Galveston's Hidden Role in World War I: The Journey of the Zimmerman Telegram
Sep 22, 2023
Galveston Unscripted | J.R. Shaw
Explore how this covert message relayed through Galveston pushed the U.S. into WWI and discover the island's unsung heroics in shaping 20th-century history. The Mexican Telegraph Company was an unassuming hub that played a critical part in transmitting encrypted messages that changed the course of history.
Explore how this covert message relayed through Galveston pushed the U.S. into WWI and discover the island's unsung heroics in shaping 20th-century history. The Mexican Telegraph Company was an unassuming hub that played a critical part in transmitting encrypted messages that changed the course of history.
Galveston Island has played a part in many wars and conflicts, from the Texas Revolution, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I and World War II. Galveston's role was sometimes to stage and train soldiers for battle, hold prisoners of war or even pass along encrypted telegrams that have changed the course of history. When the First World War broke out in Europe in 1914, the United States had a long-standing isolationist policy of avoiding entanglement in European conflicts. President Woodrow Wilson's re-election in 1916 was primarily based on the promise to maintain American neutrality in the face of a raging war in Europe and turmoil in Mexico. However, a clandestine encrypted message would soon change the course of history and pull the United States into the conflict. Few know that the encrypted telegram, coded with a secret sequence to keep enemy hands from reading the contents that drew the United States into World War I, was passed from Europe to Washington DC and then through Galveston and onto Mexico Decades before World War I. The Mexican Telegraph Company was formed by a group of enterprising businessmen in 1880. These entrepreneurs realized the growing importance of communication across vast swaths of land and sea. Galveston was selected as the prime geographic location on the Gulf Coast for the headquarters and the relay hub for all North American and European telegraph communications heading to and from Central and South America. By 1917, the Mexican Telegraph Business Office was located at 2103 Strand, with the equipment and relay building at 1819 Avenue O, which dispatched and received messages across the Gulf of Mexico by an undersea cable that began under the beach at 19th Street.
Speaker 1:
In January 1917, with World War I at a stalemate, German military leaders devised an audacious strategy to hinder America's entry into the war. Germany's Secretary of Foreign Affairs, author Zimmerman, approved a secret, encrypted message to Mexican President Venostiano Carranza. The diplomatic communication, sent via coded telegram, proposed substantial financial support and an alliance in exchange for Mexico's invasion of the American Southwest. If Mexico could draw the United States into a war in North America, Germany promised their support in the return of the land lost during the Mexican-American War, specifically Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. When World War I came to a close, Germany hoped this would keep the United States preoccupied with a war on their home front instead of entering the conflict in Europe. Mexico was unlikely to accept this offer as they were in the middle of a civil war and lacked the unity and military force to achieve an invasion. Germany could not deliver this message personally or by ship.
Speaker 1:
Due to British blockades and Britain's interception of German communication lines, German forces relied on transatlantic cables, sending encrypted messages via American undersea telegraph cables. The encoded message, known as the Zimmerman Telegram, was relayed from Denmark to London, to Washington DC and then to Galveston to the Mexican Telegraph Company to be forwarded to Mexico City. Little did the Germans know that British intelligence agents monitoring messages via the US Embassy in London with advanced code-breaking operations, intercepted and deciphered the telegram. The content of the message was astonishing. Along with asking Mexico to start a war with the United States, Germany sought to enlist Mexico as an ally and encouraged them to approach Japan to join the war against the United States. The Germans also planned to resume unrestricted submarine warfare, promising to sink any vessel allied with Britain and France. After the telegram had already been passed through Galveston to Mexico, British intelligence passed a copy of the decrypted message to the US government on February 19, 1917.
Speaker 1:
Upon receiving news of Germany's proposal to Mexico, President Wilson, who had campaigned on the promise of keeping the United States out of the war, faced a dilemma revealing the telegram could push the United States into a war with Germany. On March 1, 1917, the Zimmerman Telegram was made public in the United States, sparking outrage and anti-German sentiment. As suspected. Many Americans publicly questioned the validity of the telegram. But that was swiftly put to rest on March 3, when Arthur Zimmerman himself admitted to the telegram to an American newspaper reporter. The role of the United States as an isolationist country was now being questioned by the Americans. Staying out of the war in Europe could spark a separate war on the home front. The Zimmerman Telegram convinced the American public that Germany could force a conflict in North America, Although large-scale conflict with Mexico was unlikely.
Speaker 1:
A little over a month later, on April 6, 1917, the United States declared war against Germany. America's involvement in World War I undoubtedly ended the conflict much quicker than if they had stayed neutral. After the United States joined World War I in 1917, over 100,000 Americans were killed in combat. An armistice was announced on November 11, 1918, officially bringing the war to an end.
Speaker 1:
Although the telegram was intercepted by British intelligence before it arrived in Galveston to be relayed to Mexico, it's intriguing to think about Galveston's role in passing thousands of messages, encrypted with calls for war against the United States or not, to and from Europe, North America and Central and South America. The Mexican telegraph company operated in Galveston from 1880 to 1949. The little relay building on Avenue O was removed from its original location in 1995 to its present-day location on 33rd Street behind the 1838 Menard House. As the Zimmerman Telegram passed through Galveston's telegraph wires, it symbolized a turning point in history. The telegram's interception, decryption and revelation to the American public served as a catalyst that propelled the United States into World War I and changed the outcome of the 20th century.
