Mexico a Central Power?

What if the British had never intercepted the Zimmerman Telegram? Would Mexico have joined the Central Powers? Could Pancho Villa have become a famous WWI war hero? Would the US have still joined the Allies? How would this have effected Europe and America?
 
What if the British had never intercepted the Zimmerman Telegram? Would Mexico have joined the Central Powers? Could Pancho Villa have become a famous WWI war hero? Would the US have still joined the Allies? How would this have effected Europe and America?

Basically there was practically no way the British could not have intercepted the Zimmerman Telegram - tho its possible thru a chain of events they may not have been able to decode it. All telegraph cables led thru Britain.

If I recall correctly the Telegram did eventually make its way to the Mexican Government, which was pretty much in shambles with its own revolution and popular unrest that it prudently declined the offer. Its far more likely that Pershing may have collided with the Mexican Army at some point and that would have triggered a conflict, but it wouldn't have escalated further than a second Mexican-American War. What exactly could the Central Powers do? Lend Mexico a battleship?
 
Basically there was practically no way the British could not have intercepted the Zimmerman Telegram - tho its possible thru a chain of events they may not have been able to decode it. All telegraph cables led thru Britain.

If I recall correctly the Telegram did eventually make its way to the Mexican Government, which was pretty much in shambles with its own revolution and popular unrest that it prudently declined the offer. Its far more likely that Pershing may have collided with the Mexican Army at some point and that would have triggered a conflict, but it wouldn't have escalated further than a second Mexican-American War. What exactly could the Central Powers do? Lend Mexico a battleship?

That, and a U-boat. If they were fortunate, maybe even a machine-gun.
 
What if the British had never intercepted the Zimmerman Telegram? Would Mexico have joined the Central Powers? Could Pancho Villa have become a famous WWI war hero? Would the US have still joined the Allies? How would this have effected Europe and America?

I looked into this for a timeline I am building. Basically, the Mexican military did examine this option, even with the telegram intercepted. The conculsion was that Germany couldn't give enough support for Mexico to win, and that Mexico would have a huge problem pacifying the English-speaking population of the former Mexican territories. Wisely, the Mexicans decided to lay low and stay out of trouble.

The only effect I can see is that Woodrow Wilson is missing a vital piece of propaganda, and this may or may not have delayed the entry of the US into the Great War. I doubt that the outcome would have been fundamentally different, although in my TL I am using it as an excuse to bring WW1 to a stalemate rather than an Allied victory (the Spanish Flu ends the war eventually).
 
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