No Zimmermann Telegram

MrHola

Banned
What if, instead of sending the Zimmerman Telegram by wire, the Germans send it by diplomatic pouch? In OTL, when discussions were made about the use of the stormtroopers in 1918, one of the plans was to hold them back and wait for the British to attack, then use them as a counter-offensive when the British attack inevitably ground to a halt.

With American entry into the war, this idea wasn't taken up. The British were going to attack in June 1918. They'd be unlikely to achieve much. And the effects of stormtroopers used as a counter-offensive would be bad.
 
What if, instead of sending the Zimmerman Telegram by wire, the Germans send it by diplomatic pouch? In OTL, when discussions were made about the use of the stormtroopers in 1918, one of the plans was to hold them back and wait for the British to attack, then use them as a counter-offensive when the British attack inevitably ground to a halt.

With American entry into the war, this idea wasn't taken up. The British were going to attack in June 1918. They'd be unlikely to achieve much. And the effects of stormtroopers used as a counter-offensive would be bad.

MrHola

I think your got your dates a bit confused? The Zimmerman Telegraph was in late 16 early 17 and the US dow on Germany was in April 17, in large part because of the German resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare. That was well before the 1918 campaign.

I think the Germans might have been better off standing on the defencive in 1918 but the predominant military philosophy at the time was a belief in the offensive and also the German leadership, L & H by this time, wanted a clear and total victory rather than a negotiated one in the west. Also they thought they had a chance of a quick victory in the west in 1918 because the US was only slowly starting to come across and unwilling to commit troops at that point.

If for any reason the Germans hadn't attacked in early 1918 I don't think Britain would have gone it allow. It actually had a very good army at this point with a well-developed all-arms doctrine. However after the bloodbath of 3rd Ypres Lloyd-George especially was determined to wait until the Americans were in France in strength and willing and able to take a large share in an allied offensive. As such you wouldn't have seen an allied major offensive in the west until probably early autumn 1918. This would have faced a markedly more difficult task if the Germans had been on the defencive all year rather than expanding so much of their remaining strength on the OTL attacks. Whether they might have held until the allies possibly agree some peace deal is difficult to say. Suspect not but could well have been very bloody and gone into 1919 possibly even staggering on into 1920.

Steve
 
What if, instead of sending the Zimmerman Telegram by wire, the Germans send it by diplomatic pouch? In OTL, when discussions were made about the use of the stormtroopers in 1918, one of the plans was to hold them back and wait for the British to attack, then use them as a counter-offensive when the British attack inevitably ground to a halt.

With American entry into the war, this idea wasn't taken up. The British were going to attack in June 1918. They'd be unlikely to achieve much. And the effects of stormtroopers used as a counter-offensive would be bad.

I think you are discussing two points that don't have anything direct link between the two of them.

Just regarding the telegram, the Germans had no way to suspect that the British were monitoring their dispatches via telegram nor had broken their codes. It would have been a little more difficult to get the message across to their ambassador in Mexico City, but not impossible. Another possibility to consider is that someone in the Mexican Government be forward thinking enough to recognize what sort of kudos the Mexicans could get with the Wilson Administration if they turned the telegram over to the Americans.
 
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