how did the zimmerman telegram influence u.s. entry into world war i?
James
Guys, does anyone know the answer?
get how did the zimmerman telegram influence u.s. entry into world war i? from EN Bilgi.
How did the Zimmermann telegram influence U.S. entry into World War I?
The telegram, basically, suggested to the Mexican leaders to enter the war against the US (promising, in case of victory, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona). The telegram was intercepted by British intelligence decrypted and later disclosed to US President Wilson. The message could have been considered as a fake of the British to involve the US in the war but soon Zimmermann himself admitted that it was real. The effect on the population of the United States was cataclysmic! Even the more isolationists were enraged and became convinced to enter the war against Germany.
How did the Zimmermann telegram influence U.S. entry into World War I?
U.S. History Modern America and Conflict America and World War I
1 Answer
Gió Feb 16, 2016
The telegram, basically, suggested to the Mexican leaders to enter the war against the US (promising, in case of victory, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona).
Explanation:
The telegram was intercepted by British intelligence decrypted and later disclosed to US President Wilson.
The message could have been considered as a fake of the British to involve the US in the war but soon Zimmermann himself admitted that it was real.
The effect on the population of the United States was cataclysmic! Even the more isolationists were enraged and became convinced to enter the war against Germany.
http://elizabethsushistory.blogspot.com.br/2014/01/the-zimmermann-telegram-and-ww1.html
Answer link
Related questions
When was the Armistice signed that ended WWI?
Over which country did much of the major air operations of WWI take place?
Who made up the Bonus Army that marched on Washington?
Why did the U.S. get involved in WWI?
When did the U.S. enter World War I?
What was a liberty bond?
What American President helped form League of Nations?
About how many American troops served in combat during World War I?
Who was Alfred T. Mahan?
What was Wilson's plan for the formation of an association of nations that would keep peace called?
See all questions in America and World War I
Impact of this question
6304 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License
How one telegram helped to lead America toward war
On this day in 1917, President Woodrow Wilson learned of a shocking piece of paper that made America’s entry into World War I inevitable. And current research shows the Americans didn’t know everything German diplomats intended.
National Constitution Center
Constitution Daily
Smart conversation from the National Constitution Center
How one telegram helped to lead America toward war
February 26, 2022 by Scott Bomboy
539 Shares 44121
On this day in 1917, President Woodrow Wilson learned of a shocking piece of paper that made America’s entry into World War I inevitable. And current research shows the Americans didn’t know everything German diplomats intended.
The Zimmermann Telegram was a message sent on January 12, 1917, from the German foreign minister Arthur Zimmerman to the country’s embassy in Washington, D.C., to be relayed to German representatives in Mexico.
In the message, Zimmermann instructed the German diplomats to approach the Mexican government, if United States entered the war in Europe, to offer an alliance between Germany and Mexico. The Germans would offer “generous financial support” to Mexico as an ally, with the following proposal, “an understanding on our part that Mexico is to reconquer lost territory in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.” Zimmermann also said Germany planned to start unrestricted submarine warfare on February 1, an act that could force the Americans toward a conflict with Germany.
To be sure, the Zimmermann telegram by itself didn’t force the United States’ entry into World War I; that would come five weeks after the telegram was made public, when the Senate and the House passed war resolutions. But its existence became a turning point in the debate over intervention, and it did lead to solidarity between the President and Congress over “the war to end all wars.”
President Wilson broke off diplomatic relations on February 3, 1917, after German submarine attacks resumed. But without evidence of expanded German hostilities, Wilson and the Americans remained neutral, at least in the short-term.
Three months earlier, President Wilson won a narrow victory for a second term against Charles Evans Hughes, with the promise to keep America out of the European war. On February 26, 1917, he was dealing with a Republican Senate filibuster over arming merchant ships when shocking news arrived at the White House via the U.S. ambassador in Great Britain, Walter Hines Page.
British code breakers obtained two copies of the coded Zimmermann telegram, and they were able to break the cypher using a broken code and comparing the telegrams. Not only was Zimmermann willing to finance an adventure by the Mexican government to reclaim territory lost to the United States, it wanted Mexico to intercede with Japan to get Japan to switch sides in the war. (Japan played a limited role against Germany in World War I.)
An outraged President Wilson planned to make the telegram public, but only after tactics had been put in place to obscure Britain as the code breaker. On March 1, Wilson dropped the Zimmermann telegram bombshell when its text appeared in newspapers across the country. "No other event of the war ...so stunned the American people,” said Wilson’s biographer, Arthur Link.
Wilson’s political opponents and various groups insisted the telegram was a forgery, partly because the idea made no sense due to Germany's very limited ability to aid Mexico. But one day later, Zimmermann admitted publicly that the telegram was sent by him and it was correct, noting the plan was contingent on hostilities between Germany and the United States.
Later that month, Zimmermann gave a more detailed explanation about admitting that he ordered the telegram.
“I instructed the Minister to Mexico, in the event of war with the United States, to propose a German alliance to Mexico, and simultaneously to suggest that Japan join the alliance,” Zimmermann said. “I declared expressly that, despite the submarine war, we hoped that America would maintain neutrality. My instructions were to be carried out only after the United States declared war and a state of war supervened. I believe the instructions were absolutely loyal as regards the United States.”
The tide had turned against Germany within the United States. President Wilson asked Congress to return to Washington for a joint session on April 2, after his cabinet recommended that the President ask for a war declaration. In his speech, Wilson noted the German government “means to stir up enemies against us at our very doors - the intercepted note to the German Minister at Mexico City is eloquent evidence.”
