--- title: Arthur Zimmermann url: https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/arthur-zimmermann/ description: 6 verified quotes from Arthur Zimmermann, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs of the German Empire, 1916-1917, with sources. section: FRAME --- ![Illustration: a First World War field-intelligence collage of trench maps, wireless transmission logs and aerial reconnaissance photographs.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/detail/hero-wwi.jpg) [Quotes](https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/) · Germany # Arthur Zimmermann ![Arthur Zimmermann, State Secretary of the Foreign Office, from a 1918 book](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/images/german-empire/arthur-zimmermann.jpg) [Photo](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Artur_Zimmermann._Staatssekret%C3%A4r_des_Ausw%C3%A4rtigen_Amtes.png): Photograph by E. Bieber, Berlin, as printed in the book, Public domain (PD-US-expired, PD-EU-no author disclosure) State Secretary for Foreign Affairs of the German Empire, 1916-1917 · Germany On the regime page: [German Empire under Wilhelm II](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/german-empire/#arthur-zimmermann) 6 quotes, oldest first. [Filter with other speakers](https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/#speaker=arthur-zimmermann). 1. > “We intend to begin on the 1st of February unrestricted submarine warfare. We shall endeavor in spite of this to keep the United States of America neutral.” — English: English translation supplied by the British government to Ambassador Page, as printed in FRUS. Original-language text not found. — January 16, 1917 · Letter · Berlin, to the German Minister in Mexico — Cipher telegram from the German Foreign Secretary to the German Minister in Mexico, sent via Washington on 19 January 1917 (dated 16 January), deciphered by the British government and passed to the United States on 24 February 1917. — Zimmermann to the German Minister in Mexico, 16 January 1917 ("Zimmermann telegram"), English translation as sent in Ambassador Page to the Secretary of State, 24 February 1917, Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1917, Supplement 1: The World War, p. 147 [Source](https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1917Supp01v01/d158) 2. **Content note:** Proposal that Mexico seize United States territory. The words are shown as they were said or written. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) — > “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.” — English: English translation supplied by the British government to Ambassador Page, as printed in FRUS. Original-language text not found. — January 16, 1917 · Letter · Berlin, to the German Minister in Mexico — Cipher telegram from the German Foreign Secretary to the German Minister in Mexico, sent via Washington on 19 January 1917 (dated 16 January), deciphered by the British government and passed to the United States on 24 February 1917. — Zimmermann to the German Minister in Mexico, 16 January 1917 ("Zimmermann telegram"), English translation as sent in Ambassador Page to the Secretary of State, 24 February 1917, Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1917, Supplement 1: The World War, p. 147 [Source](https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1917Supp01v01/d158) 3. > “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.” — English: English translation supplied by the British government to Ambassador Page, as printed in FRUS. Original-language text not found. — January 16, 1917 · Letter · Berlin, to the German Minister in Mexico — Cipher telegram from the German Foreign Secretary to the German Minister in Mexico, sent via Washington on 19 January 1917 (dated 16 January), deciphered by the British government and passed to the United States on 24 February 1917. — Zimmermann to the German Minister in Mexico, 16 January 1917 ("Zimmermann telegram"), English translation as sent in Ambassador Page to the Secretary of State, 24 February 1917, Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1917, Supplement 1: The World War, p. 147 [Source](https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1917Supp01v01/d158) 4. > “Please call the President’s 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.” — English: English translation supplied by the British government to Ambassador Page, as printed in FRUS. Original-language text not found. — January 16, 1917 · Letter · Berlin, to the German Minister in Mexico — Cipher telegram from the German Foreign Secretary to the German Minister in Mexico, sent via Washington on 19 January 1917 (dated 16 January), deciphered by the British government and passed to the United States on 24 February 1917. — Zimmermann to the German Minister in Mexico, 16 January 1917 ("Zimmermann telegram"), English translation as sent in Ambassador Page to the Secretary of State, 24 February 1917, Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1917, Supplement 1: The World War, p. 147 [Source](https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1917Supp01v01/d158) 5. > “I instructed the Minister to Mexico, in the event of war with the United States, to propose a German alliance to Mexico, and simultaneously to suggest that Japan join the alliance. I declared expressly that, despite the submarine war, we hoped that America would maintain neutrality.” — English: Translation as printed in Charles F. Horne, ed., Source Records of the Great War, vol. 5 (National Alumni, 1923); translator not named. Original-language text not found. — March 29, 1917 · Speech · Berlin, Reichstag — Reply to the Independent Socialist deputy Hugo Haase in the Reichstag on 29 March 1917, four weeks after Zimmermann had confirmed the authenticity of the telegram. — Arthur Zimmermann, speech in the Reichstag, 29 March 1917, in Charles F. Horne, ed., Source Records of the Great War, vol. 5 (National Alumni, 1923), p. 44 [Source](https://archive.org/details/sourcerecordsofg05char) 6. > “Every unprejudiced person must see in this the hostile attitude of the American Government, which seemed to consider it right, before being at war with us, to set the entire world against us. It cannot deny us the right to seek allies when it has itself practically declared war on us.” — English: Translation as printed in Charles F. Horne, ed., Source Records of the Great War, vol. 5 (National Alumni, 1923); translator not named. Original-language text not found. — March 29, 1917 · Speech · Berlin, Reichstag — Reply to the Independent Socialist deputy Hugo Haase in the Reichstag on 29 March 1917, four weeks after Zimmermann had confirmed the authenticity of the telegram. — Arthur Zimmermann, speech in the Reichstag, 29 March 1917, in Charles F. Horne, ed., Source Records of the Great War, vol. 5 (National Alumni, 1923), p. 44 [Source](https://archive.org/details/sourcerecordsofg05char) ## Often attributed, not verified These words circulate under Arthur Zimmermann’s name but could not be traced to a source. They are listed so readers can check them, not as Arthur Zimmermann’s words. - > “I cannot deny it. It is true.” — Unverifiable Usually said to come from: Zimmermann to American journalists at a Berlin press conference, 3 March 1917, confirming the authenticity of the telegram. — Secondary accounts give this wording for the 3 March 1917 confirmation. No primary text of the exchange (contemporary newspaper report or transcript) was found in the sources read here, so it is not published as his words. His 29 March 1917 Reichstag speech, which confirms the instructions, is included above.