Most significantly, he had ordered American sailors and marines into Veracruz for six months in 1914, partly to prevent the German government from sending arms to the Mexican strongman Victoriano Huerta. In his own words, he was trying to teach the Mexicans to elect good men. Wilson had sent American forces to intervene in Mexico in an attempt to remove leaders he disliked. They were trying to take advantage of the extremely poor state of Mexican-American relations that had existed since the start of the Mexican Revolution in 1911. Page knew, as did Wilson, that German agents were active in Mexico. It was also so obviously in Britain’s interests to share it with him that Page knew his countrymen would suspect it was a forgery or a British trick. The telegram was therefore an act of war. Germany was effectively proposing an alliance to tear the United States apart in the event of American belligerence. The shocking parts of the telegram involved Mexico and Japan. He knew the Germans were contemplating such a move and that the United States Congress was even then debating a bill to arm merchant ships in response. It did not surprise Page that the Germans intended to resume sinking merchant ships. We intend to begin on the first of February unrestricted submarine warfare STOP We shall endeavor in spite of this to keep the United States of America neutral STOP In the event of this not succeeding, we make Mexico a proposal of 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 lost territory in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona STOP The settlement in detail is left to you STOP You will inform the President 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 STOP 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 STOP Signed ZIMMERMANN Page picked up the telegram one more time and read the words that he knew would force the United States into the war it had been trying desperately to avoid for three years: Only once he was convinced that he had found a way to protect his precious secret did he give the telegram to Balfour. Once the Germans learned that their codes and ciphers were no longer secure, they would stop using them and a veritable gold mine of information would stop flowing into Hall’s office. Although Admiral Sir William Hall knew exactly how important the telegram was, he had to find a way to show it to the Americans without revealing that his office had broken the German codes. The Royal Navy admiral whose office, codenamed Room 40, had intercepted and decoded the telegram had also been wracked with doubt about what to do. īalfour, knowing full well that the telegram might lead the Americans to enter the war on Britain and France’s side, had nevertheless hesitated to show it to Page. Far from being a man the Americans could see as a partner for peace, he was instead the author of the most notorious message Page had ever seen. The telegram Page stared at in numb disbelief proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that Zimmermann had been lying all along. He had thus far said all the right things and shown a receptiveness to Wilson’s cherished efforts to end the war through peace negotiations. Zimmermann was a member of the middle class, not the aristocracy that President Wilson’s administration so deeply mistrusted. The fact that the telegram before him bore Arthur Zimmermann’s name made its contents that much harder for Walter Hines Page to believe. Page was the American ambassador to Great Britain and on a cold London morning in late February 1917 the British foreign minister Arthur Balfour stood before him with what Page called a “bombshell.” Page had had high hopes for Zimmermann, recently named the new German foreign minister.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |