Question

How did the Zimmermann telegram influence U.S entry into World War I?

Answer 1

Hint: The telegram was an internal diplomatic message sent from Berlin to the German Embassy in Mexico in January 1917 by German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmermann. It suggested an international alliance in the event that the United States joined the Allies in the First World War.

Complete answer:
Zimmermann telegram –
In January 1917, the German Foreign Office released the Zimmermann Telegram, which suggested a military alliance between Germany and Mexico if the United States joined World War I against Germany. Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico will be reclaimed by Mexico.

Zimmermann telegram influence U.S entry into World War I -
i) The telegram essentially advised Mexican leaders to join the war against the United States (promising, in case of victory, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona).
ii) On January 17, 1917, Arthur Zimmermann, a Staatssekretär (a top-level civil servant) in the German Empire's Foreign Office, sent a coded telegram with the post. Heinrich von Eckardt, the German ambassador to Mexico, received the call.
iii) The telegram was sent in anticipation of Germany's resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare on 1 February, which the German government assumed would almost certainly lead to war with the US. The telegram instructed Eckardt to approach the Mexican government with a plan for a military alliance with support from Germany if the US seemed likely to join the war.
iv) The telegram was intercepted, decrypted, and later revealed to US President Wilson by British intelligence.
v) The message may have been interpreted as a ruse by the British to draw the US into the conflict, but Zimmermann soon admitted that it was genuine.
vi) The result was cataclysmic for the people of the United States! Isolationists were enraged, and many were persuaded to join the war against Germany.

It would be exaggerating to say that the Zimmermann Telegram was solely responsible for America's entry into the war. More credit should go to Germany's strategy of unrestricted submarine warfare. However, the telegram was successful in persuading the American public that it was necessary to send troops to Europe to fight.

Note: If the US declares war on Germany, the note reveals a proposal to resume unrestricted submarine warfare and form an alliance with Mexico and Japan. The message was intercepted by the British and sent to the United States, where it sparked anger and led to the United States' entry into World War I.