What was the last straw that provoked the United States to declare war on Germany?
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(b) evaluating United States involvement in World War I, including Wilson's Fourteen Points, the Treaty of Versailles, and the national debate over treaty ratification and the League of Nations; Show Coded Zimmerman
Telegram Decoded Zimmerman Telegram Text of Zimmerman Telegram Political Cartoon of Zimmerman Telegram Incident President Wilson's War Message to Congress Description: These grouped resources deal with the final stages of American abandonment of neutrality in World War I. While the refusal of Germany to abate her submarine warfare was the most significant reason that President Wilson decided the United States must join the fight, the incident of the Zimmerman telegram was, in effect, the "last straw" for American public opinion. Students can trace Wilson's thinking in his eloquent "War Message to Congress." Teaching Tips: "Do Now" Suggestion
Suggestion for Using this Resource as Part of a Lesson
 Germany's secret proposal to Mexico, discovered On March 1, 1917, the American public learned about a German proposal to ally with Mexico if the United States entered the war. Months earlier, British intelligence had intercepted a secret message from German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmermann to the Mexican government, inviting an alliance (along with Japan) that would recover the southwestern states Mexico lost to the U.S. during the Mexican War of 1846-47. The secret to the British interception began years
earlier. In 1914, with war imminent, the British had quickly dispatched a ship to cut Germany’s five trans-Atlantic cables and six underwater cables running between Britain and Germany. Soon after the war began, the British successfully tapped into overseas cable lines Germany borrowed from neutral countries to send communications. Britain began capturing large volumes of intelligence communications. British code breakers worked to decrypt communication codes. In October of 1914, the
Russian admiralty gave British Naval Intelligence (known as Room 40) a copy of the German naval codebook removed from a drowned German sailor’s body from the cruiser SMS Magdeburg. Room 40 also received a copy of the German diplomatic code, stolen from a German diplomat’s luggage in the Near East. By 1917, British Intelligence could decipher most German messages. Image courtesy of the National Archives. What led to the proposal of alliance to Mexico? Zimmermann sent the telegram in anticipation of resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare, an act the German government expected would likely lead to war with the U.S. Zimmermann hoped tensions with Mexico would slow shipments of supplies, munitions, and troops to the Allies if the U.S. was tied down on its southern border. Some suspected the telegram might be a forgery to manipulate America into the war. However, on March 29,
1917, Zimmermann gave a speech in the Reichstag confirming the text of the telegram and so put an end to all speculation as to its authenticity. The Zimmermann Telegram galvanized American public opinion against Germany once and for all. 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. to join the war. What was the last straw that provoked the United States declare war on Germany quizlet?It announced Germany's decision to wage unrestricted submarine warfare and caused angered Americans to call for war.
What was the final straw that involved the United States in ww2?The US did not join World War II until Pearl Harbor.
What event was the last straw?The single event often termed as "the last straw," drawing the U.S. into the war, was a telegram from the German foreign minister, Arthur Zimmerman, to Mexican officials.
What was the final straw to push America into war with Spain?36. On April 25, 1898 the United States declared war on Spain following the sinking of the Battleship Maine in Havana harbor on February 15, 1898.
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