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Course: World history > Unit 6
Lesson 4: Blockades and American entryZimmermann Telegram
President Wilson kept the US neutral in World War I until 1917. Germany, feeling the pinch of a British blockade, resumed unrestricted submarine warfare, knowing it could provoke the US. 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. The British intercepted the telegram, decoded it, and shared it with the US, sparking public outrage. Despite Mexico's dismissal of the proposal, the US entered the war a few months later. Created by Sal Khan.
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Why is this lesson so focused on America?
As part of a series in "World History" it seems to put too much emphasis on America. It's certainly interesting, don't get me wrong, but it seems rather ethnocentric.
For example, in the last video the sinking of the Lusitania was discussed and the deaths of 128 Americans was highlighted versus the 1070 or so who were British, Irish and Canadian and don't even have their own individual death toll.
It wasn't discussed how the sinking of the Lusitania effected Britain (I'm sure they weren't too happy), and it would've been interesting to see more from the German perspective as to why they believed that the Lusitania was carrying heavy munitions.(32 votes)
This lesson is primarily focused on the United States, because this video is about one of the causes that resulted in the United States entering the First World War. In fact, this section is mostly about the causes for American entry into the war. If you are more inclined to learn about the European powers in the First World War, I'd recommend you watch the sections preceding and seceding this section. While the European powers of the Triple Entente were primarily responsible for the victory, the American entrance into the war did help prevent a great many casualties due to the United States' industrial capabilities, as well as the increased manpower due to the incoming American troops.(40 votes)
What was the Mexicans opinion about all of this. Were they considering it?(10 votes)
Nobody knows for sure, because Mexico never received the telegram. When they found out, however, Mexico stated that they would never do such a thing.(17 votes)
The sinking of the Lusitania is so much more widely used as an excuse to enter the war. Was it a blind used because the Zimmerman telegram was considered too frightening to the public to think of war on our own border? Is this our "German Pearl Harbour"(11 votes)
The sinking of the Lusitania did not cause U.S. participation in WWI. Even though members of Congress and the general public were outraged over the incident, Wilson did not argue for military action, instead he aggressively condemned the action of the Germans and then tried to negotiate. The Germans did not exactly pledge to stop the unrestricted sub-warfare. They just backed down. It was the sinking of 5 other vessels and the U.S.S Sussex that caused Wilson and congress to threaten war, culminating in the Sussex Pledge. This was Germany's official pledge to stop their sub-warfare. The telegram was just the spark, and the sinking of american vessels was the rope. to u.s. involvement in WWI (metaphor to a stick of dynamite).(13 votes)
- Was Germany trying to "provoke" the US into WW1 with this telegram, or did Germany really want to join forces with Mexico, but "incidentally" made the US involved in the war?(5 votes)
I very much doubt that Germany wanted to provoke the US into fighting against them in WWI. They would have little to gain and, as they discovered, a lot to lose.(17 votes)
Mexico had a revolutionary war from 1910 to 1921. During this time, the person in the presidency and internal loyalties changed constantly. Who were the Germans trying to contact/influence? How did they expected Mexico to intervene, when Mexico was struggling with its own civil war?(8 votes)
The Germans thought that Mexico as a whole would want to get back at the United States. The United States had taken a lot of Mexican territory, and if the Mexicans thought that they had a chance of getting the land back because of German help, they would agree to attack the United States.(10 votes)
How do you decode the telegram?(4 votes)
Codes are known as "cyphers". They come in lots of different kinds, often involving high-level math. In the US Government, the National Security Administration (NSA) is the codebreaking arm of the government. When it's not spying on American Citizens' phone calls and email, it is breaking the codes of foreign operators that wish to conceal their nefarious doings from being known to the government.(10 votes)
- Can we in any way be certain that Britain didn't just write that telegram themselves, as a way to drag US into the war?
The allies cut their losses by letting the US take some of their battles, and US benefited of the war by exporting weapons to its' allies.
