The Zimmerman Telegram is generally regarded as the spark for the United States to declare war on Germany and its allies in 1917. It was 93 years ago today that the telegram was intercepted. Today’s document from the National Archives is an image of the Zimmerman Telegram as it was intercepted. The document is also linked to the decoding of the telegram. You can find the full translation of the document here.

Applications for Education
When I teach WWI this year spring I’ll use this document at the start of a class period to get to recall what lead up to this telegram and how they think the US should react.

Here are some related items that may be of interest to you:
World War I Video Map