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The Germans sent the telegraph in secret code using telegraph cables borrowed from the US- when the war started, Britain destroyed Germany's cables, so the US allowed Germany to borrow the American cables. Because these American cables were near Britain, the British were able to tap into them and read the German (and American) messages being sent.

The British had broken the German codes, and were secretly reading everything Germany was sending. So when the Zimmerman telegraph was sent, the British also got it. However, if the British publicized the message, then Germany would know that Britain had broken the codes. So the British had to set up an elaborate plan to make it look like they actually stole the secret message from the German embassy in Mexico. Once that was successful, the British gave the message to the United States, and the United States was able to use their own telegraph records (since, as earlier said, the Germans were using the American cables) to verify that the message was real.

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9y ago

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