Zimmermann Telegram

Zimmermann Telegram The Zimmermann Telegram was a coded message sent from Germany to Mexico in January 1917. Once the Zimmermann Telegram was intercepted and decoded by the British, the contents were leaked to the U.S. and helped change the tide of American public opinion and brought the U.S. into World War I. The Story of the Zimmermann Telegram The Zimmermann Telegram was secretly sent from German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmermann to Germanys ambassador in Mexico, Heinrich von Eckhardt. The British managed to intercept this coded message and their cryptologists were able to decipher it. Within this secret message, Zimmermann revealed Germanys plan to restart unrestricted submarine warfare as well as offered Mexico territory from the United States if Mexico were to declare war on the United States. On February 24, 1917, the British shared the contents of the Zimmermann Telegram with U.S President Woodrow Wilson, who had been elected to a second term on the slogan He kept us out of the war. The contents of the Zimmermann Telegram then appeared in newspapers five days later, on March 1. Upon reading the news, the American public was outraged. For three years, Americans had prided themselves on safely keeping out of World War I, a war they believed to be contained to Europe, which seemed far away. The American public now felt the war was being brought to their own land. The Zimmermann Telegram helped change public opinion in the United States away from isolationism and toward joining World War I with the Allies. Just a month after the contents of the Zimmermann Telegram were published in U.S. papers, the United States declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917. The Full Text of the Zimmermann Telegram (Since the coded Zimmermann Telegram was originally written in German, the text below is a translation of the German message.) We intend to begin on the first of February unrestricted submarine warfare. We shall endeavor in spite of this to keep the United States of America neutral. In the event of this not succeeding, we make Mexico a proposal of alliance on the following basis: make war together, make peace together, generous financial support and an understanding on our part that Mexico is to reconquer the lost territory in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. The settlement in detail is left to you. You will inform the President of the above most secretly as soon as the outbreak of war with the United States of America is certain and add the suggestion that he should, on his own initiative, invite Japan to immediate adherence and at the same time mediate between Japan and ourselves. Please call the Presidents attention to the fact that the ruthless employment of our submarines now offers the prospect of compelling England in a few months to make peace.

5 Cases of Too Few or Too Many Hyphens

5 Cases of Too Few or Too Many Hyphens 5 Cases of Too Few or Too Many Hyphens 5 Cases of Too Few or Too Many Hyphens By Mark Nichol When it comes to hyphenation, prose often suffers from the Goldilocks effect: either too much or too little, but seldom just right. Here are some erroneously constructed elements along with repaired revisions that let them eat, sit, or sleep with contentment. 1. â€Å"Scientists have found that a second, as-yet smaller wave of mussel extinctions followed in the late twentieth century.† The key point is not a smaller wave that is as yet that makes no sense. The reference is to a wave that is as yet, or up to now, smaller; it’s an as-yet-smaller wave: â€Å"Scientists have found that a second, as-yet-smaller wave of mussel extinctions followed in the late twentieth century.† 2. â€Å"They criticized the arbitrary measures taken so far on the air-travel security front.† The front in question is not a security front pertaining to air travel; it is a front pertaining to air-travel security. For that reason, security should be linked to â€Å"air travel† to modify front as one unit: â€Å"They criticized the arbitrary measures taken so far on the air-travel-security front.† (The progression is â€Å"air travel† to â€Å"air-travel security† to â€Å" air-travel-security front.†) In order to avoid an adjective stack, a writer could, with slightly more formality, conversely relax the sentence to read, â€Å"They criticized the arbitrary measures taken so far in the area of air-travel security† (or â€Å". . . in the area of security during air travel†). 3. â€Å"We offer an industry leading cloud based property management solution.† This sentence seems to cry out for a handout of hyphens to link pairs of words (â€Å"industry-leading,† â€Å"cloud-based,† â€Å"property-management†). But that solution ignores the fact that with or without the requisite hyphens to link words to form hyphenated compounds, this sentence is an adjective-stacking train wreck. Let’s turn this loco locomotive around: â€Å"We offer a cloud-based solution for property management that leads the industry.† (It’s still empty-headed branding gobbledygook, but it’s relaxed empty-headed branding gobbledygook.) 4. â€Å"That’s enough to power about 90 percent of a 1,500-square foot home.† This sentence is not about the energy needs of a foot home that consists of 1,500 squares; it’s about the energy needs of a home that encompasses 1,500 square feet. Those three words pertaining to horizontal area should all be hyphenated to form a three-car train modifying home: â€Å"That’s enough to power about 90 percent of a 1,500-square-foot home.† 5. â€Å"They are turning a blind eye to what their low and middle ranking members do on the streets.† This writer evidently forgot what he or she had ever learned about suspensive hyphenation and simply omitted any hyphens. One more time: â€Å"low and middle rank members† is slight shorthand for â€Å"low-ranking members† and â€Å"middle-ranking members.† To signal that ranking applies to low as well as middle, low retains a hyphen in spite of the omission of the first iteration of ranking: â€Å"They are turning a blind eye to what their low- and middle-ranking members do on the streets.† (Because â€Å"low-[ranking members]† and â€Å"middle-ranking members† are separate items, â€Å"low-and-middle-ranking members† is wrong.) Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Punctuating â€Å"So† at the Beginning of a SentenceBest Websites to Learn English10 Tips About How to Write a Caption