While many Americans remained committed to isolationism-President Woodrow Wilson had only just won reelection using the slogan, “He kept us out of war”-the Zimmerman cipher now served as fresh evidence of German aggression. The British intercepted the telegram, decoded it, and shared it with the US, sparking public outrage. Diplomatic relations between Germany and the United States had already been severed in early February when Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare and began preying on U.S. Germany's Foreign Secretary, Arthur Zimmerman, sent a secret telegram to Mexico, proposing an alliance and promising support for Mexico to reclaim Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. to cut diplomatic ties and later declare war. By March 1, its scandalous contents were splashed on the front pages of newspapers nationwide. On January 19, 1917, Alfred Zimmermann, Germanys foreign secretary, sent the following telegram to the German ambassador in Mexico. of the 1910s listed, including details of the Zimmerman Telegram from Germany to Mexico, prompting the U.S.A. The British cryptographic office known as “Room 40” decoded the Zimmermann Telegram and handed it over to the United States in late-February 1917. The Germans would provide military and financial support for a Mexican attack on the United States, and in exchange, Mexico would be free to annex “lost territory in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.” In addition, Von Eckardt was told to use the Mexicans as a go-between to entice the Japanese Empire to join the German cause. The missive gave the ambassador a now-famous set of instructions: if the neutral United States entered the war on the side of the Allies, Von Eckardt was to approach Mexico’s president with an offer to forge a secret wartime alliance. The Zimmermann Telegram was a coded message sent in January 1917, as WW1 was raging in Europe, from German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmermann to Germanys. On January 16, 1917, British code breakers intercepted an encrypted message from Zimmermann intended for Heinrich von Eckardt, the German ambassador to Mexico. Most historians agree that American involvement in World War I was inevitable by early 1917, but the march to war was no doubt accelerated by a notorious letter penned by German foreign secretary Arthur Zimmermann.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |