Poem ~ Broken Isolationism - Monday, 12 March 1917 - Thursday, 15 March 1917

Source: File: Woodrow Wilson is sworn in to his second term as President of the United States by Chief Justice Edward Douglass White. See an original image at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WilsonInauguration1917.jpg> [Accessed 12 March 2017]

Sunday 4 March 1917, the day

President Wilson made an oath

To enter a second term in post.

Entering a more somber period

Of his presidency - expectancy

Awaited an inaugural speech.

The talk centered around an

'Armed Neutrality Bill,' when

President Wilson would gain

Powers, to arm all merchant

Vessels, against the piracy

Being carried out by Germany.

96 members of the senate

Saw total of 83 supporting

Moves to armed neutrality -

For all intent and purposes

America was acting out war,

As seen in correspondence.

While from reliable sources

Representatives, Senators

Any kind of declaration lay

In the hands of congress;

The Representatives house

Of 416 votes saw 403 united.

They favoured 'Armed Ship

Bill,' to note how events

And the timing of, perhaps

Declaring war, had become

Shadowed by fact in armed

Ships, making a declaration.

An isolationism that USA

Had maintained for more

Than two years had altered,

After a German submarine

Covered the great distance

Of sailing the Atlantic ocean.

A new reality had been born,

To show how United States of

America was part of the world.

Overriding the people's beliefs

In refraining from any meddling

In European continent's affairs.

With the revealed plot aimed

Towards USA - to set attempts

To utilize Japanese forces on

An Mexican platform, intent

To invade American soil - akin

To the 1914 Belgium invasion.

A German telegram effectively

Declared themselves as enemy

To the USA, sentiments were

Swiftly stirred to fight on allies

Side - rather than to fight as a

Completely separate nation.

The propaganda machine

Of Germany within the USA

Reached a crossroads - they

Could not deny discovery

Of the German plot - though

Newspapers attempted a ploy.

New Yorker, Staats-Zeitung

And Gaelic American, gave

The idea to their readers that

The Zimmermann Note was

In fact an English forgery,

Planted to create conflict.

Flying in the face of Berlin,

Admissions and sentiments

Inflamed a majority among

People of America, which

Awaited Vienna’s response

In supporting Germany.

Yet the feeling of situation

Being all out of proportion

To lay in a certain minority -

If memebers in the senate

Might block the bill, Woodrow

Wilson could override them.

by Jamie Mann.

Source: File: Second Inaugural Address of Woodrow Wilson. Yale Law School - The Avalon Project. Available at: <http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/wilson2.asp> [Accessed 12 March 2017]

Source: File: U.S. Presidential Inaugurations: Woodrow Wilson. Available at: <https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/inaugurations/wilson/index.html> [Accessed 12 March 2017]

Source: File: The Washington times., March 05, 1917, Complete Afternoon Edition, Image 1. Available at: <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026749/1917-03-05/ed-1/seq-1/> [Accessed 12 March 2017]

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Poem ~ Zimmerman: Telegram Of War - Friday, 9 March 1917 - Sunday, 11 March 1917

Source: File: Zimmermann Telegram as Received by the German Ambassador to Mexico - NARA - 302025.jpg. See original images at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimmermann_Telegram> [Accessed 9 March 2017]

Alongside the greatest neutral country,

United States of America, a small cousin

Kept an ear to the door - maybe not to spy

But more a watchful eye, so that January

1917, The Naval Intelligence Service

Made something of a discovery.

At Room 39 of the admiralty on January

19 1917, intercepted a telegram - receiver

Was Heinrich von Eckardt being Germany's

Ambassador in Mexico - the sender Arthur

Zimmermann, German Empire's foreign

Secretary; a blatant coded message.

The Western Union Telegram had,

Since 1856, used an amazing technology

Whereby electrical impulses sent through wire,

Tapped out in Morse and typed onto a form

To be hand delivered - Naval Intelligence

Monitoring made surprise discovery.

Headed by normal Western Union 

Logo, the received typed form sent via

Galveston for German Legation, Mexico city.

Ten uneven columns of grouped numbers;

3,4 or 5 sets, dated January 19 1917

And signed 'BERNSTORFF.'

The telegram conveyance travelled by

Galveston Texas, to possess the stamp

Of German Ambassador to the United States;

J.H. von Bernstoff - the note taken on by

Room 40, and the official secret office

Of cryptographic workers.

In order to hide potential interception,

Later claims how the message took three

Routes - whereas only one had been used;

The message sent in Berlin to US embassy,

Via diplomatic cable - first to Copenhagen,

Then London and onto Washington.

