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Speaker 1: Welcome to this Day in History Class from how Stuff

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Speaker 1: Works dot Com and from the desk of Stuff you

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Speaker 1: Missed in History Class. It's the show where we explore

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Speaker 1: the past one day at a time with a quick

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Speaker 1: look at what happened today in history. Hello, and welcome

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Speaker 1: to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. Wilson, and it's January nineteenth.

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Speaker 1: The German ambassador to Mexico received a coded telegram from

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Speaker 1: German Foreign Secretary Arthur's Zimmerman on this day in nineteen seventeen.

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Speaker 1: The Zimmerman telegram then helped draw the United States until

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Speaker 1: World War One. So World War One started after the

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Speaker 1: assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife

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Speaker 1: Sophie on June fourteen. A series of declarations of war

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Speaker 1: followed that in Europe, but for the next three years

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Speaker 1: the United States mostly tried to stay out of it.

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Speaker 1: The American public really did not support the idea of

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Speaker 1: going to war, so while the United States did provide

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Speaker 1: war aid to the Allies, was not really about actively

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Speaker 1: engaging with troops. And one of the reasons that Woodrow

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Speaker 1: Wilson was re elected in nineteen sixteen was that he

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Speaker 1: had kept the country out of the war so far.

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Speaker 1: That changed after British cryptographers decrypted that telegram. Here's what

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Speaker 1: it said quote. We intend to begin on the first

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Speaker 1: of February unrestricted submarine warfare. We shall endeavor, in spite

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Speaker 1: of this, to keep the United States of America neutral.

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Speaker 1: In the event of this not succeeding, we make Mexico

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Speaker 1: a proposal or alliance on the following basis, make war together,

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Speaker 1: make peace together, generous financial support and an understanding on

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Speaker 1: our part that Mexico is to reconquer the lost territory

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Speaker 1: in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. The settlement in detail

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Speaker 1: is left to you. You will inform the President of

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Speaker 1: the above most secretly as soon as the outbreak of

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Speaker 1: war with the United States of America is certain, and

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Speaker 1: add the suggestion that he should, on his own initiative,

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Speaker 1: invite Japan to immediate adherents and at the same time

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Speaker 1: mediate between Japan and ourselves. Please call the President's attention

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Speaker 1: to the fact that the ruthless employment of our submarines

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Speaker 1: now offers the prospect of compelling England in a few

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Speaker 1: months to make peace. Signed Zimmerman. When it comes to

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Speaker 1: the part about Mexico is to reconquer the lost territory

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Speaker 1: in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. Spain had colonized as

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Speaker 1: part of North America, and then it became part of

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Speaker 1: Mexico after the Mexican War of Independence, and then Mexico

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Speaker 1: ceded all of that land to the United States at

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Speaker 1: the end of the Mexican American War in eighteen forty eight.

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Speaker 1: So Germany was saying, Mexico, if the United States gets

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Speaker 1: ready to enter this war, please go fight them, draw

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Speaker 1: their attention so that we can continue on with our

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Speaker 1: submarine attacks without restriction, and then after we win the war,

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Speaker 1: you'll get all that territory back. Britain did not release

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Speaker 1: this telegram to the United States right away, though Britain

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Speaker 1: did not want to reveal that it had been intercepting

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Speaker 1: these telegrams and had figured out how to decode them.

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Speaker 1: That would risk a huge source of military intelligence. The

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Speaker 1: Allies also really needed the support of the United States

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Speaker 1: in the war, and anti German sentiment was really growing

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Speaker 1: in the United States, so it seemed like if they

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Speaker 1: waited a little bit for that sentiment to keep growing,

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Speaker 1: the telegram would have a bigger impact once they actually

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Speaker 1: released it. Britain released the telegram on February and that

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Speaker 1: it was reported in the US media on March one.

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Speaker 1: It really wasn't all that likely that Mexico was going

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Speaker 1: to declare war on the United States. The Mexican Revolution

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Speaker 1: had been going on for about seven years, so Mexico

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Speaker 1: frankly had other problems to deal with. Even so, that

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Speaker 1: telegram had the exact effect that Britain had wanted for

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Speaker 1: the United States willingness to enter World War One, public

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Speaker 1: opinion really shifted in favor of going to war. The

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Speaker 1: United States declared war on Germany in its allies on

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Speaker 1: April six, nineteen seventeen. Thanks to Casey Pegraham and Chandler

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Speaker 1: Maze for their audio work on this show. You can

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Speaker 1: subscribe to the Stay in History Class on Apple podcast,

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Speaker 1: Google podcast, the I Heart Radio app, and wherever you

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Speaker 1: get your podcasts, and tune in tomorrow for the end

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Speaker 1: of a Crisis.