![]() ![]() The effect of publication was exactly what had been anticipated. Wilson himself was in doubt as to whether the publication of the telgram would not bring on a crisis he could not control. The same thought likely led the British to pass the deciphered teleqram to Washington. ![]() The American government realized that the publication of this telegram would blow American resentment to a white heat it would strengthen immensly populnr support of the President in any action he might take against Germany in defense of Ameriean rights on the sea. Please call the President's attention to the fact that the ruthless employment of our submarines now offers the prospect of compelling England in a few months to make peace." Signed, ZIMMERMANN. You will inform the President of the above most secretly as soon as the outbreak of war with the United States of America is certain and add the suggestion that he should, on his own initiative, invite Japan to immediate adherence and at the same time mediate between Japan and ourselves. In the event of this not succeeding, we make Mexico a proposal or alliance on the following basis: make war together, make peace together, generous financial support and an understanding on our part that Mexico is to reconquer the lost territory in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. We shall endeavor in spite of this to keep the United States of America neutral. "We intend to begin on the first of February unrestricted submarine warfare. This message helped draw the United States into the war and thus changed the course of history. Signed by German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmermann himself and dated January 16 the telegram announced the imminence of unrestricted submarine warfare, and instructed the German Minister, in case of war with the United States, to attempt to arrange a Gerr:nan-Mexican alliance, on the understanding that Mexico would be assisted to reconquer New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona. On 26 February 1917, Colonel House was called to the telephone by Frank Polk and informed that the British Naval Intelligence had received and deciphered a sensational telegram from the German Foreign Office to von Eckhardt, the German Minister in Mexico City. ![]() In German literature it is referred to as the Mexico dispatch. ![]() The telegram was a coded message sent to Mexico, proposing a military alliance against the United States. The chancellor of Germany, it seems, never even saw or was informed of the telegram before it was sent on 16 January 1917.īritish cryptographers soon deciphered the telegram from Zimmermann to the German Minister to Mexico, von Eckhardt, offering United States territory to Mexico in return for joining the German cause. Zimmermann himself signed off on it, with no comment or revision, on the same day he received it. Remarkably, Kemnitz’s draft of the message passed through a string of approvals with little consideration. With the approval of German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmermann approval, Kemnitz prepared a proposal for the Mexican government. Germany even promised Mexico it would get back Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.Ī mid level official at the German Foreign Office, Hans Arthur von Kemnitz, first suggested the Germany-Mexico alliance. Germany wanted to keep the US and its industrial might out of the European conflict by convincing Mexico and Japan to attack the US. Mexican President Carranza might be open to going to war with the United States after the Veracruz incident and Pershing’s expedition into Mexico had strained relations with the US. By the end of 1916, the Germans belived they had sufficient U-boat power to end the war in six months before the Americans could intervene, but they had to prevent US entry into the war by distracting the United States. ![]()
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