Zimmerman Telegram
The Zimmerman Telegram was a 1917 proposal from Germany to Mexico to make war against the United States. It was ignored by Mexico but angered Americans.
In January 1917 Germany decided on unrestricted submarine warfare in order to defeat Britain and win World War I. Every since the sinking of the passenger liner “Lusitania” in 1915 Germany had repeatedly promised the United States it would restrain its u-boats. It knew the new policy meant war with the United States, and in preparation for that war it made overtures to Mexico to join Germany, and perhaps also involve Japan. Mexico, in the midst of its civil war, was at sword’s point with the U.S., and Germany had designs on taking over Mexico as its satellite. The U.S. severed diplomatic relations with Germany on Feb. 3, 1917.
On Feb. 24 the British delivered to the U.S. ambassador in London an intercepted German telegram, dated January 19, telling Mexico that unrestricted submarine warfare would begin on Feb. 1. The note, sent by German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmerman to the German minister in Mexico, assumed that war would soon begin with the U.S. and directed the minister to arrange an alliance between Mexico and Germany and to urge Japan to switch to the German side. Mexico, with German guidance and financing, was to attack the United States on its Southwestern border and recover Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Mexico, realizing its hopeless position, ignored the proposal. British spies had intercepted copies in transit; Germany admitted the note was genuine. President Woodrow Wilson released the note to the press on March 1, 1917, causing a firestorm of protest and demands for a declaration of war against Germany.
Bibliography
- Boghardt, Thomas. "The Zimmermann Telegram: Diplomacy, Intelligence and the American Entry. into World War I." (working paper 2003) online edition
- Beesly, Patrick. Room 40: British Naval Intelligence, 1914-18. (1982).
- Freeman, P. "The Zimmermann Telegram Revisited: A Reconciliation of the Primary Sources" Cryptologia (2006)
- Katz, Friedrich. The Secret War in Mexico: Europe, the United States, and the Mexican Revolution. (1981)
- Friedman, William F., and Charles J. Mendelsohn. The Zimmermann Telegram of January 16, 1917 and Its Cryptographic Background. Washington: War Department, Office of the Chief Signal Officer, GPO, 1938, reprinted 1976 and 1994
- Tuchman, Barbara W. The Zimmerman Telegram (1985) excerpt and text search