The First World War was an unprecedented catastrophe that killed meg and set the continent of Europe on the path to further disaster two decades later on . But it did n’t come out of nowhere . With the centennial of the outbreak of hostilities coming up in August , Erik Sass will be looking back at the tip - up to the war , when seemingly minor second of friction gather until the situation was quick to explode . He ’ll be cover those events 100 years after they occurred . This is the 111th installment in the series .
13 January 2025: Tampico Incident Brings U.S., Mexico to Brink of War
Anyone who convey astonishment that China and Japanmightcome to bump over a mates of petite , wasteland rocks would do well to consider the Tampico Incident , when the United States and Mexico almost went to warfare over nothing . Well , almost nothing .
By April 1914 , the Mexican Revolution haddegeneratedinto a civil warfare between multiple faction including the beleaguered federal government under Victoriano Huerta , peasant revolutionaries rallying to Emiliano Zapata , and the “ Constitutionalists ” led by Venustiano Carranza . On the east coast of Mexico , Carranza ’s effect were laying military blockade to the port city of Tampico , in Tamaulipas body politic , which was hold by a smaller force of Union troops as well as some United States Department of State troop . Meanwhile U.S. President Woodrow Wilson dispatched a small naval force under Rear Admiral Henry T. Mayo to protect American citizens and property , include investiture in the local oil diligence . Although the U.S. government refused to agnize Huerta ’s regime , the American force out outride out of the fighting and the situation remained calm — at first .
On April 9 , 1914 , the commanding officer of theU.S.S. Dolphinsent nine crewman ashore in a whaleboat to peck up some tail end of fuel oil from a storage warehouse in Tampico , as previously gibe with the Mexican Union commander . However , as the boater were remove the cans to the whaleboat , they were stopped by Tamaulipas country scout group , who had n’t been inform of the plan .
Or so it seemed . While the Mexican federal air force officer apologized for the mistake , he balked at Admiral Mayo ’s requirement that he enkindle the U.S. flag over Mexican soil for a 21 - accelerator pedal salutation — an obvious affront to Mexican interior pridefulness — as regaining for the in the first place alleged violation of U.S. sovereignty . Now , the seemingly small-scale incident started to coil rapidly — and absurdly — out of control .
Back in Washington , D.C. , President Wilson , who openly despise Huerta , lay claim that the whole incident was part of a “ pattern ” of hostile and aweless behavior by Mexico , and reduplicate the demand for a salute to the U.S. flag . Huerta , who openly reciprocated Wilson ’s feelings , of course refuse , and Wilson in turn rejected Huerta ’s retort - offer of a coincident salute by U.S. and Mexican troop .
Incredibly , the situation was about to get even bad , as Wilson ordered ships from the U.S. Atlantic and Pacific fleets to Mexican water and asked Congress for permission to occupy a number of Mexico ’s east coast ports , including the primal city of Veracruz ( but oddly enough not Tampico ) . On April 21 , 1914 , U.S. Marines landed in Veracruz and clear Mexican military unit from the city over the next few days , at a cost of 19 American and 150 Mexican idle . Meanwhile , on the west coast , U.S. ship made a show of power in the harbor of Mazatlan .
U.S. military unit remained in Veracruz until November 1914 , when the difference was finally settled at the Niagara Falls Conference , but the Tampico Incident foreshadowed further American intervention in Mexico during the Punitive Expedition that attempted , unsuccessfully , to capture Pancho Villa from March 1916 to February 1917 . Around this fourth dimension , the continuing tensions seemed to offer Germany an opportunity to distract the U.S. and prevent it from joining the First World War by embroiling it in a war with Mexico alternatively , extend to the ill-famed Zimmerman Telegram — a ham - handed covert initiative that end up backfiring disastrously .
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