The Real Story of Lusitania
Lusitania was a famous British passenger vessel. Her sinking in May 1915 shocked the world, especially coming so close after the tragic sinking of Titanic three years before. But unlike Titanic, Lusitania was sunk by a German torpedo at a time when Great Britain was at war with Germany. And contrary to mainstream history books, Lusitania was not an innocent ship that was destroyed by vengeful Germans.
Violating the Rules of War
The conflict that became known as World War I had begun in 1914. That year, the British declared the North Sea (which Germany needed for supplies) to be a war zone. British ships intercepted cargo bound for Germany and mined the main approaches to German ports. In this way, the British deliberately tried starving German civilians into submission with a “hunger blockade.” Targeting civilians rather than enemy combatants violated international law.
Since the German High Seas Fleet could not match the strength of the British Royal Navy, they countered with submarines called U-boats, which attacked ships carrying war supplies to Britain and its allies. German commanders were ordered not to attack neutral shipping, but the British often violated neutrality laws by bearing fraudulent neutral flags on their ships to thwart the U-boat attacks.
Germany responded by declaring the waters around the Britain and Ireland a war zone. Enemy merchant ships in the war zone were subject to immediate attack. However, neutral ships were also at risk because of Britain’s policy of placing false neutral flags on ships carrying war supplies.
Under international law, a warring ship had to give ample warning to an enemy merchant vessel before attacking. However, Britain had ordered its merchant ships to attack any U-boat on sight. Since U-boats were much smaller, they could be easily destroyed without the element of surprise. Moreover, the international law had been written a decade earlier, before technology such as submarines and radios had ever been used in warfare.
Lusitania the Warship
At the outset of the war, Britain had designated Lusitania as an “AMC” (Armed Merchant Cruiser), and although she was never fitted with guns, she was officially a warship. Lusitania regularly carried war supplies from the U.S. to Britain on her luxurious passenger runs across the Atlantic.
The U.S. had declared neutrality in the war, and by supplying Britain and its allies with small-caliber arms only, the U.S. remained within the neutral rules. Even so, the Germans could not be expected to consider the U.S. a true neutral when it was routinely shipping war supplies to Britain and its allies.
In April 1915, Lusitania docked in New York and prepared for another run back to Liverpool. The German Embassy in the U.S. issued several warnings in newspapers throughout New York and the U.S. not to travel on Lusitania’s upcoming voyage.
Passenger fears were calmed by assurances that German U-boats had never successfully attacked a ship that traveled as fast as Lusitania. Also not publicly disclosed was the fact that Lusitania’s former captain, Daniel Dow, had been ordered to take leave due to stress. Dow had repeatedly urged the British Admiralty to revoke Lusitania’s status as an AMC because this made her a prime target for German U-boats.
Entering the War Zone
Lusitania left New York on May 1 carrying 1,959 passengers, including 159 Americans. Unbeknownst to most passengers, Lusitania also carried 4,927 boxes of rifle cartridges (holding 1,000 rounds each), 1,250 cases of shrapnel, and 2,000 cases of small arms ammunition. It remains uncertain whether the U.S. violated neutrality laws by loading illegal munitions in Lusitania’s hold.
That same morning, German Count Johann von Bernstorff issued an alert that British vessels were “liable to destruction” and cautioned that travelers entering the war zone “on ships of Great Britain and her allies do so at their own risk.”
As Lusitania entered the war zone, the British were receiving reports that the German U-boat U-20 had either hit or sunk several vessels in the region. U-20 approached Lusitania off the Irish coast on the afternoon of May 7. The German commander, Captain Walter Schwieger, was aware of Britain’s naval policy of ramming U-boats on sight. He preemptively fired one torpedo that struck Lusitania on the starboard (right) side.
The Tragic Destruction
Immediately after the first explosion from the torpedo, a second explosion rocked Lusitania. The ship quickly began listing, and most of the lifeboats could not be launched. The ship sank within 18 minutes. Of the 1,959 people on board, 1,195 died and 764 were rescued. Of those who died, 128 were Americans.
The second explosion likely destroyed the ship, but it is still unclear what caused that second blast. Many have asserted that the second explosion was caused by the torpedo detonating hidden munitions that should not have been on board.
The German government responded that warnings had been issued and Lusitania, having carried war supplies into the war zone, was subject to attack. The Kolnische Volkszeitung stated: “The English wish to abandon the German people to death by starvation. We are more humane. We simply sank an English ship with passengers who, at their own risk and responsibility, entered the zone of operations.”
Nevertheless, Lusitania’s sinking sparked worldwide outrage. The New York Herald referred to the sinking of Lusitania as “wholesale murder,” and the New York Times compared the Germans to “savages drunk with blood.” The British hoped this incident would bring the U.S. into the war, which was their goal from the outset. However, few people in the U.S. actually called for going to war over the sinking of Lusitania.
Feigning Diplomacy
President Woodrow Wilson consulted with his cabinet regarding the disaster. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan proposed a compromise: Britain would lift the hunger blockade and remove mines in the North Sea, while Germany would minimize the U-boat campaign. The Germans expressed willingness to accept this, but the British refused.
Wilson decided to appease Britain by sending a stern message to Germany demanding an apology for Lusitania, compensation for U.S. victims, and a promise to avoid similar occurrences in the future. Wilson essentially demanded that the Germans respect the right of U.S. citizens to travel on enemy ships that carried war supplies intended to defeat Germany. No other “neutral” nation had ever made such a demand.
Bryan, noting Britain’s illegal hunger blockade, asked, “Why be shocked by the drowning of a few people, if there is to be no objection to starving a nation?” After denouncing Wilson’s hypocrisy in warning Germany while doing nothing to stop Britain’s harassment of U.S. shipping (which violated neutrality laws), Bryan resigned in protest. His replacement was Robert Lansing, a pro-British diplomat who flouted U.S. neutrality by openly working with Britain against Germany in the war.
Lessons from Lusitania
The U.S. did not enter the war until April 1917, nearly two years after the sinking of Lusitania. British and U.S. inquiries into Lusitania’s destruction predictably concluded that Germany was completely responsible for the tragedy. The Germans were defeated in 1918, and history books often disregard the losing side of wars. Thus, texts have cited the sensational sinking of an innocent luxury liner as the incident that put the U.S. on the path to World War I.
But there is no doubt that both Britain and the U.S. violated international law both before and after Lusitania’s destruction. And as one historian more accurately noted: “With the sanction of the British Government, the Cunard Line (which owned Lusitania) was selling people passages through a declared war zone, under due notice that its ships were subject to being sunk on sight by a power which had demonstrated its ability and determination to do so.”