The transatlantic cable being only

Possible way - as Britain had severed

German cables in 1914 - Swedish cables

And those of the US converged at relay

Station of Porthcurno, finally boosted

To travel across the ocean.

It was at Porthcurno that all traffic

Was copied by the British intelligence.

Germany's usage of the cable was agreed

By US President for diplomatic reasons,

To work for a peaceful solution

In negotiating war's end.

Room 40 code-breaker analysts

Set to work - conditions having been

That Germany using cable, telegrams could 

Not be in code; yet the US Ambassador

In Berlin J. Gerrard, was persuaded

To transmit the coded form.

Within hours, Nigel de Grey in Room 40

Had deciphered part of the code, whereby

They had acquired German systems 13040

And 0075 ciphers - William Hall, room 40

Chief, refused to release the message

For duration of another 3 weeks.

Decipher's Grey and Montgomery

Completed the decryption - the issue

Being any release would show how British

Had intercepted confidential American

Cables and expose the fact Britain 

Held Germany's secret codes.

To maintain secrecy, a cover story

Was devised as to how the Zimmerman

Cable came into their possession - to convince

The States the telegram was real and fact

They had discovered the true content

Of the telegram's suggestion.

An agent in Mexico 'Mr. H' would

Bribe a telegraph agency employee

For a copy - weighing up the risk of US entry

Into war and Germany realizing capture

Of German ciphertext codes being

Revealed, was well worth it.

To cover the cover up America

Agreed to the official story, how British

Agents gained the deciphered text in Mexico.

The 13040 code then given to America,

To make their own verification

Of the coded telegram.

The Zimmerman Telegram content

Revealed German intent, conveyed by

The Foreign secretary to Eckardt, who read

In disbelief - given over by Room 40 chief

To Edward Bell, Britain’s US secretary,

Yet convinced it was a forgery.

by Jamie Mann.

Source: File: Wikipedia: Zimmermann Telegram. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimmermann_Telegram> [Accessed 9 March 2017]

Source: File: Ask History: What was the Zimmermann Telegram? Available at: <http://www.history.com/news/ask-history/what-was-the-zimmermann-telegram> [Accessed 9 March 2017]

Source: File: National Archives: The Zimmermann Telegram. Available at: <https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/zimmermann> [Accessed 9 March 2017]

Source: File: The Sun THE MESSAGE THAT CHANGED HISTORY. What is The Zimmerman Telegram and how did it lead to America joining the allies in World War One? Available at: <https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2633708/how-zimmerman-telegram-changed-history/> [Accessed 9 March 2017]

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Poem ~ Sussex Pledge Broken - Wednesday, 7 March 1917- Thursday, 8 March 1917

Source: File: torpedoed Cross-channel ferry Sussex at Boulogne, March 1916. The entire forepart of the ship was destroyed in the attack. See an original image at: <http://study.com/academy/lesson/sussex-pledge-definition-lesson.html> [Accessed 7 March 2017]

Within hours of the Laconia's loss, survivor

Reporter Floyd Gibbons of Chicago Tribune,

Composed his account of certain night, February

25 1917 - over the next few days newspaper

Debates expressed American opinions.

Only 11 months before a diplomatic crisis 

Had threatened America's neutrality; German
UB 29 in a grave error of judgment, had attacked 
What was believed to be a Mine Sweeper - 
A daily passenger ferry left Folkestone.

The situation at sea had seen declared

War zones; German frustrations at land-war

Stalemate turned towards the sea - from 1916

Unrestricted U Boat policy of attacks were

Made against shipping, though restricted.

The Lusitania that had been torpedoed

In May 1915 had initially riled America with

The deaths of 128 Americans - in order to pacify

USA, Germany curbed U-boat attacks; armed

Merchant ships again valid targets by 1916.

March 1916 the Sussex carried civilians;

Being a cross channel ferry sighted by UB 29

Believed to be a mine layer the ferry was targeted.

The Sussex did not sink yet damage was heavy;

Amid the 80 casualties were 25 Americans.

President Woodrow Wilson's reaction

Was a threat to cut off all diplomacy with

Germany - actions were swift to Wilson's angry

April speech - on 4 May came a promise

With Germany's 'Sussex Pledge.'

The Sussex Pledge promised that no

Passenger ships would be targeted - while

Merchant ships would only be sunk; after being

Searched for weaponry passengers and crew

Would be made safe - rescinded by 1917.

