What did the Zimmermann telegram say summary?
In the telegram, intercepted and deciphered by British intelligence in January 1917, Zimmermann instructed the ambassador, Count Johann von Bernstorff, to offer significant financial aid to Mexico if it agreed to enter any future U.S-German conflict as a German ally.
What was the Zimmermann telegram in simple terms?
The Zimmermann Telegram (or Zimmermann Note or Zimmerman Cable) was a secret diplomatic communication issued from the German Foreign Office in January 1917 that proposed a military alliance between Germany and Mexico if the United States entered World War I against Germany.
Why was the Zimmerman note important?
The Zimmermann Telegram, or Note, was significant to the history of World War I because it forced United States President Woodrow Wilson to reverse his initial position on American involvement in the European conflict and commit the United States to the war against Germany.
How did the Zimmermann Telegram affect the US?
The Zimmermann Telegram helped turn the U.S. public, already angered by repeated German attacks on U.S. ships, firmly against Germany. On April 2, President Wilson, who had initially sought a peaceful resolution to World War I, urged immediate U.S. entrance into the war.
Why is the Zimmerman note important?
How did the Zimmermann telegram affect the war?
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.
What was the effect of the Zimmerman Telegram?
In January 1917, British cryptographers deciphered a telegram from German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmermann to the German Minister to 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.
What did the Zimmermann Telegram say?
The zimmerman telegraph was actually the Zimmerman Telegram. It was a message telling Mexico to attack the US if the US attacked Germany. It also said that Germany would aid Mexico in regaining land that they lost to the US such as Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.
How was the Zimmerman telegram intercepted?
The Room 40 codebreakers intercepted the message as it briefly passed over British territory. The Germans were often forced to use cables belonging to neutral countries after their own Atlantic cables were cut earlier in the war. Once the Zimmermann telegram was decoded,…
What was the Zimmerman Telegraph?
The Zimmermann Telegram (or Zimmermann Note or Zimmerman Cable) was a secret diplomatic communication issued from the German Foreign Office in January 1917 that proposed a military alliance between Germany and Mexico.