On 1 February Germany kept its word and resumed unrestricted submarine warfare, and two days later the United States severed diplomatic relations with the Second Reich.  And Washington had yet to see the Zimmermann telegram.  British intelligence did not want to reveal that they had the German code and also important, that they were intercepting American diplomatic traffic, which they continued to do for the next quarter century.  (Nothing new a century later.)  After many subterfuges were considered, they showed the telegram to a secretary in the American embassy in London, who passed it on to the ambassador, Walter Page, who met with Balfour on the 23^rd.  Page sent it to Wilson, who released it to the press on 28 February.

U-14 a typical U-boat

Germany’s unrestricted submarine warfare zone

Walter Page

How much impact the telegram had on Washington and American public opinion is hard to gauge.  It must certainly have had an effect on anti-German sentiment, but it appears that the submarine warfare was the key issue for the government.  Wilson had already cut diplomatic ties, and on 26 February he asked Congress to arm US merchant vessels.  There was plenty of anti-Mexican feeling, especially after Pancho Villa raided US territory, but innocent Americans dying in torpedoed ships was extremely compelling.  I suspect war would have soon come to America regardless of Arthur Zimmermann.

US Navy recruitment poster

And it was all a waste of time.  Mexican President Venustiano Carranza (of the “Preconstitutional Government”; he became official President on 1 May) was too intelligent to even consider war against the United States, which would have little problem dealing with Mexico despite a commitment to the European war.  He could only have serious doubts about Germany’s promise of financial and material aid, and he could figure out that the his northern neighbor was not likely to cede any territory unless occupied by the Germans.

Venustiano Carranza

Meanwhile, Germany began on 25 February to implement its new defensive strategy by beginning, in the Ancre sector, a gradual withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line.  This line of improved fortifications – also known as the Siegfriedstellung – was begun in September, accompanied by the Hindenburg Program, designed to further mobilize the German armaments industry.  120,000 soldiers with the required skills were returned home, and 800,000 workers were exempted from the draft.  Meanwhile, the Reichswehr would sit on the defensive while the U-boats won the war.

Retirement to the Hindenburg/Siegfried Line

Hindenburg/Siegfried Line

Hindenburg/Siegfried Line

Far to the east Commonwealth troops were retrieving the honor lost at Kut al-Amara a year earlier.  General Stanley Maude had set out from Basra with 50,000 troops in December and reached Kut on 22 February, having defeated minor Turkish forces in three battles while moving upriver in January.  The following day elements of the 82^nd Punjabis crossed to the north bank west of Kut, outflanking the Turkish defenses.  Faced with encirclement and vastly outnumbered, Kâzim Karabekir Bey skillfully withdrew his 14,000 troops upriver on the 23rd, having suffered some 3000 casualties to the Indian 1000.  Maude would continue the advance to Baghdad.

British soldier aiding Turks

A sepoy of the 82nd Punjabis

General Stanley Maude

Kâzım Karabekir Bey

Kut 19717

And on 14 February Britain proposed to Japan that it would recognize their claims to German possessions north of the equator if they supported British demands to the south.  The British government also promised the return of Alsace-Lorraine to France.  Happy Valentine’s Day.

March would see far more momentous events.