The Zimmerman Telegram Essay

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(2)At first, when the bloody conflict of WW1 broke out, the U.S. wanted no part in it. That all changed when the German empire utilized their U-boats and initiated attacks against 5 American ships, sinking them. In 1915, before the U.S. had chosen to participate in the war, Germany sunk a ship called the Lusitania, also sinking one hundred and twenty eight American lives. (3)Tenaciously, the savage German empire did not halt, continuously capsizing U.S. watercraft. Several months before American entry into the war, the Housatonic ship was sunk, “Three days later, the United States broke diplomatic relations with Germany, and just hours after that the American liner Housatonic was sunk by a German U-boat” (History.com staff). On June 26, 1917, America was bitterly fed up with these attacks, and sent fourteen thousand American souls to France. Fourteen thousand …show more content…

The book “The American story” explains this:
When La Follette and a handful of others threatened to filibuster, Wilson divulged the contents of the Zimmerman telegram. It proposed a german alliance with Mexico in case of war with the United States, offering financial support and recovery of Mexico’s “lost territory” in New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona. (640)
Along with La Follette, others resisted to plunging their country into war. (5)Although controversy over the conflict in Europe continued, which was now starting to affect the rest of the world, on April 6th, the vote to take up arms was agreed to. This simple telegram that would drag America into this complicated, mind-boggling war, became known around the world as the “Zimmerman telegram.” (4)Dealing its cards into a game like this, America was left with no choice because of Germany’s empire, and their