What was revealed about germany when the british intercepted the zimmerman telegram? germany planed to declare unrestricted submarine warfare and attack all ships, regardless of nationality. germany made peace with russia and signed the treaty of brest-litovsk with lenin to weaken the allies. germany wanted mexico as an ally in exchange for in recovering texas, new mexico, and arizona from the united states. germany tried to convince african american soldiers to defect to the central powers and escape the racism that they faced at home. germany had attempted to gain sympathies of the eight million german americans in order to secure larger loans from the united states.