If I recall correctly, the Zimmermann Telegram did NOT bring the US into the war. It was however one of the many things that lead to a US decision to enter the war. In itself it did not cause the US entry. Just my $0.02 Tim Philp =================================== For PGP Public Key, Send E-mail to: pgp-public-keys@swissnet.ai.mit.edu In Subject line type: GET PHILP =================================== On Tue, 23 Jan 1996, Perry E. Metzger wrote:
jim bell writes:
Maybe this is common knowledge, but the name "Zimmermann" and crypto had another relationship, in World War I. If anybody knows more about this incident than my vague recollection of the famous "Zimmermann cipher" would you care to tell the story?
It was the Zimmermann Telegram, actually, and it was a dispatch from the Germans to the Mexicans trying to promise them most of the southwest in exchange for being allies against the U.S. (which wasn't yet in the war). The Brits intercepted and decoded it and released it, which forced the U.S. into World War I.
Perry