Mexican Involvement in World War One

      Despite Mexico remaining as a neutral country throughout the entirety of the war, Mexico was involved, most famously as the intended recipient of the Zimmerman Telegraph. In 1914, the start of the war, Mexico was in the middle of a civil war, due to the removal of President Victoriano Huerta earlier that year. The civil war was mostly concentrated in smaller, local fights, which allowed for the temporary government to draft a new constitution for the country.

      At the time, Mexico was a huge oil exporter, with multiple foreign countries having stakes in Mexican Oil. The new constitution that was drafter in 1916 gave more control of the oil to the Mexican government made the countries that had claims in the oil feel threatened. Due to this new dynamic, Mexico was in constant threat of being invaded by the United States because the US wanted control of the Tampico oil fields. The new constitution threatened US interests and made Wilson wary of Mexico and the threat of war between the two countries increased.

      Germany knew of the tensions between Mexico and the United States and made several attempts to incite war. The most famous example being the Zimmerman Telegraph, Germany made made several attempts to distract the US from getting involved in the European conflict. Germany wished to draw the United States into a conflict on its Southern Border, as opposed to sending troops overseas to aid Britain and France and intervene in the Great War.


Sources:
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/lost-world-war-i-history-mexico-nearly-invaded-america-1917-23319