The Zimmermann Telegram

"The Zimmerman Telegram" (1958) is another excellently written history by the author of the Pulitzer Prize winning "The Guns Of August" (1962). Writing with the same style and skill, Tuchman provides an important look at the crucial events that dragged the United States, kicking and screaming, into the First World War, even against the strong pacifism of the majority of Americans and the anti-war convictions of her president, Woodrow Wilson. "The Zimmerman Telegram" captures the flavor and atmosphere of a world facing its own worst fears. While many historians attempt to present the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915 as the precipitate cause of U.S. entry, Tuchman correctly shows that only a specific and direct threat against the U.S. "forcing the nation to believe that Germany had hostile intentions toward America" would have turned the nation from anti- to pro-war. That threat came in the form of a telegram from Arthur Zimmerman, the German Foreign Secretary, sent to the German ambassador in Mexico suggesting a conspiracy to provoke an attack by Mexico on the United States, with the help of Japan. The goal was to involve the U.S. in a local war and prevent them from becoming involved in the European conflict. The "bait" for Mexico was the recovery of Texas and parts of New Mexico and Arizona taken by the United States in 1848. In her own inimitable style, Tuchman provides a strong understanding of the deep levels of conspiracy that had been going on in American-Mexican relations for years prior to the start of the war in 1914 and which continued even after U.S. entry into the war. She also shows the difficulties involved in revealing knowledge of the threat without jeopardizing cryptographer's ability to continue intercepting and decoding German secret messages. If read together, "The Guns of August" and "The Zimmerman Telegram" present a strong foundation for understanding history during the first half of the 20th Century. I highly recommend this short, but compelling work as supplemental reading for any student of United States history.

The caprice of events: In January 1917, during the European trench warfare, American President Wilson emphatically declared publicly that "[t ]here will be no war ... This country does not intend to become involved in war" (p. 124). The Machiavellian manipulations by various nations, including Germany, to prevent the United States from participating in the European conflict, instigated a nefarious plot which "... contained Germany's promise to assist Mexico 'to regain by conquest her lost territory Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico'" (p. 7). As the United States was staunchly neutral, such a monumental intelligence discovery likely prompted President Wilson to, unexpectedly, reverse his proclaimed pacifist agenda, especially after German Foreign Minister Zimmerman affirmed the telegram's authenticity. Factual espionage and suspenseful interactions, exceeding fiction. A captivating expose of a series of events prompting the United States into WWI.

This is the second book by Barbara Tuchman that I've read and once again, her writing skills are manifest. She has taken a seemingly minor document (maybe not all that minor), showing the conception behind it, its transmission to German agents in Mexico, its decoding by British Naval Intelligence agents, and its release to American government officials, and hence we have this captivating and dramatic story. In Tuchman's view, this document was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back, which in this case was America and its leaders (most especially Wilson's) reluctance to enter into the First World War. A cast of scores come to the surface in this book, many of whom I knew little about, from British intelligence figures, German and Mexican agents trying to formulate a plan for alliance, along with Japan, and others from various diplomatic and political spheres of influence from the Allied and Central Powers. As in the Guns of August, I sense her abilities in capturing the drama of the moment and the human elements of the stories. This is a relatively small book, but is choke full of information. For me, the power of her words and description really started pouring forth from the chapter entitled Trap. Her portrayals of various German diplomatic figures like Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg, Ambassador Bernstorff, President Wilson, Walter Hines Page, Balfour and others symbolize her talents in portraying the human elements of the story. The depiction of American naivete on foreign affairs and the dangers posed by the Central Powers came across in this book. For example, how the Americans warmly greeted incoming German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmermann and how Wilson refused to believe that Germany's declaration of unrestricted U-Boat warfare would deter the Americans efforts to remain neutral; Wilson still wanted to bring the belligerent powers to a settlement, or as Wilson called it, a peace without victory. Once again, a marvelous work by a wonderful historian.

I've always liked Barbara Tuchman's writing, and I can say that she lives up to her reputation here. The first thing I noticed about The Zimmermann Telegram, was how short it was. Nevertheless, there is much to discuss, and Tuchmann does a great job of showing how a single intercepted cable played perhaps the final push to bring the United States into the war in Europe. The shortness of the book keeps the narrative moving, and the plot interesting. You really feel how badly President Wilson did not want to go to war. It's easy to imagine that the US might have maintained neutrality much longer if not for the telegram. Had the US not joined the fight at a time when both sides were war-weary, and the Germans were preparing to launch unrestricted U-boat warfare against supply ships, the consequences for history may have been immense. We will never know. The story soon moves from how the telegram was found, into how to reveal its existence without alerting the Germans that the British had cracked their secret codes. The intrigue is compelling, all the more so because it actually happened. Although we all know the outcome, Tuchmann keeps the tension high until the last minute. It's a fascinating moment of history that's too often overlooked or dismissed as merely on factor among many in the decision to declare war on Germany, and it's a book I'll be reading again.

