Ten Thousand Texas Rangers

DESCRIPTION: "Ten thousand Texas Rangers are laughing fit to kill At the joke of the German Kaiser, an' his fierce, imperious will." If the Mexicans are fools enough to listen to the Germans and invade the U. S., it will fail, and "by Gawd, but that one's on Bill"
AUTHOR: Alice Corbin (Source: Thorp/Logsdon-SongsOfTheCowboys)
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (Thorp/Logsdon-SongsOfTheCowboys)
KEYWORDS: Mexico
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Jan. 1917 - The Zimmerman Telegram invites Mexico to go to war with the United States
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Thorp/Logsdon-SongsOfTheCowboys, pp. 145-146, "Ten Thousand Texas Rangers" (1 text)
NOTES [232 words]: In 1917, Germany was preparing to start unrestricted submarine warfare in World War I, which they thought (almost certainly correctly) would bring the United States into the war on the Allied side. The Germans came up with a plan to involve the chaotic Mexican government in war with the United States. This offer, which was conveyed in a telegram, offered (in the sort-of-official translation) to "make war together, make peace together, generous financial support and an understanding on our part that Mexico is to reconquer the lost territory in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona." Note that some of this phrasing is used in the piece.
The telegram was signed by the German foreign minister, Arthur Zimmerman.
The telegram was sent in code from Germany to the German embassy in Mexico -- but because the Germans had to use cables to send it, and the British had tapped the cables, the British got their hands on it, decoded it, and shared it with the Americans, using subterfuge to make it appear they had picked up a copy of the telegram in Mexico rather than intercepting and decrypting it (which would have told the Germans that their code had been cracked).
The Germans could of course have denied the telegram's authenticity, but instead Zimmerman admitted to sending the thing. And, of course, the United States soon joined the Allies, and played a vital role in defeating the Germans. - RBW
Last updated in version 5.3
File: ThLo145

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