Read more about it The information in this guide focuses on primary source materials found in the digitized historic newspapers from the digital collection Chronicling America. Germany's Foreign Secretary, Arthur Zimmerman, sent a secret telegram to Mexico, proposing an alliance and promising support for Mexico to reclaim Texas. The activity can be found under The Emergence of Modern America era or directly at. The famed Zimmermann telegram mobilizes public opinion against Germany and accelerates America’s involvement in World War I. Students in grades 6-12 may work individually or in small groups, with breaks for class discussion. We suggest teaching with this activity during a unit on U.S. To conclude the activity, students will vote on whether or not the United States should have declared war on Germany based solely on the Zimmermann Telegram, explaining their pro- or anti-war rationale. They will discover that in January of 1917, British codebreakers deciphered this telegram from German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmermann to the German Minister to Mexico, offering United States territory to Mexico in return for joining the German cause. The Zimmermann Telegram activity challenges students to examine the encoded Zimmermann Telegram and the decode worksheet, looking for clues and details about the documents that may help explain their meaning. After they discuss their findings, they will read, analyze, and summarize the decoded Zimmermann telegram-identifying its author, audience, and purpose. The telegram was considered perhaps Britain’s greatest intelligence coup of World War I and, coupled with American outrage over Germany’s resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare, was the tipping point persuading the U.S. In a recently created learning activity on, students can analyze the Zimmermann telegram to evaluate whether, based on its information and implications, the United States should have entered World War I.īy completing the activity, they will learn that this message helped draw the United States into the war and thus changed the course of history, that: The British presented the telegram to President Woodrow Wilson, the American press published the news, and Congress declared war on Germany and its allies. The Zimmermann Telegram galvanized American public opinion against Germany once and for all.
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