Why was the Zimmerman Telegram so important?

Re:Why was the Zimmerman Telegram so important? by aaron-lebo on Tuesday January 17, 2017 @04:55AM (#13416244)

Interesting article, though the answer in the title seems pretty obvious: Germany was offering a previously hostile neighbor of the US land as long as they'd enter the war. No matter whether that was transmitted in secret, in the open, or through diplomatic channels, that's virtually a declaration of war.

Even without unrestrained submarine warfare, that alone might have been enough to bring the US into the war in 1915. It took some restraint from Wilson to prevent an earlier entry, anyway.

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Re:Why was the Zimmerman Telegram so important? by mafribe on Tuesday January 17, 2017 @07:10AM (#13416813)

    virtually a declaration of war.

Have you reflected properly on why Germany felt a need to defend itself against the US?

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Re:Why was the Zimmerman Telegram so important? by chiph on Tuesday January 17, 2017 @09:35AM (#13417839)

Because they were already in a stalemate with France, the UK, and Russia. And their allies the Austro-Hungarian Empire were more concerned with Serbia and Italy than France, etc. So this was a move intended to counter the US should we enter the war ("give them something besides Germany to worry about" was likely the thinking)

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Re:Why was the Zimmerman Telegram so important? by ap3 on Tuesday January 17, 2017 @09:51AM (#13417968)

They basically needed a WW2 Japan in WW1

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Re:Why was the Zimmerman Telegram so important? by jessaustin on Tuesday January 17, 2017 @08:20AM (#13417217)

Silly Germans. Don't go to war with opponents you can't beat without closing down all international trade. Because you can't actually close down all international trade.

USA's external actions in that time frame were much more defensible than they have been since then.

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Re:Why was the Zimmerman Telegram so important? by mikeash on Tuesday January 17, 2017 @09:51AM (#13417974)

What's your theory for a reason that absolves this? Or did I misunderstand your implication?

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Re:Why was the Zimmerman Telegram so important? by mafribe on Tuesday January 17, 2017 @02:21PM (#13420271)

The US had long supported the Allied side sub-rosa, e.g. the sinking of the RMS Lusitania. At least on some interpretations that support amounted to an act of war. Imagine, to put this into perspective, that you had been caught in 2002 to ship weapons to Al-Qaeda.

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