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Arthur Zimmermann 1864 - 1940
Arthur became famous for the
Zimmermann Note, which was his telegram to the German
diplomat in Mexico, giving the latter permission to propose to Mexican
President
Venustiano Carranza
an alliance between Mexico and Germany against the United States.
The note mentioned that the Germans
would aid Mexico in recovering Mexico's "lost territories Texas,
New Mexico, and Arizona."
Why would Arthur Zimmermann send such a
note?
The Germans were struggling in the fight
of
World
War I. They knew they would have a big military advantage if
they were to employ unrestricted submarine warfare. But at the same
time doing so would provoke the United States to enter the war on
the side of Germany's enemies, the Allies.
Zimmermann figured it would be therefore
a good idea if the US were perhaps distracted by a war with Mexico
or Japan, or preferably both. He sent the message on January 16, 1917.
Check this event in the WWI Timeline.
The telegram was intercepted and
decoded, however, and made US President
Woodrow Wilson
rub his eyes twice. Five weeks later the US declared war on Germany, thus
entering Word War I.
ARTHUR ZIMMERMANN SHORT BIOGRAPHY
October 5, 1864 - Birth in Marggrabowa, East Prussia (today Poland)
1916 - 1917 - German foreign secretary
June 6, 1940 - Death in Berlin, Germany
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