Read the excerpt from The Dark Game
On January 16, 1917, in a clear attempt to convince
the Mexican govemment to help Germany in the war,
Arthur Zemermann, the German foreign secretary
sent a telegram to Count von Bemstort, the German
ambassador in Washington. The foreign secretary
wanted to be certain that this message reached von
Bemstorft, so he made arrangements for it to be
carried aboard a U-boat to Sweden and from there to
Washington through diplomatic channels
As luck would have it, the departure of the sub was
delayed Impatient, Zimmermann tumed to his second
option sending the message to his ambassador
through the US State Department. Although Wilson
considered the United States to be neutral, he allowed
messages to be sent to von Bemstorff via the State
Department as a courtesy. The telegram sent
Zimmermann aited for a reply What Zimmermann
Why did Zimmermann choose to send the message
through the US State Department?
O The German U-boat was grounded because it
needed repairs
O The Americans planned to enter the war and side
with the Germans
O The content of the message was extraordinarily
important
O The safest way of transmitting messages was by
telegram