Other motives are possible, but the interesting question is, can we be certain that this wasn't some scheme to get the publics' approval to enter WW1?(5 votes)
It's doubtful, previous to this point Germany had tried to drag the US and Mexico into a war to stop the export of arms to the Allies. The German High Command believed they would be able to use soldiers from the Eastern Front to defeat the British and French on the Western Front, and strangle Britain by unrestricted submarine warfare, before American forces could train and arrive in Europe in sufficient numbers.(6 votes)
There is normally some loss of meaning with translations, i'm suspicious of language used in the English translation of the decrypted telegram, given the history of making the most of such situations. Question for native German speakers, is the translation used biased ?(6 votes)
Sorry for the late response. As far as I can tell, there is no version of the telegram made public in its native German that is not encoded. While I know that German and English are similar in the roots, some German words simply cannot be translated easily into English. Personally, I would say that coming from the context that Britain wanted the U.S to join them in the war effort, I would say that it is completely plausible that the translation used could be biased, as seen that some of the words are rewritten in the telegram. Obviously, those could be errors, but that is just my opinion and speculation.(1 vote)
why was the US not on good terms with Mexico?(6 votes)- One of the reasons that Sal mentions that the U.S. and Mexico were not on the best terms was because Mexican commander Pancho Villa had attacked Columbus, New Mexico on March 1916. This attacked caused the U.S. to launch an unsuccesful expedition into Mexico led by general John J. Pershing to try and capture Villa.(4 votes)
- In the Zimmerman telegram the Germans mention japan, but that part was not explain in the video. What was to happen with the Mexicans and the Japanese?(6 votes)
The Germans wanted to get Japan into the war since Japan had proved itself as a fighting force in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905).(2 votes)
Video transcript
As we enter into 1917,
the United States has been able to maintain
its neutrality in World War I. In fact, President Wilson
has just won a re-election based on the platform that
he kept us out of war. And to large degree, he was
able to keep the US out of war because the German
Empire had pulled back from its unrestricted
submarine warfare. After the sinking
of the Lusitania and how angered
America had gotten, they said, OK, we're
not going to attack passenger vessels anymore. We're only going to attack
things that are definitely British, non-passenger vessels. But as we go into January
1917, the British blockade on the Central Powers
was having its effect. And the Central Powers
were getting desperate, in particular Germany. And so they are eager
to essentially do the same to the British. Once again, go with the
unrestricted submarine warfare. But the Germans
knew that if they were to go back to this, that
it's likely that the US would enter the war on the
side of the Allies. So knowing that was
likely to happen. They said, well, how
could we slow the US down. And the thinking was, well,
maybe we could somehow enlisted the help of
Mexico which at the time was not the best terms
with the United States. And so Arthur Zimmerman who was
the German Foreign Secretary, the equivalent of the United
States Secretary of State. The Foreign Minister,
Arthur Zimmerman sends an encoded a
telegram to the Mexicans. And it's encoded,
especially because it has to go over lines that are
controlled by the Americans. And in it, he actually
proposes an alliance to slow the Americans down. So this is what he wrote. So this is a coded telegram. And then, it was
actually intercepted by British intelligence
and decoded and then shared with the Americans,
and then that was also then made public
to the American public. And so this is why it's
fascinating to actually read this stuff. This is January 1917. This is the Germans
talking to the Mexicans. "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 alliance on the following basis--
make war together, 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 in
detail is left to you. You will inform the
President--" they're talking about the
president of Mexico. "--of the above most secretly
as soon as the outbreak of war with the United States of
America is certain and add the suggestion that he
should, on his own initiative, 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." Now, the Mexicans,
when they read this, they really didn't
take it too seriously. They didn't think that
they could seriously engage the US in a war. They couldn't
seriously take back or occupy these territories. So they didn't really
think much of it. The real effect of
this telegram was to make the American
public angry. They were going to go back
into the unrestricted submarine warfare. And the Germans, themselves,
talk about ruthless-- "ruthless employment of our
the submarines." So when people talk about,
what were the causes. What brought the US into war? The ones that are
typically cited are the unrestricted
submarine warfare. The sinking of the Lusitania. The Zimmerman telegram
that was trying to get Mexico to somehow
get into a war with the US and reclaim these territories. And as we'll see, a
few months after this, the US actually does
declare war on Germany and enter into World War I.