Germany confidently believed that

They might win the war swiftly by an act

At sea, whereby unrestricted warfare would
Defeat allied forces, before any chance

Of the USA joining in conflict.

The Laconia attack sparked debate,

As daily American newspapers endorsed

The Governments view, to see the Laconia

Sinking as an overt act - such event

Were changing opinions in USA.

Tuesday 27 February an address

Made by President Wilson saw mixed

Reactions, about ambiguous nature of armed

Neutrality; 'peace at all costs' had then

Been the central policy of USA.

President Woodrow Wilson, along

With legal advisor Robert Lansing, met

To confer how blatantly Germany had gone

Against their word of the 'Sussex Pledge,'

Resulting in a new congress policy.

A quote from the New York Times

Called on all Americans to defend their

Liberties of the nation - a right to sail the seas

Securely and without risk - any surrender

Would show a nation lacking courage.

Debates in arming of American shipping

Were yet to be tested - to stretch the mind

How America might enter a war centered purely 

In Europe - President Wilson believed only

An invasion of the US would cause war.

Only time might tell any future 
Direction; in the meantime all American

Consular officers, along with all diplomats,

Started a process of leaving Austria,

Breaking with the central powers.

At the foot of America on Mexican 

Border, stretching from Tijuana across

To Brownsville, had been brewing a line

Of adversity - although regarding war

The country shared USA neutrality.

Mexico itself was in the throws

Of lengthy revolution - with strained

Politics openly made the hispanic country

An ideal sideline for German intent -

To entice Venustiano Carranza.

The President of Mexico held key

To deflect the USA; the Zimmerman

Telegram decoded message had revealed

German intent to restart their submarine

Warfare, to curtail 'Sussex Pledge.'

Ideal was that America remained

Neutral - if this did not happen then

Germany proposed a Mexico alliance -

The carrot being financial support

For regaining all lost territories.

Arizona, Texas and New Mexico taken

In the 1848 Mexican cession in the treaty

Of Guadalupe Hidalgo; von Eckardt was given

Free reign to gain Mexico as an ally,
By a settlement to retake territory.

Von Eckardt instructions was to distract 

President's attention; that in a few months

England would be compelled to make peace.

'Make war together make peace together,'

Was motto of an alliance with Mexico.

Although the telegram kept options

Open, von Eckardt was requested to use

His initiative; also to mediate some agreement

With Japan, who was then fighting alongside

The allied powers; signed Zimmerman.

Strains of mutual dislike lay all around;

America was anti Mexican, with element

Of anti British - with anti Germany in Mexico

Was anti America - German held hopes

For a Mexico-American war to break.

So a scene was set - with the 'Sussex

Pledge' trashed, to see by start of March
Defensive arms to be carried by American ships.

A direct result of overt act; diplomacy ties

With Germany fell - time might tell.

by Jamie Mann.

Source: File: US Department Of State: American Entry into World War I, 1917. Available at: <https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/wwi/82205.htm> [Accessed 7 March 2017]

Source: File: Wikipedia: Sussex Pledge. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sussex_pledge> [Accessed 7 March 2017]

Source: File: The First World War, East Sussex. The Sussex Pledge. Available at: <http://www.eastsussexww1.org.uk/the-sussex-pledge/> [Accessed 7 March 2017]

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Poem ~ Laconia Omen - Monday, 5 March 1917- Tuesday, 6 March 1917

Impression sketch of RMS Laconia by Jamie. See original images at:<http://www.tynebuiltships.co.uk/L-Ships/laconia1912.html>

With launch in 1911 RMS Laconia,

A Cunard Ocean Liner, was a young vessel

When war began in 1914 - built

At Wallsend Britain, by makers Swan Hunter

And Wigham Richardson Ltd.

Later commandeered for war

Service Laconia sailed to South Africa -

At Simon's Town, having then
Been fitted out as an armed Merchant

Crusier, with a new purpose.

The Laconia patrolled waters,

In Indian and South Atlantic Ocean,

From April 1915 - employed

As a headquarters, during the actions

To take on German East Africa.

Returning to Britain in June

1916, the Laconia again returned

To Service September 
1916 with Cunard - six months later

Laconia departed New York.

25 February 1917 on route

For Liverpool - the hour 9 O’clock when

The Laconia steamed west,

Northwest by Fastnet - aboard were

75 passengers and 217 crew.

Outnumbered by crew, only

A fraction of usual passengers travelled

Including Americans - time

Was almost 10 O’clock, when many

Travellers were yet to retire.

The crossing of the Atlantic

Had been uneventful - a passenger

Quizzed a London solicitor

Over chance of being torpedoed; '4000

To one,' said Henry Chetham.

