Arthur Zimmerman
The German career diplomat, and foreign minister
Early Years
Arthur Zimmerman was born in the Prussian town of Marggrabowa during the year 1864, and he demonstrated strong academic abilities at school and then at university. After leaving military service Arthur Zimmerman then decided to begin a career as a diplomat for the German government, at first based in China. Arthur Zimmerman became a high flyer within the German foreign ministry, and his career continued to progress resulting in him becoming a member of the German government during the First World War.
Promising Diplomat And Foreign Minister
The Imperial German government considered Arthur Zimmerman to one of their most important as well as trustworthy career diplomat by the time that the First World War started during August 1914. The Germans were hopeful of an early victory, and when it did not happen were desperate to break the Royal Navy blockcade by launching submarine attacks against British and neutral shipping.
The Imperial German government appointed Arthur Zimmerman to the very important post of Foreign Minister in November 1916, and gave him the task of ensuring that the American government remained neutral until the end of the First World War. German submarine attacks were driving towards entering the war against Germany.
The Zimmerman Telegram
Arthur Zimmerman’s task of preventing the United States entering the First World War on the side of Britain and France was made much more difficult by the Imperial German Navy’s submarine campaign against British and neutral shipping carrying cargo to and from the United Kingdom. The German sinking of the American ocean liner the Luisitana in 1915 had almost brought the dreaded entry of the United States into the First World War.
However the German government decided that the submarine campaign could not stopped, and Zimmerman sent a telegram to the Mexican government to persuade them to invade the United States. However the British intercepted the telegram and showed it to the American government, ensuring the United States entry into the war.
Bibliography
Bradbury, M. & Temperley, H. - Introduction to American Studies 3rd edition (1998) Longman, London
Carroll, P. N. - The Free and the Unfree – A new history of the United States 2nd edition (1988) Penguin, New York
Crystal, D. - The Cambridge Biographical Encyclopedia 2nd edition (1998) Cambridge
Hobsbawm, E (1994) Age of Extremes, the Short Twentieth Century 1914-1991, Michael Joseph, London
Holmes R, (2007) Battlefield – Decisive conflicts in History, Oxford University Press, Oxford, and Cambridge, USA
Kennedy P, (1976) The Rise and fall of British Naval Mastery, Penguin, London
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