YNCS
May 12, 2006, 08:44 PM
On January 17, 1917, Arthur Zimmermann, the German Foreign Minister, sent an encrypted telegram to the German ambassador to Mexico:
We intend to begin on the first of February unrestricted submarine warfare. We shall endeavor in spite of this to keep the United States of America neutral.
In the event of this not succeeding, we make Mexico a proposal for alliance on the following basis: to make war together and to 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. The settlement of the details is left to you.
You will inform the President [of Mexico] in the greatest confidence as soon as it is certain that there will be an outbreak of war with the United States and suggest that he should, on his own initiative, communicate with Japan suggesting adherence at once to this plan. At the same time, offer to mediate between Germany and Japan.
Please call the President's attention to the fact that the ruthless employment of our submarines now offers the prospect of compelling England to make peace in a few months.
Because the British had pulled up every other trans-Atlantic cable at the beginning of the war, the telegram had to go through London, where the British had broken the German diplomatic code. The Brits leaked the text of the message to the Americans who published it in early March. It caused an uproar: What the hell were the Germans doing offering U.S. territory to Mexico?
Zimmermann then committed what must be considered one of the top diplomatic blunders of all time: He admitted that the telegram was authentic.
On April 6, 1917, the U.S. Congress declared war on Germany.
We intend to begin on the first of February unrestricted submarine warfare. We shall endeavor in spite of this to keep the United States of America neutral.
In the event of this not succeeding, we make Mexico a proposal for alliance on the following basis: to make war together and to 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. The settlement of the details is left to you.
You will inform the President [of Mexico] in the greatest confidence as soon as it is certain that there will be an outbreak of war with the United States and suggest that he should, on his own initiative, communicate with Japan suggesting adherence at once to this plan. At the same time, offer to mediate between Germany and Japan.
Please call the President's attention to the fact that the ruthless employment of our submarines now offers the prospect of compelling England to make peace in a few months.
Because the British had pulled up every other trans-Atlantic cable at the beginning of the war, the telegram had to go through London, where the British had broken the German diplomatic code. The Brits leaked the text of the message to the Americans who published it in early March. It caused an uproar: What the hell were the Germans doing offering U.S. territory to Mexico?
Zimmermann then committed what must be considered one of the top diplomatic blunders of all time: He admitted that the telegram was authentic.
On April 6, 1917, the U.S. Congress declared war on Germany.