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Arthur Zimmermann

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Diplomat

The Resume

    (October 5, 1864-June 6, 1940)
    Born in Marggrabowa, East Prussia, Kingdom of Prussia
    State Secretary for Foreign Affairs of the German Empire (November 22, 1916 to August 6, 1917)
    Namesake for the Zimmermann Telegram during World War I
    Caught proposing an alliance between Mexico and Germany if the United States declared war on Germany in an intercepted telegram (January 16, 1917)

Why he might be annoying:

    As acting foreign secretary, he spoke for Kaiser Wilhelm II in his decision to support Austria-Hungary after the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand - plunging Europe into the First World War as a result.
    He tried to instigate conflict between the United States and Mexico to mitigate the threat of American intervention in Europe.
    A telegram of his to the German minister in Mexico was intercepted and decoded by British intelligence (February 1917).
    The telegram proposed that Mexico could recover Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico if the United States entered the war against Germany. (The telegram also suggested provoking Japan against the US as well).
    The telegram was made available to President Wilson, who caused it to be published on March 1, 1917. Zimmermann publicly admitted that the telegram was real two days later.
    The revelation helped to convince Americans of German hostility against the United States and to generate support for interventionism. The American declaration of war on Germany came five weeks later.
    The blowback was substantial enough that he was forced to resign months later (August 6, 1917).
    He lost the post just after the fall of Chancellor Hollweg’s government in the summer of 1917 and he never held it again.

Why he might not be annoying:

    Mexico turned his proposal down flat.
    He was closely involved in plans to support colonial rebellions in Ireland and in India.
    He worked successfully to ensure diplomatic relations with Russia and Germany following the overthrow of the Tsarist government by Lenin.
    The decryption of his coded message was the most significant intelligence triumph for Britain during World War I.
    It was one of the earliest occasions on which a piece of signal intelligence and decryption influenced world events.
    He died forgotten and disgraced from pneumonia at the height of Nazism in Germany (he himself was politically independent at the time of his death).

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 13 Votes: 23.08% Annoying