PEEBLES PROFILES
EPISODE X: Arthur Zimmermann
Arthur Zimmermann was born on October 5, 1864 in the East Prussian town of Marggrabowa (present day Olecko, Poland). He studied law from 1884-87 in the East Prussia capital of Konigsberg and also in Leipzig. A period as a junior lawyer followed, and later he received his doctorate of law.
In 1893, Zimmermann took up a career in diplomacy and entered the consular service in Berlin. He arrived in China in 1896 and rose to the rank of consul four years later. While stationed in the Far East, he witnessed the Boxer Rebellion in China. As part of his transfer to the Foreign Office, Zimmermann returned to Germany in 1902. He was called to the Foreign Office with the job of Under Secretary of State nine years later.
On November 24, 1916, Zimmermann accepted the post of Secretary of State, succeeding Gottlieb von Jagow. He had actually assumed a large share of his predecessor’s negotiations with foreign envoys for several years prior to his appointment because of von Jagow’s reservedness in office. He was the first non-aristocrat to serve as foreign secretary.
As under secretary, Zimmermann took part in the so-called Kronrat (the deliberations with Kaiser Wilhelm II and Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg), in which the decision was taken to support the Austro-Hungarian Empire after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo in the summer of 1914. He later disavowed the name Kronrat since it was the Kaiser’s opinion that was decisive in the discussion (but with which Bethmann-Hollweg and Zimmermann concurred).
Later that year, Zimmermann was visited by Irish revolutionary Roger Casement. A plan was laid to land 25,000 soldiers in the west of Ireland with 75,000 rifles, much to the disagreement of the German General Staff.
In April 1916, Casement returned to Ireland in a U-boat and was captured and executed. A German ship (the Libau, renamed the Aud and flying Norwegian colors) shipped 20,000 rifles to the coast of Kerry, but it failed to link up with the rebels and was scuttled.
Planning on this support, the Irish Volunteers launched the Easter Rising in Dublin. Though the Rising failed, its political effect led to the Irish War of Independence and the formation of the Irish Free State in 1922.
On August 6, 1917, Zimmermann resigned as foreign secretary and was succeeded by Richard von Kühlmann. One of the causes of his resignation was the famous telegram sent on January 16, 1917 that bears his name.
THE ZIMMERMANN TELEGRAM
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 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.
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 January 9, 1917, the Americans were uninformed of the operation for three weeks.
The Germans abandoned the Sussex Pledge (not to sink merchant ships without due warning and to save human lives wherever possible) and began an unrestricted U-boat campaign on February 1, 1917. Since it was obvious that American shipping would also come under attack in the course of this operation, it became just a matter of time before the United States was drawn into the conflict.
Imperial Germany had been pursuing various interests in Mexico since before the war, taking many different approaches to the Mexican Republic and its changing, often revolutionary, governments… while assuring the United States (most of the time) of Germany’s peaceful intentions. Diplomacy depended on sympathetic relations with the Mexican government of the day.
Among the options discussed during Arthur Zimmermann’s period in office was an offer to improve communications between the two nations and a suggestion that the Mexican Navy purchase German submarines. After Francisco “Pancho” Villa’s cross-border raids into New Mexico, President Wilson sent a punitive expedition into Mexico to pursue the raiders. This encouraged the Germans to believe (mistakenly) that this and other American concerns in the area would tie up resources and military operations for some time to come.
Thus, Arthur Zimmermann sent a telegram to the Venustiano Carranza government. His proposals included an agreement for a German alliance with Mexico (while Germany would still try to maintain a state of neutrality with America). If this policy were to fail, the Mexican government should make common cause with Germany and try to persuade the Japanese government to join the new alliance… and attack the United States. Germany would provide Mexico financial assistance along with the restoration of the former territories of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona (lost in 1848 after the Mexican War).
On February 24, 1917, the telegram was finally delivered to the American ambassador in Britain (Walter Hines Page), who in turn retransmitted it to President Wilson two days later. On the first of March, the U.S. government passed the text of the telegram to the press.
At first, some sectors of the American papers (especially those of the Hearst press empire) questioned whether the telegram was a forgery made by British intelligence in an attempt to persuade the U.S. to enter the war on the Allied side. This opinion was reinforced by German and Mexican diplomats, pro-German sentiment, and pacifists in the United States.
However, on March 29, 1917, Arthur Zimmermann gave a speech to the Reichstag, confirming the text of the telegram (which ended all speculation as to its authenticity). By the end of the month, more American ships had been torpedoed with heavy loss of life.
On April 2, 1917, President Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war against Germany, citing (among other grievances) that Germany “means to stir up enemies against us at our very doors.” Four days later, Congress approved the war resolution by a wide margin, with the Senate voting 82 to 6 in the affirmative. The United States had entered World War I on the side of the Allies.
In his speech to the Reichstag, Zimmermann intended to explain his side of the situation. He began that he had not written a letter to Carranza, but had given instructions to the German ambassador via “a route that had appeared to him to be a safe one.”
Zimmermann also stated that despite the submarine offensive, he had hoped that the U.S. would remain neutral. His instructions (to the Mexican government) were only to be carried out after America declared war, and Zimmermann believed his instructions to be “absolutely loyal as regards the United States.”
In fact, he blamed President Wilson for breaking off relations with Germany “with extraordinary roughness” after the telegram was received, and thus the German ambassador “no longer had the opportunity to explain the German attitude, and that the U.S. government had declined to negotiate.”
Later, a general assigned by Carranza to assess the realities of a Mexican takeover of their former provinces… and came to the conclusion that it would not work. Taking over the three states would almost certainly cause future problems (including war with America). Mexico would also be unable to accommodate a large Anglo population within its borders. Finally, Germany would not be able to supply the arms needed in the hostilities that would surely arise. As a result, Carranza declined Zimmermann’s proposals on April 14, 1917.
THE SEARCH FOR PEACE
By mid-year, Zimmermann found the first real opportunity for paving the way to peace negotiations. At several meetings with Nuncio Eugenio Pacelli (the future Pope Pius XII) and Uditore Schioppa (both on a fact-finding mission), Bethmann-Hollweg and Zimmermann outlined their plans. There would be no annexations of territories or border adjustments with Russia. Poland would become 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 the restitution of Germany’s former colonies. Sadly, none of these plans bore fruit, because neither of the two German participants would be in office for the duration. As an afterthought, it was Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg’s belief (unlike that of the Army General Staff) once the United States entered the war, the prospects for Germany would indeed be bleak.
In March 1917, with the imminent collapse of Tsarist Russia, Zimmermann took steps to promote “peace in the east.” He set forth the following: regulations for frontline contacts with the opposite side; reciprocal withdrawal of the occupied areas; an amicable agreement concerning Poland, Lithuania, and Kurland; and a promise to help the Russians with their reconstruction and rehabilitation. Last but not least, V.I. Lenin and the émigré revolutionaries would be allowed to pass through Germany (from Switzerland) to Russia in a “sealed” train. These proposals (once carried out) would free the German armies in the east and allow them to be concentrated in the west for the decisive 1918 offensive.
Because of his “peace in the east”, Arthur Zimmermann contributed to the outcome of the Bolshevik uprising in Russia and the spreading revolutionary ferver as defeat closed in on the Second German Reich!
Zimmermann survived the war, the Weimar Republic, and the rise of Nazi Germany.
He died on June 6, 1940 at the age of 75 (one week before the fall of France in World War II).