The Zimmermann Telegram
The Zimmermann Telegram was a coded telegram sent off by the Foreign Secretary of the German Empire, Arthur Zimmermann, on January 16, 1917. It was sent to the German ambassador in the United States of America, Johann von Bernstorff. On January 19th, Zimmermann asked for the Telegram to be forwarded to the German Ambassador in Mexico. His goal was to draw the United States, who was neutral, into war so they would be distracted from the war in Europe and it would keep them from getting involved. The telegram told the ambassador that if the US were to enter the war, he was to go to the Mexican government and propose a military alliance. He was also told that in this case he should offer Mexico aid in the retrieval of territory which they lost during the Mexican-American war. The telegram was intercepted by British cryptographers. The telegram's content was exposed on March 1, 1917 in the American press.
the zimmermann telegram.
Resources
1. http://www.classbrain.com/artteenst/publish/article_100.shtml
2. http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/4938
3. http://www.google.be/archivesearch?hl=en&um=1&q=zimmermann+telegram&ie=UTF-8&scoring=t&ei=N8cCSrK7FOOZjAeNl_XZBA&sa=X&oi=timeline_result&ct=title&resnum=11
4. http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Park/8386/zman02.jpg
The Zimmerman telegram incident was no accident; it was in fact the British’s politic move to get U.S. to be involved in the WWI. Britain and its allies had been asking U.S. for aid in the War; however, U.S. refuses and stayed neutral until the Zimmerman Telegram was exposed. The British gave President Woodrow Wilson the content of the telegram on February 24th; however, it was publishing to the American press on March 1st. The content stated that the German would return the territories that the U.S. gained from Mexico after the U.S.-Mexican War in 1846-1898. The German also took advantages from the conflict between American and Mexico with the Veracruz incident during the Mexican Revolution. The Veracruz incident was a disagreement between the U.S. soldiers and the Mexican Soldiers that came to refill their fuels in Veracruz where the U.S. had send a ship to protect its oil base. Since Mexico and U.S. had conflicts the German easily asked Mexico to join the allied which feared the U.S. because Mexico is very close to the U.S. territory. As the result the Zimmerman telegram triggers the public opinion to shift quickly to pro-war. After staying neutrals for years the U.S. declared war on Germany and its allies on April 6th 1917. (Alisa promthep)
1.
Resources (Alisa promthep)
http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/zimmermann.htm
http://library.thinkquest.org/28005/flashed/timemachine/courseofhistory/zimmerman.shtml
Class notes: Mexican Revolution
Picture:
http://library.thinkquest.org/28005/flashed/timemachine/courseofhistory/zimmerman.shtml 1.
The Mexican Response
When the German ambassador in Mexico proposed the idea of helping Mexico re-obtain its former territories if it allied with Germany during the war, Mexican president Venustiano Carranza declined. Trying to re-take Mexico’s former territories would definitely turn into another war against the United States, where Mexico wasn’t at all ready for. Germany’s ‘financial support’ would be of no value. Mexico would never have enough ammunition or other war supplies to defeat the United States. Another point made was that the Royal Navy controlled the Atlantic Sea Lanes, making it difficult for Germany to send over any arms. President Venustiano Carranza officially rejected Zimmerman’s offer on the 14th of April. By then, the United States had announced war against Germany.
Venustiano Carranza, President of Mexico from 1914 to 1920.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimmerman_telegram#Mexican_response
http://www.coahuila.gob.mx/conozca/modules/historia/gobernadores/img/Venustiano_Carranza.jpg
Comments (1)
Lotte Vos said
at 1:55 pm on Jun 9, 2009
Lotte Vos
WIKI evaluation-Zimmermann telegram
1.a. Three people contributed to this wiki entry. The page has three paragraphs, three pictures and three lists of sources.
b. It is easy to follow because all three contributors used the same order of text, picture and then sources.
c. It is not very visually appealing because the fonts of the three paragraphs are all different and they are not all formatted the same. The pictures are not all the same size and not all in a line which would make it more visually appealing. Some of them are centered and some of them are on the left margin which doesn’t look very good.
d. None of the pictures are embedded in the text which makes them look less ‘a part’ of the entry. They are all different sizes.
e. Since the pictures aren’t embedded, they don’t really flow with the text but they are all related to the topic.
2. a. After reading the page I do feel that the information is well organized
b. The entries do repeat some basic information but that is necessary to introduce a new topic.
c. No there is not a clear introduction, body and conclusion. I think this is because everybody did their own within their paragraphs.
d. yes I learnt a lot new facts about the British politic moves and Mexico’s response to the Zimmermann telegram.
3. a. I encountered problems with uploading my pictures onto the wiki and tagging them to say that I wrote them.
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