1864: Birthdate of Arthur Zimmermann, German Foreign Secretary who authored the Zimmermann Telegram which helped to push the US into WWI.
Supposedly, a secret diplomatic comm issued from the German Foreign Office in Jan 1917 that proposed a military alliance between Germany and Mexico if the US entered the war against Germany, it was supposedly intercepted and decoded by British intelligence.
The telegram supposedly also enraged Americans, especially after Secretary Zimmermann publicly admitted on March 3 that it was genuine. It helped to astroturf support for the American declaration of war on Germany in April.
As acting secretary, Zimmermann had taken part in the so-called Kronrat, the deliberations in 1914, with Kaiser Wilhelm II and Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg, in which the decision was taken to support
Austria-Hungary after the
assassination of Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria at Sarajevo.
Zimmermann was also part of a plan to assist the Bolsheviks.
