German support for Félix Díaz, the would-be strongman of Mexico. Papen served as an intermediary between the Irish Volunteers and the German government regarding the purchase and delivery of arms to be used against the UK during the Easter Rising of 1916. He served as an intermediary with Indian nationalists as well. In April 1916, a US federal grand jury issued an indictment against Papen for a plot to explode Canada's Welland Canal; he remained under indictment until he became Chancellor of Germany, at which time the charges were dropped.
caption: Von Papen as the German Military Attaché for Washington, DC in 1915
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