Zimmermann telegram

19 Jan 1917

Dr Alfred von Zimmermann, the German Foreign Minister, believed that German's policy of unrestricted submarine warfare on neutral shipping could bring America into the war on the side of Britain and France. He therefore courted Mexico, promising 'generous financial support' and the offering the chance to recover Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, if it became an active participant on the German side.

Zimmermann's coded telegram of 19 January 1917 to the German minister in Mexico, setting out this proposal, was intercepted by British Intelligence and deciphered one month later. It was published in the U.S. on 1 March and increased the demand in America to enter the war against Germany.

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