Quote:
Originally Posted by Stonius
It is pretty well known that China redirects internet traffic for espionage purposes. It's happened twice in the last month. Traffic to Australia was redirected to China for 6 days, and traffic to the US was rerouted to China for an hour (funny how it's always redirected to China or Russia, never the other way round).
It's routine and part of an espionage strategy.
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At the outbreak of WWI, the British had cut the direct telegraph lines
that ran between Germany and the United States.
Before the Americans had joined the war, the Germans appealed to the
Americans to allow diplomatic traffic to be routed to and from their
embassies in the Americas.
Woodrow Wilson agreed, believing maintaining a diplomatic relationship
with Germany might aid a negotiated peace.
With direct telegraph cables being cut, messages were routed from
Germany to the US embassy in Copenhagen. However, before making
their way across the Atlantic, they were boosted at a relay station near
Land's End in England.
Well of course the British were intercepting all the traffic and eavesdropping
on both the Americans and the Germans.
One of the conditions the Americans placed on German diplomatic traffic
was that it had to be sent in the 'clear'. However, the Germans convinced
the US ambassador in Denmark to forward one telegram that was
encrypted. It was sent from a German civil servant by the name of Zimmerman to
the German Ambassador in Mexico.
Just as they did later in WWII, the British had broken the German codes.
The Zimmerman telegram, as it became to be known, was decrypted and read as follows -
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zimmerman Telegram
FROM 2nd from London # 5747.
"We intend to begin on the first of February unrestricted submarine warfare. We shall endeavor in spite of this to keep the United States of America neutral. In the event of this not succeeding, we make Mexico a proposal or alliance on the following basis: make war together, make peace together, generous financial support and an understanding on our part that Mexico is to reconquer the lost territory in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. The settlement in detail is left to you. You will inform the President of the above most secretly as soon as the outbreak of war with the United States of America is certain and add the suggestion that he should, on his own initiative, invite Japan to immediate adherence and at the same time mediate between Japan and ourselves. Please call the President's attention to the fact that the ruthless employment of our submarines now offers the prospect of compelling England in a few months to make peace." Signed, ZIMMERMANN.
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The British wanted desperately for the United States to enter the war.
With the Zimmerman Telegram in hand, it would be exactly the type
of evidence the British would need to convince Wilson to declare war
on Germany.
But at the same time the British didn't want to tip off the Americans or
the Germans that they had been eavesdropping and that they had cracked
the German codes.
The British created a cover story that their agents had stolen a copy of the
telegram and the telegram was forwarded to Wilson.
As it transpired the Germans began to sink ships bearing the American
flag in the Atlantic on 1 Feb 1917.
Congress voted for the US to join the war on 6 April 1917.