The Zimmermann Telegram

ONE OF THE GREATEST SPY STORIES OF ALL TIME Nothing can stop an enemy from picking wireless messages out of the free air - and nothing did. In England, Room 40 was born . . . In January 1917, with the First World War locked in terrible stalemate and America still neutral, German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmerman gambled the future of the conflict on a single telegram. But this message was intercepted and decoded in Whitehall's legendary Room 40 - and Zimmerman's audacious scheme for world domination was exposed, bringing America into the war and changing the course of history. The story of how this happened, and the incalculable consequences are thrillingly told in Barbara Tuchman's brilliant exploration.

ONE OF THE GREATEST SPY STORIES OF ALL TIME Nothing can stop an enemy from picking wireless messages out of the free air - and nothing did. In England, Room 40 was born . . . In January 1917, with the First World War locked in terrible stalemate and America still neutral, German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmerman gambled the future of the conflict on a single telegram. But this message was intercepted and decoded in Whitehall's legendary Room 40 - and Zimmerman's audacious scheme for world domination was exposed, bringing America into the war and changing the course of history. The story of how this happened, and the incalculable consequences are thrillingly told in Barbara Tuchman's brilliant exploration.

"A tremendous tale of hushed and unhushed uproars in the linked fields of war and diplomacy" ( The New York Times ), from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Guns of August In January 1917, the war in Europe was, at best, a tragic standoff. Britain knew that all was lost unless the United States joined the war, but President Wilson was unshakable in his neutrality. At just this moment, a crack team of British decoders in a quiet office known as Room 40 intercepted a document that would change history. The Zimmermann telegram was a top-secret message to the president of Mexico, inviting him to join Germany and Japan in an invasion of the United States. How Britain managed to inform the American government without revealing that the German codes had been broken makes for an incredible story of espionage and intrigue as only Barbara W. Tuchman could tell it. The Proud Tower, The Guns of August, and The Zimmermann Telegram comprise Barbara W. Tuchman's classic histories of the First World War era.

"A tremendous tale of hushed and unhushed uproars in the linked fields of war and diplomacy" ( The New York Times ), from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Guns of August In January 1917, the war in Europe was, at best, a tragic standoff. Britain knew that all was lost unless the United States joined the war, but President Wilson was unshakable in his neutrality. At just this moment, a crack team of British decoders in a quiet office known as Room 40 intercepted a document that would change history. The Zimmermann telegram was a top-secret message to the president of Mexico, inviting him to join Germany and Japan in an invasion of the United States. How Britain managed to inform the American government without revealing that the German codes had been broken makes for an incredible story of espionage and intrigue as only Barbara W. Tuchman could tell it. The Proud Tower, The Guns of August, and The Zimmermann Telegram comprise Barbara W. Tuchman's classic histories of the First World War era.