Category: Agent Theories
- The "Pancho Villa" German Funding
This theory claimed that Pancho Villa was operating as a German agent, or at least under German financial influence, in order to draw U.S. troops into Mexico and distract the United States from the European war. It gained strength after Villa’s 1916 raid on Columbus, New Mexico, because that raid triggered the Punitive Expedition and tied border conflict directly to U.S. military attention. The theory also drew energy from real German intrigue in Mexico during the First World War, including agents operating in the region and the later Zimmermann Telegram.