On May 7, 1915, the passenger liner Lusitania was sunk by German submarine U-20 in British waters. Of the passengers, 1,198 drowned, including many women and children and 124 U.S. citizens.
After 1918, Nov. 11 became a day of remembrance. Commemoration practices involved both celebration and somber remembrance with ceremonies often including parades, speeches and a moment of silence.
On Nov. 11, 1918, after more than four years of horrific fighting and the loss of millions of lives, the guns on the Western Front fell silent.
President Wilson, reelected in November 1916 supporting policies of neutrality, goes before a special session of Congress and asks for a declaration of war.
Zimmermann delivers a speech to the Reichstag confirming the text of the telegram and putting an end to all speculation about its authenticity. By that time more U.S. ships had been torpedoed with...
American newspapers begin publishing the accounts of the “Zimmerman Telegram.” Secretary of State Lansing asks Ambassador Page to verify the decoding of the Zimmermann Telegram because “some members...
A Japanese official informs Foreign Minister Aguilar that Japan has no intention of defection from the Allies, having declared war on Germany in August of 1914.
The State Department instructs the U.S. Ambassador in Mexico to inform the Mexican government that the United States knows about the Zimmermann Telegram. Department counselor Frank Polk discusses the...
U.S. Ambassador Walter H. Page is provided a translation of the telegram on Feb. 23 and informed of Germany’s proposal to Mexico by British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour. On Feb. 24, Ambassador...
Heinrich von Eckardt, the German envoy to Mexico, discusses the telegram with Mexican foreign minister Cándido Aguilar.
