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The Zimmermann Telegram

Edgar Allan Poe

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The Zimmermann Telegram

Between 1914 and the spring of 1917, the European nations engaged in a conflict known as The Great War or World War I. While armies moved across the face of Europe, the United States remained neutral. In 1916 Woodrow Wilson was elected President for a second term, largely because of the slogan, "He kept us out of war." Events in early 1917 would change that hope. In frustration over the effective British naval blockade, Germany broke its pledge to limit submarine warfare in February of 1917. In response to the breaking of the Sussex Pledge, the United States severed diplomatic relations with Germany.
In January of 1917, British cryptanalyst deciphered a telegram from German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmermann to the German Minister in Mexico, Von Eckhardt, offering United States territory to Mexico in return for joining the German cause. This message helped draw the United States into the war and thus changed the course of history.

THE TELEGRAM AS RECEIVED

FROM 2ND FROM LONDON #5747
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 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 RECONQURE THE LOST TERRIRTORY IN TEXAS, NEW MEXICO, AND ARIZONA. THE SETTLEMENT IN DETAIL IS LEFT TO YOU. 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 A SUGGESTION THAT HE SHOULD, ON HIS OWN INITATIVE, INVITE JAPAN TO IMMEDIATE ADHERENCE, AND AT THE SAME TIME MEDIATE BETWEEN JAPAN AND OURSELVES. 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, ZIMMERMAN

(The coded telegram is signed Bernstorff because it was transmitted through the US, and Bernstorff was the German ambassador in Washington.)