A member of the British diplomatic

Service offered another opinion to state

'250 to 1, if we don’t meet a sub.'

An apt answer came along, creating

A sudden slam like a large door.

A lurch forwards and sideways

Under their feet, everyone jumped up.

A New Yorker commented.

To say It's a lousy torpedo, only a fizzer.'

A hit had been made starboard.

An explosion blew near the 
Engine room - the Laconia still floated. 

Captain Irvine's instructions for 
Safety saw orderly move to lifeboats

The U50 sub still close by.

Lifeboat drills now became

Real as five blasts on the ships whistle

Signalled an evacuation.

After 20 minutes another hit struck, full

On into the engine room.

The blast damaged a lifeboat

Being lowered into the water, in which

Sat two Americans - mother

And daughter; Mrs Mary Hoy along with

Elizabeth Hoy reached sea.

Now the Laconia began to list

Taking on water, as passengers and

Crew released more lifeboats.

Quickly sinking the Laconia's stern -

The nose of the vessel, dipped.

Then straight in the air; silently

The vessel slipped into dark waters,

10.20 p.m. within 30 minutes

Survivors rocked alone in their boats;

Not all had made it safely.

In sour silence the survivors

Saw a black, glinting wet shape move

Towards them - in darkness

An accented voice called out, 'vot ship

Was dot?' A reply called back.

A steward yelled, 'the Laconia,

Cunard Line' - the German voice gave

Casual reply; 'yov’ll

Be alright the patrol vill pick you up.'

The sub moved away.

Some six hours later Royal

Navy patrolled came across these

Drifting boats but not all

Had made it - 6 crew 6 passengers

Had become victims.

Boat No 8 had held 14 souls -

This had been badly damaged during

The torpedo hit, so as soon

As it touched water, the sea began

Dragging them down.

Survivor, Able Seaman Walley,

Told of hopelessness to try to bail any

Water out - yet it did not

Sink, but kept afloat by fact of holding

Tanks - he held on in the stern.

Everyone clung to the edge

Of the underwater boat - every swell

Whipped over the souls that

Held on - in the stern seats Mrs Hoy

And daughter stood in the boat.

Time passed, counted

By the cold waves that washed them

No. 8 - finally grey haired

Mrs Hoy lay back; daughter Elizabeth

Held her and talked away.

Likely her mind became

Lost as she held her dead mother.

Soon it was too much,

Left weak in body and her mind

As another swell came.

The two women wearing

Lifebelts and were swept away -

The frozen survivors left

With more corpses, stubbornly

Holding on until rescued.

Account by Floyd Gibbons

Told of the despair and struggles

In the sea, until encounter

Of a mine sweeper and a patrol

Boat found their pale lights.

Six hours had passed when

One after another they pulled aside

HMS Laburnum, where

Tattooed arms of jack tars reached

Out to the fortunate few.

The story of yet another

Lost sea vessel; although relatively

Few lives were lost - unlike

The Lusitania - the small act would

Have great effect in war.

by Jamie Mann.

Source: File: RMS Laconia. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Laconia_(1911)> [Accessed 5 March 2017]

Source: File: Today in World War I - U-boat Sinks Laconia, Kills Two Americans. Available at: <http://today-in-wwi.tumblr.com/post/157711139713/u-boat-sinks-laconia-kills-two-americans> [Accessed 5 March 2017]

Source: File: The Sinking Of The Laconia, By Floyd Gibbons. Available at: <http://www.worldwar1.com/sflac.htm> [Accessed 5 March 2017]

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Poem ~ Peace In A Note - Thursday, 28 December 1916 - Friday, 29 December 1916

Source: File: Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg. See an original image at: <https://macedonia1912-1918.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/ww1-leaders-german-statesmen-and-army.html> [Accessed 28 December 2016]

Possibly prompted and basking in glow

Of success over Roumanian defeat,

Germany purveyed idea of negotiated

Peace - perhaps to believe that with

Advent of Christmas and goodwill to all

Men that this might be taken seriously.

Came an echo of previous attestations,

Where war's conclusion might become

Reality - another chapter for peace

Emerged from words by the German

Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg

12 December 1916, given in a speech.

The act of Roumania's entry to conflict

Began the body of the speech before

The Reichstag podium - in seriousness

Of the situation was noted Field Marshall

Von Hindenburg's strength - who had

Captured Bucharest and Wallachia.

