Admiral Paul von Hintze arrived in Mexico in the spring of 1911 to serve as Germany’s ambassador to a country in a state of revolution. Germany’s emperor Wilhelm II had selected Hintze as his personal eyes and ears in Mexico (and concomitantly the neighboring United States) during the portentous years leading up to the First World War. The ambassador benefited from a network of informers throughout Mexico and was closely involved in the country’s political and diplomatic machinations as the violent revolution played out.
Murder and Counterrevolution in Mexico presents Hintze’s eyewitness accounts of these turbulent years. Hintze’s diary, telegrams, letters, and other records, translated, edited, and annotated by Friedrich E. Schuler, offer detailed insight into Victoriano Huerta’s overthrow and assassination of Francisco Madero and Huerta’s ensuing dictatorship and chronicle the U.S.-supported resistance.

Showcasing the political relationship between Germany and Mexico, Hintze’s suspenseful, often daily diary entries provide new insight into the turmoil of the Mexican Revolution, including U.S. diplomatic maneuvers and subterfuge, as well as an intriguing backstory to the infamous 1917 Zimmermann Telegram, which precipitated U.S. entry into World War I.