Born on October 5, 1864, in Marggrabowa, East Prussia, Arthur Zimmermann was born for a career as a diplomat. He wasn’t born into a noble or wealthy family but that didn’t stop him from becoming a successful German …show more content…
The Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand had been shot by a Serbian national, and Germany being Austria-Hungary’s greatest ally had to do something. The Austrians expected support from the Germans in a time of need like this. At the time Secretary Jagow wasn’t in the country. This meant that Arthur Zimmermann had to step up to take over his job in the situation. He worked with high-ranked officials in the German government including the Kaiser. Together they came up with a mutual decision that they would support Austria-Hungary. The Germans wanted to use the situation as a way to warn Europe that they were prepared to go to war if their demands were not met. “Beginning in 1915, Germany had started a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare, meaning they sunk any and all ships that crossed the Atlantic, even neutral ships from countries that were not officially part of the war” (study.com 1). Germany was relentless, not even hesitating to sink ships that were from neutral countries. This led to an infuriated United States, who strongly opposed this policy and asked Germany to stop. The German side eventually ended up listening and for most of 1915 and 1916 they directed their submarine warfare methods on the British ships. By the end of 1916, Germany wanted to bring World War I to an end and was ready to do it at any cost. The high-ranked officials of Germany believed that the only way they could single …show more content…
“America’s official neutrality involved trading with all belligerents, but in practice this meant the Allies and their Atlantic coastlines rather than Germany, who suffered from a British blockade” (About Education 2). This was a naval operation conducted by the Allied Powers that was created in an effort to restrict the supply of necessities such as food and raw materials to the Central Powers. Since the Germans knew that they would have to restart the use of unrestricted submarine warfare again, they figured the US would declare war on them. They relied on the chances of being able to shut Britain down before the American Army had a chance to arrive in a significant force. The German’s were clever and realized that Mexico was the best team to ally with if they were going to fight against the US. Mexico and Germany now had to power to force the United States into a two front war. After the German’s actually restarted their unrestricted submarine warfare, the US began to consider an entry into