Arthur Zimmermann: Difference between revisions

{{Infobox officeholder

| image = Arthur_Zimmermann.png

| birth_place = [[Marggrabowa]] (now [[Olecko]]), [[East Prussia]], [[Kingdom of Prussia]]

| death_date = {{death date and age|1940|6|6|1864|10|5|df=y}}

| party = [[Independent politician|Independent]]

| religion =  

}}

==Career==

He was born in [[Marggrabowa]], [[East Prussia]], then in the [[Kingdom of Prussia]] (present-day [[Olecko]], [[Mazury]], [[Poland]]). He studied law from 1884-87 in [[Königsberg]], East Prussia, and [[Leipzig]]. A period as a junior lawyer followed and later he received his doctorate of law. In 1893, he took up a career in diplomacy and entered the consular service in Berlin. He arrived in China in 1896 ([[Guangzhou|Canton]] in 1898), and rose to the rank of consul in 1900. While stationed in the Far East, he witnessed the [[Boxer Rebellion]] in China. As part of his transfer to the Foreign Office, he returned to Germany in 1902. A portion of this trip was via railroad across the Continental United States, a fact he would later use to inflate his supposed expertise on the nation.<ref>Tucker, Spencer C. (2014) World War I: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection, ABC-CLIO, pg. 1704<!-- ISSN/ISBN needed --></ref>

===''Kronrat''===

===Irish rebellion===

===Resignation and death===

==Zimmermann telegram and resignation==

{{Main article|Zimmermann Telegram}}

===Background===

Two and a half years into World War I, the United States had maintained a status of neutrality while the Allied armies had been fighting those of the [[Central Powers]] in the trenches of northern France and Belgium. Although President [[Woodrow Wilson]] had been re-elected – winning the election on the slogan, "He kept us out of the war" – it became increasingly difficult to maintain that position.<ref>"Woodrow Wilson: Speech of Acceptance". Presidency.ucsb.edu, 2 September 1916; retrieved 11 September 2010.</ref>

After the [[Royal Navy]] had been engaged in a successful naval blockade against all German shipping for some time, the German Supreme High Command concluded that only a total submarine offensive would break the stranglehold. Although the decision was made on 9 January 1917, the Americans were uninformed of the operation until 31 January.<ref>Schmidt, Donald E. (2005). The Folly of War: American foreign policy, 1898–2005. Algora Publishing. pg. 83; {{ISBN|0-87586-383-3}}.</ref>  

Germany had been pursuing various interests in Mexico since the beginning of the 20th century. Although a latecomer in the area, with Spain, Britain, and France having established themselves there centuries earlier, the Kaiser's Germany attempted to secure a continuing presence. This entailed many different approaches to the Mexican Republic and its changing, often revolutionary, governments as well as assuring the United States (most of the time) of Germany's peaceful intentions. German diplomacy in the area depended on sympathetic relations with the Mexican government of the day. Among the options discussed during Arthur Zimmermann's period in office was a German offer to improve communications between the two nations and a suggestion that Mexico purchase German submarines for its navy. After [[Francisco Villa]]'s cross-border raids into [[New Mexico]] President Wilson sent a [[punitive expedition]] into Mexico to pursue the raiders.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Pershing report, October 1916, p. 4 (General Orders, No. 1)}}</ref>

This encouraged the Germans to believe (mistakenly) that this and other US concerns in the area would tie up US resources and military operations for some time to come, sufficiently to justify the overtures made by Arthur Zimmermann in his telegram to the [[Venustiano Carranza]] government.

==Sending==

===Effect===

On 24 February, the telegram was finally delivered to the US ambassador in Britain, [[Walter Hines Page]], who two days later retransmitted it to President Wilson. On 1 March, the United States Government passed the text of the telegram to the press. At first, some sectors of the US papers, especially those of the [[William Randolph Hearst|Hearst]] press empire, questioned whether the telegram was a forgery made by British intelligence in an attempt to persuade the US government to enter the war on Britain's side. This opinion was reinforced by German and Mexican diplomats, as well as pro-German and pacifist opinion-formers in the United States. However, on 29 March 1917, Zimmermann gave a speech to the Reichstag confirming the text of the telegram and so put an end to all speculation as to its authenticity. By that time a number of US ships had been torpedoed with heavy loss of life.

===Arthur Zimmermann's speech===

He also said that despite the submarine offensive, he had hoped that the USA would remain neutral. His instructions (to the Mexican government) were only to be carried out after the US declared war, and he believed his instructions to be "absolutely loyal as regards the US". In fact, he blamed President Wilson for breaking off relations with Germany "with extraordinary roughness" after the telegram was received, and that therefore the German ambassador "no longer had the opportunity to explain the German attitude, and that the US government had declined to negotiate".<ref name="firstworldwardotcom" />

===Mexico's reply===

===The fact-finding mission of Nuncio Pacelli===

At the end of June 1917, Zimmermann found the first real opportunity for paving the way to peace negotiations during his period of administration. At several meetings with the [[Apostolic Nuncio to Bavaria|Bavarian Nuncio]] Eugenio Pacelli (later to become [[Pope Pius XII]]) and Uditore Schioppa, who were on a fact-finding mission, Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg and Zimmermann outlined their plans. There would be no annexations of territories, no border adjustments with Russia, Poland was to remain an independent state, all occupied areas of France and Belgium were to be evacuated, and [[Alsace-Lorraine]] would be ceded to France. The only exception in return was to be the restitution of all former German colonies to Germany. None of these plans came to fruition because neither of the two German participants would be very much longer in office. As an afterthought, it was Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg's belief – unlike that of the General Staff's – that once the United States entered the war, the prospects for Germany would indeed be bleak.

==''Peace in the East''==

In March 1917, with the imminent collapse of the [[Eastern Front (World War I)|Russian front]], Zimmermann took steps to promote ''Peace in the East'' with the Russians, a proposal that was of immense importance to Germany at the time. The foreign secretary set forth the following: regulations for frontline contacts with the opposite side; reciprocal withdrawal of the occupied areas; an amicable agreement about [[Poland]], [[Lithuania]], and [[Courland|Kurland]]; and a promise to aid Russia in its reconstruction and rehabilitation. Last but not least, [[Lenin]] and the émigré revolutionaries would be allowed to pass through Germany to Russia by train. These proposals once carried out, would free Germany's armies in the east and allow them to be concentrated in the west, a master-stroke that would reinforce the German western front vastly. Zimmermann thus contributed to the outcome of the [[October Revolution]].

[[Category:1864 births]]

[[Category:1940 deaths]]

[[Category:People from Olecko]]

[[Category:German diplomats]]