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 best historians are also storytellers. So it is with Barbara Tuchman, displaying both capabilities by crafting The Zimmerman Telegram as a mystery while it describes what caused America to abandon neutrality and enter World War I in 1917.Author Tuchman starts off with a tease - the decoding of the intercepted telegram. Then she abandons the thing in the safe of Admiral William Hall while she tells her story of Mexican politics and internecine war, German perfidy and deceit, American naivety and blindness, and the killing of a generation on the battlefields of France.It's an important story - of how Woodrow Wilson (and America) was convinced to abandon his aversion to war (and our desire for isolationism) when the telegram by German Foreign Minister Zimmerman was shown to him and he was convinced of its authenticity.A key player in Tuchman's story is Admiral Hall, and he is mostly silent. His staff intercepted the telegram and decoded it. Hall has to figure out how to put the telegram in view of American leaders without Germany deducing its origin. When author Tuchman interviewed Hall in 1958 just prior to publication, Admiral Hall was still silent on some details of his story.A great read here - a better mystery than those from Stuart Woods or some from Ken Follett.

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.

Only book by Barbara Tuckman I havent read but have to assume it will be as good as the others. If you like history, she writes in a way that keeps you reading and wanting more.