World Relations- 1917
Germany's aspired borders 1917 in orange
At the time the telegram was sent, the world was in a massive power struggle centered in Europe. The German Empire and its allies Italy and Austria-Hungary, or the Triple- Alliance, were gaining power and land rapidly. The majority of the rest of Europe, led by England and France, fought to defeat Germany and restore Europe to the state it was in before the German conquest. Directly before the Zimmermann Telegram was sent to Mexico, the U.S and the Americas as a whole were not involved in the war, expecting to wait out the storm. The Germans wanted to have an ally in North America in order to have easy access to invasion routes of the United States in the event that the United States decided to ally with France, Britain, and Russia. The need for a friend drove Germany to send the Zimmermann Telegram to Mexico, and in turn change the course of World War I forever.