Readers who are familiar with Barbara Tuchman's writings will need little encouragement to read this book. Winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, she has written seven histories, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences presented her with the gold medal for history. She believed the historian should not only research the topic thoroughly but should present the result as a skilled storyteller. The New York Times praised this book as a true and lucid thriller told with `a creative writer's sense of drama and a scholar's obeisance to the evidence.' It tells of the events leading to America's entry into World War One, during which time Tuchman's grandfather Henry Morgenthau was Woodrow Wilson's Ambassador to Turkey. Wilson was determined to mediate peace, but the British navy had blockaded German shipping and the German Supreme High Command planned to break the blockade with unrestricted submarine warfare which would almost certainly bring America into the war. Arthur Zimmermann, the German foreign secretary, sent to the German ambassador in Washington a coded telegram with details of the German government's planned strategy. British intelligence intercepted the telegram, was able to decipher it, and it was reported in the American press. On 6 April the United States entered World War I on the Allied side. In Tuchman's hands the episode makes excellent reading.

Barbara Tuchman is always readable and well informed. The title of the book doesn't inspire, unless you are familiar with the importance of the telegram itself, but from page one, the text inspires, delights, amazes, and (of course coming from Tuchman) informs. If a seemingly specialised, dry and apparently very circumscribed book can provide truly fascinating reading this is the leading contender among them. Expect to pause, allow an unbidden look of incredulity pass over your face; snort in amusement; shake your head in disbelief at the stupidity, arrogance, and conceit of the wheelers ands dealers on this much abused planet of ours; nod in agreement; turn to Google further information on someone or something; and neglect all those tasks you meant to do before you turned the first page of this book. After all, outside of a James Bond book, where else could you find code-books hidden in several pairs of woollen underpants? Iron-bound sea-chests? Characters like the master code-breakers Montgomery and de Grey ... not to mention Blinker Hall? Only history could write a plot like that!

This is my first Barbara Tuchman book - and it won't be my last. I've read plenty of Gore Vidal and T.H. White. I recall my impression of Woodrow Wilson (dusting aside cobwebs from history class) as a brilliant president, doing everything he could to postpone war. This book casts a whole new light on the early years of World War I, with fighting and geopolitics. The U.S. was remarkably detached from the reality of what was going on, and it was WWI that created the U.S. as a global power. Ms. Tuchman does a brilliant job of making history come alive, loading the book with historical details and keeping it remarkably readable. She also adds many other details, providing insights of culture of the day, and WHY some occurrences (which seem unbelievable today) probably happened.

She certainly knows her facts, and she certainly presents the information in a very clear format. It's an easy read, almost a pageturner and I only occassionally had to flip back with 'who was that guy again?' sort-of detail. My only gripe would be that she writes for a US audience ("We thought this... " "our southern border...") and often relapses to an almost idiomatic form of writing: that's what I mean by 'Journalese'. It makes it easy to read for locals at the time, but as the distance increases - time and geography - people get excluded from the cameraderie of the text (to coin a phrase). Example ... she refers to 'The swedish trunk affair'. From the context, this is a popular newspaper story from the 1910s. But I'm guessing. Imagine how cryptic a headline with Justin Bieber will be in (say) ten years time (or let's hope three..). It makes it a four-star for me. But good lord, she researched the details. Others have commented better than I can on the content. I can't imagine anyone writing a better book of the Zimmerman telegram affair.

The Zimmerman Telegram was what finally swung President Wilson and the American people into accepting that the US had to join the Allies to fight Germany in WW1. A continuing series of sinkings by U-Boats of US vessels and loss of American lives in those ships and ships of other nations was not enough to achieve this on its own. Wilson even declared that he would accept being labelled a coward for not retaliating militarily to these sinkings, rather than enter the war, which he regarded, up to the point when he changed his mind, as "a crime against civilisation". The account of the Zimmerman Telegram episode reads like a spy thriller - because IT IS a spy thriller. There's code breaking, kidnapping, assassinations, disappearances, subterfuge, double-speak, being "economical with the truth" at the highest level, deceptions ... really, a film script with all that occurred in this incident would be regarded as ott. In the end, so much has gone on in this Bond-like story before the actual telegram is sent that the telegram element of the story comes as almost an anti-climax. Tuchman's account is excellent. Her sources seem extensive and highly detailed. Her writing style is crisp, clear and with just enough of lightness of touch to do justice to what is an extraordinary episode of politico-military bungling on the German's part and the cloak-and-dagger sleuthing of The Allies. It is an adventure story but it is also a crucial element in the account of the 'European civil war' that was WW1. A great read.

The author tells the story and the background history as if it were a detective story. He also describes all the main characters with a great, sometimes very dry sense of humor, Very good reading!

I really enjoyed reading The Guns of August, and with an interest both in the world wars and security/military intelligence I thought this would be a fascinating book as well. It tells a rich and well-documented story that pulls together multiple threads to discuss how the proposal came to be and its significance to world history. I recommend it emphatically!

An excellent book. As is her style the book is essentially a series of essays around the subject, nicely pulled together. It gives a fantastic view of factors not often explored in detail. Fully recommended.

Good book