If the success or failure of wartime diplomacy can be measured by the number of countries joining oneâ??s own or the hostile alliance, Arthur Zimmermann should not be remembered as a competent foreign secretary. 1
During his short term of office (25 November 1916 to 5 August 1917) he failed to secure a single ally for Germany, while roughly twenty powers on three continents joined the entente. During Zimmermannâ??s tenure, the â??Great European Warâ? became a world war, much to Germanyâ??s disadvantage. Zimmermannâ??s name is closely associated with his frustrated effort to form a German-Mexican alliance against the United States in January 1917.
The notorious â??Zimmermann telegramâ? offered German support to Mexico â??to reconquer the lost territory in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona,â? in an effort to tie up American forces on the U.S. southern border. However, British naval intelligence intercepted the telegram and turned it over to the U.S. embassy in London, and the text of the note was published by the American press on 1 March 1917. From the American perspective, Zimmermannâ??s proposal appeared to be a direct German threat to the United States. Literature on the Zimmermann telegram has long been an Ameri
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