This had been achieved alongside other

Fronts; the Somme, Italy and Russian -

Without any let up Hiddenburg pushed

All operations onwards. A twist existed

In Roumanian foodstuffs stocks,

While German enemies felt a famine.

The speech entwined praise and awe

On emperor's heart, by 1st anniversary

August 1915 - words told how Germany's

Empire was not a besieged fortress, but

An organised nation - having limitless

Resources, alongside a force of allies. 

Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg

Laid out claims to a nation of defence

And freedom - having quite forgotten

Their initial invading aggression -

Ever ready to hold out the German

Hand made claim of a peaceful country.

'God, humanity and nation' - three

Elements evoked the story, how all

Attempts for German declarations

Of peace were always avoided -

A reluctant Kaiser had mobilised,

Prompted by Russian mobilisation.

To claim throughout months of war,

The emperor wanted only peace -

His morals and religion nature finally

Prompted him to make official

Request for war's end, for harmony

With hostile countries in mutual peace.

Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg

Advised he had sent a transmission

Of a note for peace to major neutral

States; Switzerland, America and

Spain - ensuring all hostile powers

Received this, as well as neutrals.

To include the Pope who had always

Been an agent for a peaceful end

To conflict - the peace note circulated

To Constantinople, Vienna and Sofia.

The Chancellor edged towards reading

Circulated note in challenging enemy.

Greatest of all claims was the real

Existence of German world power,

And their clear conscience to act

In choosing peace over slaughter -

If declined than those that fought

Against them are wars perpetuators.

By suggestion that their enemies

Seek only to conquer how they,

With such words, spin doctor this

Situation - 'God will be the judge'

As Germany carrys on their way;

A burden of horror will be enemies.

To state the obvious catastrophe

Of conflict over much of the world,

Germany was not out to annihilate

Their adversaries, in a war forced

On them - yet a strong economy

Would enable them to continue.

A bitter end would be no problem,

Though civilization might dissolve

Into ruin - victories in Balkan arena

Only showed German power - how

That situation justifies their nations

Claim to unrelenting successes.

'Germany then carries on a war

Of defence' - she fights to assure

Integrity of frontiers and liberty

Of her nation' - for free intellect

And to develop peaceful energy

Alongside neighboring nations.

A pontification address to pope's

Intentions was to set out Germany

As subject of victimisation - only

Germany was ready for peace -

Setting forth an understanding for

The Holy See to channel outcome.

Making out his congratulations for

Imperial chancellors speech came

Reports via neutrals, quoting words

Of Marshal von Hindenburg - whose

Emotion was a soldier’s response;

'To live and die for the fatherland.'

Words from a Berlin telegram added

More prophetic rhetoric; Hiddenburg

Declared the highest holy duty by

Prosecuting victory another, Dr von

Bethmann-Hollweg, stated the words

As being both the army and peoples.

To reinforce that if German enemies

Did not terminate the war, guarantee

Of Germany is to fight and secure

Fatherland a strong, lasting peace -

Meanwhile neutral reactions came

In with importance of United States.

Missouri politician and chairman

Of Senate Committee for Foreign

Relations, William Stone, addressed

The 'League to Enforce Peace' - as

An advocate of American neutrality,

With right to open up negotiations.

William Stone refused all warnings

From any foreign statesmen opinions,

That United states peace movements

Would be seen as futile and offensive.

He pointed out that USA had lost lives

And property due to European events.

Despite this that the USA movements

Should not be considered as meddlers,

But as a friend who had been affected

By wars ruthless acts - what might then

Happen from the latest initiatives from
Germany; might peace come in 1917?

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1916. Hindenburg And Peace - Significant Telegrams. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 15 December 1916. P.10. Col.3. Available at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12213996/Daily-Telegraph-December-15-1916.htmll> [Accessed: 28 December 2016].

Anon.,1916. The Peace Proposal - An American View. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 15 December 1916. P.10. Col.6. Available at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12213996/Daily-Telegraph-December-15-1916.htmll> [Accessed: 28 December 2016].

Source: File: Extract from the Speech of Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg in the German Reichstag, December 12, 1916. Available at: <https://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Extract_from_the_Speech_of_Chancellor_von_Bethmann-Hollweg_in_the_German_Reichstag,_December_12,_1916> [Accessed 25 December 2016]

Source: File: Official Communications and Speeches Relating to Peace Proposals 1916-1917. Available at: <https://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Official_Communications_and_Speeches_Relating_to_Peace_Proposals_1916-1917> [Accessed 25 December 2016]

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 28 December 2016). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12213996/Daily-Telegraph-December-15-1916.html

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