An Illustrated History of the USA

anythin g to winthewar.Burmoststillwanted
peace. Presiden tWilsonmadestrongp rorcsrsTOth e
G ermangovern m en t. For a rime th e G ermans
steppedthes u b m arin eattacks.

In theautum nof 1916 Americanvotersre-elected
Wilson3SPresident.mainlybecausehe hadkept
th emouro f rhc war. lnjanuarv 1917 .Wilsonmadea
speechto Cong ress.In itheappealedtothewarring
nario usofEuropeto settletheirdifferencesand m ake
"apeacewithoutvictory.'·111is. he said,wasth e
onlyk indofpeact'"th atcouldlast.

Bu rbynowAmericanbanke rs hadkilla lorof
m OlleytotheAllies. And American militar y sup plies
werestill pour ingacro ssth e A rlamic. Germany'swar
leade rs fearedth at, unlessth e flow of s up plies was
stopped ,thei r cou nt rywould be defeat ed .Onlynin e
daysafter Wilson'ss peechthey again orderedtheir
su bmarines to begin sin kingshipssailing towar ds
Alliedports. T h isrim eth eorderincludedneutral
vessels.

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V@WJ

o U.S A Y

NEAREST RECRUITINGSTATION

2 1AWAilMWAI' EAC L

InthenextfewweeksG erm ansub marinessan kfive

A me rican shi ps. WithGermantor ped oes send i n g

American sailor sto th eir deathsin theg reywatersof

th eAelamic.Wilsollfelt that h e had nocho ice.On

April2, 1917,heaskedCongr esstodeclarewaron

TheZimmermanntelegram

A tthebeginningo f 1917 mallYAmencanswere

stillstrongly agains tbecoming involved in the

FirstWorld War.Topeopleo n theGreatPlains.in

T exas or inCalifo rn ia, Eu ro pe seemedvery far

away. European quarrel s. they believed. were

none of theirbusiness.

Then , on March I,1917,newspapersallover the

United States printed a sensatio na l sto ry. The

story claimed char Arthu r Zimmermann. the

GermanForeignSecretary, hadtr iedtopersuade

Mex icoandJapanTOattackth e U ni tedStates.

The affairhadbegun onJan uary16 .Z immerman n

h ad senta secret telegram totheGermanambassa-

d orin Mexico .The tel egramtoldtheambassador

to invite the M exi can government to sign an

alliancewith G er m an y .T heidea was thatifth e

United Stateswentto war w ith Germany, th e

M exican sshouldattacktheAmerica ns fromth e

south.M ex ico 'srew ardwouldbe thereturnofall

thelandsit hadlosttotheUnitedStatesin 18 ..\-8.

Z i m me rma nnalsowantedMexicotoinv iteJ ap an

to jo i n thean ti-Am ericanalliance.

Zimmermann ' stelegramwasintercep tedan d de-

codedbyBritishagent s.OnFebruary24, w he n

Amer icans w ere already an gry at German y fo r

startingsubmarineattacks again,theBrit ishgave

Wilso n a copy of the telegr am. Wilson w as

furio us. He told th e n ewspapers. Peop le who

wantedtok eepth e UnitedStatesouto f the war.

and those w ho favoredG er m an y , saidthat th e

telegr am w asa forgery .a Britishtrick.But their

effo rtsto claim rharth estorywasuntruecollaps ed

whenZ immermannhim self said:" Itistru e. "

T he Z im merman n telegram tu rn ed A meri can

opinionmore stronglyinfavoroftheAllies.This

wasespeciallytruemth ep rev io usly uninterested

w est ern partsofth e co un tr y. T hesewereth e very

areas that would have been th reaten ed m o stif

Z im me rmann'splanhadworked.

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