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A Proposed Japanese-German- Mexican Plot To Retake Texas and Upper California in 1917

Rare Japanese Gen map of Mexico, published in Japan in 1917.

The map was published during following the so-called . Written by German foreign secretary Arthur Zimmermann on January 16, 1917.  The message instructed Heinrich von Eckardt, Germany's ambassador to Mexico, the instruction that if the United States entered the war on the side of the Allies, Von Eckardt was to approach Mexico’s president with an offer to forge a secret wartime alliance. The Germans would provide military and financial support for a Mexican attack on the United States, and in exchange Mexico would be free to annex “lost territory in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.” Von Eckardt was instructed to use the Mexicans as a go-between to entice the Japanese Empire to join the German cause.

The British cryptographic office known as “Room 40” decoded the Zimmermann Telegram and shared it with the United States in late-February 1917. By March 1, its published on the front pages of newspapers nationwide. Diplomatic relations between Germany and the United States had already been severed in early February, when Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare and began preying on U.S. vessels in the Atlantic.

The telegram translated as follows: 

We intend to begin unrestricted submarine warfare on the first of February. We shall endeavor in spite of this to keep the United States neutral. In the event of this not succeeding, we make Mexico a proposal of alliance on the following basis: make war 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 Mexico] of the above most secretly as soon as the outbreak of war with the United States 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 president’s attention to the fact that the unrestricted employment of our submarines now offers the prospect of compelling England to make peace within a few months. Acknowledge receipt.

 Zimmermann

The telegram’s mention of Japan referred to Germany’s hope to get Japan out of the war. Previous attempts to arrange a separate peace between Germany and Japan, which was fighting on the side of the allies, had been attempted but failed. Zimmermann hoped that Mexico and Japan would form an alliance and then Mexico would be able to mediate peace between Japan and Germany.

While many Americans remained committed to isolationism, the Zimmerman Telegram served as fresh evidence of German aggression. Coupled with the submarine attacks, it finally turned the U.S. government in favor of entering the war. On April 2, 1917, President Wilson abandoned his policy of neutrality and asked Congress to declare war against Germany and the Central Powers, a request approved on April 6, 1917.

This is the only known map to demonstrate Japanese interest in the Zimmermann Telegram.

The map was issued by Japanese Spanish-language scholar Gen Muraoka and published by the West Bank Fellowship in 1917.

Rarity

The only other example we have been able to identify is at the National Diet Library in Japan.