Imperial German plans for the invasion of the United States
Imperial German plans for the invasion of the United States were ordered by staff officers from 1897 to 1903 as training exercises in planning for war. The hypothetical operation was supposed to force the US to bargain from a weak position and to sever its growing economic and political connections in the Pacific Ocean, the Caribbean, and South America so that German influence could increase there. Junior officers made various plans, but none were seriously considered and the project was dropped in 1906.
Wilhelm II, German Emperor
Composite image of Kaiser Wilhelm II with his General Staff
President Theodore Roosevelt uses US naval power to reduce European influence in the Americas. The sign on the gun barrel says "Monroe Doctrine".
The Zimmermann Telegram was a secret diplomatic communication issued from the German Foreign Office in January 1917 that proposed a military contract between the German Empire and Mexico if the United States entered World War I against Germany. With Germany's aid, Mexico would recover Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. The telegram was intercepted by British intelligence.
The Zimmermann Telegram as it was sent from Washington, DC, to Ambassador Heinrich von Eckardt, the German ambassador to Mexico.
The Mexican Telegraph Company building in Galveston through which the Zimmerman Telegram was relayed
A portion of the Telegram as decrypted by British Naval Intelligence codebreakers. Since the word Arizona was not in the German codebook, it had to be split into phonetic syllables.
The Telegram, completely decrypted and translated
