What is the significance of the ship lusitania

On April 4, the Senate voted to declare war against Germany, and two days later the House of Representatives endorsed the declaration.

With that, America entered World War I. Have Entered World War I? But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us!

Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. On May 7, , a German U-boat torpedoed the British-owned luxury steamship Lusitania, killing 1, people including Americans, according to the Library of Congress. The disaster immediately strained relations between Germany and the neutral United States, fueled When World War I broke out across Europe in , President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the United States would remain neutral, and many Americans supported this policy of nonintervention.

However, public opinion about neutrality started to change after the sinking of the British His murder catapulted into a war across Europe that lasted until For four years, from to , World War I raged across Europe's western and eastern fronts, after growing tensions and then the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria ignited the war. Her construction and operation were subsidized by the British government , which allowed the British War Office to commandeer the ship as an Armed Merchant Cruiser after the declaration of war in The government added a hidden compartment below deck that was used to carry war supplies across the Atlantic Ocean.

Prior to spring , the German military engaged in restricted submarine warfare , meaning that submarines endeavored to engage only naval ships. In February , Germany declared the seas around the British Isles a war zone and warned that both merchant and neutral ships entered this area at their own risk. On 18 February , Germany instituted a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare. All ships were now fair game within the designated war zones. In the days leading up to the Lusitania sinking, Germany repeatedly warned American citizens not to sail on British ships in the war zone.

They justified their decision to attack passenger and merchant ships by noting the British policy of transporting war munitions across the Atlantic on merchant vessels. The Imperial German Embassy even issued a warning by placing an advertisement in fifty different American newspapers.

On its final voyage, William Thomas Turner captained the ill-fated Lusitania. The liner encountered a U submarine off the coast of Ireland at pm on 7 May The captain of the U-boat, Walter Schweiger , gave the order to fire one torpedo, which struck the Lusitania near its bow. The ship began to founder as the lower compartments filled with water before a second powerful explosion rocked the ship, causing it to sink in under twenty minutes.

Investigations concluded that the second blast described by many of the survivors was either from munitions stored below deck or from a coal-dust explosion. The attack killed 1, people, including Americans. The inability of the passengers and the crew to set up the collapsible lifeboats before the ship sank caused many to drown or die of hypothermia.

According to the German government, the Lusitania was a legitimate military target. Woodrow Wilson did not want the American government to overreact to the situation. He chose to correspond extensively with the German government.

Wilson insisted that Germany apologize and compensate the American victims and their families, steps the Germans initially refused to take, preferring to shift the blame to the British. While Germany and the United States navigated these diplomatic tensions, the sinking offered fodder for the British propaganda effort within the United States. In the days and months that followed, the British churned out poster after poster using the Lusitania as a reason for individuals to aid the British war effort.

After World War I began in , Lusitania remained a passenger ship, although it was secretly modified for war. By February , German naval commanders knew British merchants were arming their ships and that both merchant and passenger ships were transporting weapons and supplies from the United States to Europe. This break from naval protocol angered and troubled the United States and the European Allies. Germany attacked a ship With civilians aboard.

Since it was assumed Germany would still allow passengers to get into lifeboats prior to an attack, the cautions were largely ignored. On May 7, , six days after leaving New York for Liverpool, Lusitania took a direct hit from a German U-boat submarine—without any warning—and sank within 20 minutes. The backlash aroused anti-German sentiment in America. American citizens were saddened and stunned but not ready to rush to war. President Woodrow Wilson wanted to proceed with caution and remain neutral while former President Theodore Roosevelt demanded swift retaliation.

Germany defended its aggression, claiming Lusitania had carried weapons and war supplies and was therefore fair game. As they continued to divert blame, British propaganda against them snowballed. Throngs of vengeance-seeking Brits rushed to enlist, and anti-German riots broke out in London.