Zimmermann Telegram

The Zimmermann Telegram (or Zimmermann Note or Zimmerman Cable)

was a secret diplomatic communication issued from the German Foreign
Office in January 1917 that proposed a military alliance
between Germany and Mexico in the event of the United States entering World
War I against Germany. Mexico would be given Texas, Arizona and New
Mexico. The proposal was intercepted and decoded by British intelligence.
Revelation of the contents enraged American public opinion, especially after the
German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmermann publicly admitted the telegram
was genuine on March 3, and helped generate support for the United States
declaration of war on Germany in April. The decryption was described as the
most significant intelligence triumph for Britain during World War I, and one of
the earliest occasions on which a piece of signals intelligence influenced world
events.

Japan in the First World War.

Japan began as an observer, neutral, without allies or enemies.
But in the rearrangement of treaties in which Mexico was influenced, Japan
launches itself against Germany, giving it an ultimatum over its regiment in
China.
The participation, however, was scarce, and mainly for convenience, because
the main objectives of the Japanese Empire was to sabotage, loot and thus
obtain economic benefits in addition to an image in the world war scene.
Japan entered the First World War in 1914, taking advantage of the German
war in Europe and wanting to expand its sphere of influence in China.
In addition to the expansion of its control over holdings in Germany, Manchuria
and Inner Mongolia, Japan also applied for the joint ownership of a major
mining and metallurgical complex in central China.
The demands of Japan on various political, economic, and military issues were
intended to reduce China to a simple Japanese protectorate.