"Not my fight, but I'll fight it anyway."
A Brief History of Jasta Borcke and the Dixie Aviators that flew in it
RoDAF Quarterly Magazine Q2 2016
Part 1: The Guns of August and What it Meant for the CSA
"When the first shots of the Great War were discharged on the European continent, many in the New World were not eager to join in the fray. Scant 50 years more or less since the North American rejoin split itself in a second revolutionary war and birthed another sovereign nation on its shores, the appetite for bloodshed was more than satiated for a generation or two. POTCS Wilson promised neutrality for his constitutionally mandated one term in the Grey House and the choices of heir apparent were of a likewise mindset. With the lack of direct assistance in securing their independence from the Yankee Nation, the drive to support Britain and/or France was low in the South. It was only the election of McClellan in 1864 and the stall of the Battle of Atlanta that brought Lincoln to the negotiation table, and only then did London and Paris send recognition. Afterwards, the timeline of manumission was not fully to their liking, so relations remained cooler than Richmond was happy with, with cotton trade sometimes being the only talking point among the capitals. Though many in the Confederacy traced their lineage back to those two great powers, it was clear that the love was one sided. Many historians lament the failure of stronger bonds to be formed at this time, as history may have been happier than it did play out."
"While labour pains rang and subsided in the Western Hemisphere, another great power was born in the Eastern one: Germany. The Prussians, led by the Hohenzollern and Bismarck, cut a path through the Napoleonic order and tripped the balance of power on the continent. The defeat of Austria in 66 and then later the French in 71 had the world take notice of the new power broker. The CS War Department sent observers to both sides in the latter to see how war had progressed in the 7 years that they had been at peace. PGT Beauregard was sent to Emperor Napoleon's court and JEB Stuart, medically retired from his many wounds that almost cost him his life was sent to Wilhelm I's side. In particular, he camped with his old friend who had been in his inner circle during the War of Secession, Heros von Borcke. Himself wounded multiple times, Borcke was not active on the field but still contributed to his Fatherland, and Stuart's reports to Richmond and President Longstreet helped to shape strategy for the next 20 years. Post war, some German advisors were invited to help shape theory taught in military institutes such as VMI and the Citadel. Beyond that, Germany was still a third party and trade was more important that friendship at the time."
"In the fall of 1914, Richmond once again sent observers to both sides of the conflict and declared armed neutrality, trading with whoever had cash to spend and vowing to defend her ships from any attack. The Royal Navy quickly instituted a blockade on Germany, but trade through other neutral nations still continued until it became cost prohibitive. Official neutral status did not mean there were not adventurous souls that felt the call to fight for ancient blood ties. the New Orleans Nouveaux Tigres volunteered for the Poilu ranks, as did some Appalachian Highlanders fall into Scots battalions. Some Texan Germans crossed the Rhine to wear a darker shade of grey. Yankees up north were doing likewise, and novelty pictures of Billy Yank and Johnny Reb in the same but foreign uniforms were found in newspapers on both sides of the Mason Dixon. The Lafayette Escadrille was founded by Yankee and a handful of Southern pilots in service of the Third Republic. This led to a few enterprising Confederate officers, businessmen, mercenaries, and adventurers to stake their fates to the Kaiser's forces in 1915. A CSN officer, one Captain Ezekiel Fitzhugh, took an early retirement from service, and he and a band of 20 thrill seeking aristocrats made for Berlin to offer their talents to the war effort as free citizens. Fitzhugh went from Captain to Oberst of Jagdstaffel 99, nicknamed Jasta Borcke after the joint hero of both nations."
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