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The Army tested the 1900 Luger in 7.65x21. The C96 Broomhandle is 7.63x25. I am sure the Army looked at it but they did not buy a thousand for field trials.
The 7.65 Luger may only be .001" longer OAL than 9mm P (.006" by SAAMI), but the case length is 2mm longer (.096" in American money.)
The first customer for 9mm was the German Navy in 1904. It took the German Army until 1908 to catch on. Not unusual. In the 19th and early 20th century the navies of the world were the leaders in military technology. If you can afford warships, the latest in small arms is not a big step.
The US Army shot some 9mms in 1903 for comparison with the 7.65.
But they really had their mind made up to go back to .45 and the next year Thompson and LaGarde did the tests that the brass could interpret to show they needed a bigbore.
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