While fighting a revolution on home soil, Mexico was invited to participate in the World War that raged between 1914 and 1918 in Europe. Mexico turned down the offer, which would have effectively made them allies with the German Empire in 1917. In so doing, they resisted the recommendation by the Germans to declare war on the United States. The encrypted dispatch that Mexico received from Germany, has now, in the years following the war, been dubbed the Zimmerman Telegram
Addressed to the Ambassador to Mexico, Heinrich von Eckhardt, the telegram was delivered in January 1917. It warned that Germany was planning to resume their use of submarines, but on an unrestricted basis. The German forces wished to keep the United States neutral, knowing that they would be a tough opponent if they entered the conflict. British, French and Russian Triple Entente forces were, however, already receiving aid from America; a full blown declaration of war was not out of the question and they wanted to be ready.
With this knowledge, Germany had an unusual game plan for Mexico. Mexican troops would declare war on the United States, while having an alliance with Germany, and this would keep American troops too busy to involve themselves deeply in the European war effort.. As a carrot to Mexico, Germany promised political leaders that it would finance the war, supply the arms, and give them back the land that was now Texas, Arizona and New Mexico; land that had been lost to the Americans (US-Mexico War) in the previous century.
This was not the first time that Germany had attempted to incite a war between Mexico and the United States. They had offered a $15 million deal to Carranza's predecessor, Victoriano Huerta, in 1915. It was hoped that a conflict on home soil would effectively distract America from the increasing war in Europe and the German government had been one of the few international bodies who had a trade agreement with the Mexicans.
Carranza replaced the corrupt Huerta before the deal could be finalized, and Carranza's goal was to attain some measure of stability for Mexico.. He worked diligently to stop the continuing revolutionary skirmishes in the southern and northern states and also drafted a new Constitution in 1917. When von Eckhardt brought the telegram to the new President's attention, he considered it, but concluded that it was extremely undesirable for Mexico to go through with the deal, for several reasons.
For one thing, Mexico's civil war had wreaked havoc in the country, and they were much weaker than the USA militarily-speaking. The U.S was the preeminent supplier of arms in the Western Hemisphere, and munitions shipped from Germany to Mexico, were highly unlikely as the British controlled the sea lanes.. Plus, a re-conquered Texas and Arizona would still have to contend with an angry, English-speaking, heavily-armed local population, as Carranza was well aware.. It just wasn't worth the trouble.
The Zimmerman Telegram had a major effect on the tide of WWI, even though Mexico turned down the deal. The coded message was intercepted by British forces, who deciphered it and sent a copy to the U.S. At the time, the United States wished to avoid full involvement in the war; however, the proposal caused widespread outrage (especially since it had been transmitted through the American Embassy in Berlin) and was a catalyst for America's eventual declaration of war on Germany.
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