The Zimmermann Telegram

We Are History

Angela Barnes and John O'Farrell

History

4.9 • 802 Ratings

🗓️ 10 October 2023

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

John O’Farrell and Angela Barnes take a not-so-serious look at the most captivating and bizarre moments in history. This time Angela tells John how in 1917, the German Foreign Minister, Arthur Zimmerman sent a telegram to his man in Washington. Sounds dull? It isn’t; this telegraph was probably responsible for changing the course of WW1. What could a telegram possibly say that would make peace loving US President Woodrow Wilson take his country into the bloodiest conflict? Recommended reading: The Zimmerman Telegram by Barbara Tuchman. Cryptologic Quarterly, National Security Agency - The Zimmermann Telegram. Get all episodes a week early – when you support We Are History on Patreon: https://patreon.com/WeAreHistory Angela Barnes is on tour with her critically acclaimed, sold out Edinburgh Fringe show ‘Hot Mess’. Tickets are available here https://www.angelabarnescomedy.co.uk We Are History is written and presented by Angela Barnes and John O’Farrell. Audio production by Simon Williams and artwork by James Parrett. Lead Producer is Anne-Marie Luff. Group Editor is Andrew Harrison. We Are History is a Podmasters Production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to We Are History. I'm John O'Farrell and I'm Angela Barnes.
0:10.4	And today Angela has chosen the topic and it's a bit of a surprising one for you, Barnsey.
0:15.8	Well it is a bit, yeah, it's one that's a bit out of my usual wheelhouse. I mean, it's still in the
0:19.2	20th century, John. I haven't gone completely mad. Yeah, no, no, that would be insane. Yeah, but it did, it occurred one that's a bit out of my usual wheelhouse. I mean, it's still in the 20th century, John. I haven't gone completely mad.
0:21.6	No, no, that would be insane.
0:23.1	Yeah.
0:23.6	But it occurred to me that apart from the stuff that everyone knows,
0:27.3	my knowledge about sort of the machinations behind World War I,
0:31.6	it's all a bit sketchy.
0:33.3	I don't know why, if it's just because it's such a horrific conflict that I've never really felt compelled to dig too deeply.
0:39.1	So the reason I've ended up choosing a World War I story
0:42.3	is that a while ago I read an article about the Zimmerman Telegram,
0:47.5	which played a not insignificant part in bringing the US into a war
0:51.2	that their president didn't really want to take them into.
0:53.9	Sounds a bit like how you brought me into this podcast with a tweet.
0:56.9	Yeah, it's very similar, John.
0:59.3	So I thought we'd talk about that.
1:01.0	The Zimmerman Telegram was a starting point,
1:03.2	but basically how the USA ended up joining World War I.
1:07.4	Sounds very interesting.
1:08.1	No relation to Bob Zimmerman.
1:09.7	No relation to Bob Zimmerman as far as I
	...

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