The joint war resolution came from Congress on April 6, 1917, but neither Wilson nor Congress likely knew of Zimmermann’s original plan for the telegram.
In 2007, a professor in Germany went through the foreign ministry’s archives from World War I and found the draft version of the Zimmermann telegram. The draft text indicated that in addition to the re-acquisition of Texas, Arizona and New Mexico, “California should be reserved for Japan.” But that text wasn’t in the telegram’s final version.
After news broke about the telegram, Japan’s ambassador to Germany called it “too ridiculous for words,” and the Mexican government officially declined the offer on April 14, 1917. Zimmermann resigned as foreign minister in August 1917. But the telegram's impact on American public opinion about Germany's intentions was a significant factor in the United States' decision to enter the Great War.
Source : constitutioncenter.org
Zimmermann Telegram
Zimmermann Telegram, also called Zimmermann Note, coded telegram sent January 16, 1917, by German foreign secretary Arthur Zimmermann to the German minister in Mexico. The note revealed a plan to renew unrestricted submarine warfare and to form an alliance with Mexico and Japan if the United States declared war on Germany. The message was intercepted by the British and passed on to the United States; its publication caused outrage and contributed to the U.S. entry into World War I. The sinkings of the Lusitania (May 7, 1915) and the Sussex (March 24, 1916) by German U-boats had brought the United
Zimmermann Telegram
United States-European history [1917]
Alternate titles: Zimmermann Note
By The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica • Edit History
Zimmermann, Arthur: Zimmermann Note
See all media
Context: World War I The Zimmermann Telegram
Key People: Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg Paul von Hindenburg Erich Ludendorff Woodrow Wilson Arthur Zimmermann
See all related content →
Zimmermann Telegram, also called Zimmermann Note, coded telegram sent January 16, 1917, by German foreign secretary Arthur Zimmermann to the German minister in Mexico. The note revealed a plan to renew unrestricted submarine warfare and to form an alliance with Mexico and Japan if the United States declared war on Germany. The message was intercepted by the British and passed on to the United States; its publication caused outrage and contributed to the U.S. entry into World War I.The U.S. and the German U-boat campaign
The sinkings of the Lusitania (May 7, 1915) and the Sussex (March 24, 1916) by German U-boats had brought the United States to the brink of war with Germany. American neutrality was preserved only by the adoption of the so-called Sussex pledge (May 4, 1916), which obliged German submarine captains to precede the torpedoing of merchant or passenger ships with a warning and to provide for the safety of passengers and crew of sunken ships in the wake of such attacks. In time this policy came to be seen as impracticable by the German military, and the views of commanders such as Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff prevailed over those of the chancellor, Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg, who had previously blocked the adoption of extreme measures in the German naval campaign.
sinking of the Lusitania
The New York Herald reporting the sinking of the Lusitania, a British ocean liner, by a German submarine on May 7, 1915.
Hulton Archive/Getty Images
BRITANNICA QUIZ World Wars
Fight for the title of War Wiz with this quiz on famous conflicts throughout history.
On January 9, 1917, Bethmann, Ludendorff, and Hindenburg met at Pless Castle in Silesia (now Pszczyna, Poland) to discuss the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare against all merchant shipping, neutral as well as belligerent. Bethmann was tasked with allaying the concerns of U.S. Pres. Woodrow Wilson in an attempt to preserve American neutrality for as long as possible. However, all three men at the Pless conference agreed that American participation in the war had to be regarded as a strong likelihood, regardless of the chancellor’s efforts. Bethmann had informed the European neutrals—Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Denmark—of Germany’s peace terms and had received a positive response. He took the same proposal to Wilson and appealed to him to persevere in his peace efforts. However, this message, delivered to the State Department on January 31, was accompanied by a notice of the all-out submarine warfare campaign that was scheduled to begin the next day.
Wilson was reluctant to break diplomatic relations with Germany, but, yielding to public clamour and senatorial advice, he severed those ties on February 3, 1917. While announcing the break in a speech to Congress, he voiced the fervent hope that the Germans would not, by sinking American ships, compel the United States to adopt belligerent measures.
German submarines avoided attacking U.S. ships throughout February 1917, and American sentiment remained strongly pacifistic. However, Wilson’s cabinet, a large portion of the press, and numerous public leaders demanded that the U.S. government arm its merchant ships for self-defense. Agreeing that armed neutrality was the only safe policy in the circumstances, Wilson, on February 26, asked Congress for the power to arm merchantmen and take all other steps necessary to protect American commerce.
Zimmermann, relations with Mexico, and the end of American neutrality
A crucial turning point in both Wilson’s own thought and in American opinion occurred following the receipt and publication of the so-called Zimmermann Telegram. Arthur Zimmermann had succeeded Gottlieb von Jagow as Germany’s secretary of state for foreign affairs in November 1916. Jagow had resigned in protest over the proposed resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare, and Zimmermann, who was seen as amenable to the policy, was selected to replace him.
On January 16, 1917, Zimmermann dispatched a secret message to the German minister in Mexico, Heinrich von Eckhardt. It instructed Eckhardt to propose a Mexican-German alliance should the United States enter the war
on the following basis: make war together, make peace together, generous financial support, and an understanding on our part that Mexico is to reconquer her lost territory in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.
Guys, does anyone know the answer?