Title: Felix A. Sommerfeld and the Mexican Front in the Great War
Description: The German government decided in the fall of 1914 to corner the U.S. arms and ammunition market to the detriment of England and France. In New York German Military Attaché Franz von Papen and Naval Attaché Karl Boy-Ed could not think of anyone more effective and with better connections than Felix A. Sommerfeld to sell off the weapons and ammunition to Mexico. A few months later, Sommerfeld received orders to create a border incident. Tensions along the U.S. - Mexican border suddenly increased in a wave of border raids under the Plan de San Diego. When Pancho Villa attacked the town of Columbus, NM, on March 9, 1916, virtually the entire regular U.S. Army descended upon Mexico or patrolled the border. War seemed inevitable. Federal agents could not prove it, but suspected German involvement. Felix A. Sommerfeld and fellow agents had forced the hand of the U.S. government through some of the most intricate clandestine operations in the history of World War I.
Subjects: Mexican Revolution, World War I, German Spies, Pershing Expedition, Plan de San Diego, Attack on Columbus NM, Santa Ysabel Massacre, German Naval Intelligence, Foreign agents, Biography, World War, 1914-1918, Secret service, Diplomatic history, Weapons industry, History, Military History, Relations
Places: El Paso, New York, San Antonio, Santa Ysabel, Chihuahua, Mexico City, Havana, New Orleans
People: Felix A. Sommerfeld, Franz von Papen, Arnold Krumm-Heller, Pancho Villa, Alvaro Obregon, Heinrich Albert, John J. Pershing, Hugh Lenox Scott, Venustiano Carranza, Frederico Stallforth, Johann Heinrich Count von Bernstorff, Wilhelm II
Time periods: 1914-1916