Posted on 09/02/2014 8:11:44 AM PDT by Kaslin
About how America became involved in certain wars, many conspiracy theories have been advanced -- and some have been proved correct.
When James K. Polk got his declaration of war as Mexico had "shed American blood upon the American soil," Rep. Abraham Lincoln demanded to know the exact spot where it had happened.
And did the Spanish really blow up the battleship Maine in Havana Harbor, the casus belli for the Spanish-American War?
The Gulf of Tonkin Incident, involving U.S. destroyers Maddox and C. Turner Joy, remains in dispute. But charges that North Vietnamese patrol boats had attacked U.S. warships on the high seas led to the 1964 resolution authorizing the war in Vietnam.
In 2003, Americans were stampeded into backing an invasion of Iraq because Saddam Hussein had allegedly been complicit in 9/11, had weapons of mass destruction and was able to douse our East Coast with anthrax.
"(He) lied us into war because he did not have the political courage to lead us into it," said Rep. Clare Luce of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who, according to many historians, made efforts to provoke German subs into attacking U.S. warships and bring us into the European war through the "back door" of a war with Japan.
This week marks the 75th anniversary of World War II, as last month marked the 100th anniversary of World War I.
Thus, it is a good time for Eugene Windchy's "Twelve American Wars: Nine of Them Avoidable." A compelling chapter in this new book, by the author of "Tonkin Gulf," deals with how Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, schemed to drag America into Britain's war in 1915.
In 1907, Britain launched the Lusitania, "the greyhound of the sea," the fastest passenger ship afloat. In 1913, Churchill called in the head of Cunard and said Lusitania would have to be refitted for a war he predicted would break out in September 1914.
The Lusitania, writes Windchy, was "refitted as a cargo ship with hidden compartments to hold shells and other munitions. By all accounts there were installed revolving gun mounts."
On Aug. 4, 1914, after war was declared, Lusitania went back into dry dock. More space was provided for cargo, and the vessel was now carried on Cunard's books as "an auxiliary cruiser."
Churchill visited the ship in dry dock and referred to Lusitania as "just another 45,000 tons of live bait."
When war began, German submarine captains, to save torpedoes, would surface and permit the crews of cargo ships to scramble into lifeboats, and then they would plant bombs or use gunfire to sink the vessels.
Churchill's response was to outfit merchant ships with hidden guns, order them to ram submarines, and put out "Q-ships," disguised as merchant ships, which would not expose their guns until submarines surfaced.
German naval commanders began to order submarines to sink merchant ships on sight. First Sea Lord Sir John ("Jackie") Fisher said he would have done the same.
Churchill, seeing an opportunity to bring America into Britain's war, wrote the Board of Trade: "It is most important to attract neutral shipping to our shores, in the hope especially of embroiling the United States with Germany. ... We want the traffic -- the more the better -- and if some of it gets into trouble, the better still."
Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan wanted to warn Americans not to travel aboard British ships. But President Woodrow Wilson, writes Windchy, "said that American citizens had a right to travel on belligerent ships with impunity, even within a war zone," a defiance of common sense and an absurd interpretation of international law.
On May 1, 1915, Lusitania set sail from New York. As Windchy writes, the ship "secretly carried munitions and Canadian troops in civilian clothes, which legally made it fair game for (German) U-boats.
"After the war, Churchill ... admitted that the Lusitania carried a 'small consignment of rifle ammunition and shrapnel shells weighing 173 tons.' New York Customs Collector Dudley Malone told President Wilson that 'practically all her cargo was contraband of various kinds.'"
Future Secretary of State Robert Lansing knew that British passenger ships carried war materiel. German diplomats in New York warned American passengers they were in danger on the Lusitania. And instead of sailing north of Ireland to Liverpool, the Lusitania sailed to the south, into waters known to be the hunting ground of German submarines.
Lusitania blew up and sank in 18 minutes. Munitions may have caused the secondary explosion when the torpedo hit. Some 1,200 people perished, including 128 Americans. America was on fire, ready for war when the next incidents occurred, as they would in 1917 with the sinking of U.S. merchant ships in similar waters.
Had Wilson publicly warned U.S. citizens not to sail on the ships of belligerent nations and forbidden U.S.-flagged merchant ships to carry contraband to nations at war, America might have stayed out of the war, which might have ended in a truce, not a German defeat.
There might have been no Adolf Hitler and no World War II.
I happen to have 4”x4” section of the Lusitania hull plating with a rivet in the center. Obtained on a saturation dive we did in the 80’s looking for artwork etc. Always wondered what it would bring.
S/
When I was younger, a man in the neighborhood would tell his tale of being on that ship, once a year.
He was living in New York at the time, but had been born in Britain. And, the only reason he was on that ship was to go to Europe and fight for Britain. So right there I see some problems with the neutrality of this ship.
He also claimed that people saw the torpedo, or at least its wake...and several people were pointing at it, as it approached. At fire they thought it was marine life, but as it got closer, it was obviously man made.
I believe it was the Zimmerman telegram that pushed the US over the top and entered the war.
The sinking of the Lusitania is almost universally cited as the reason for US entry into WW1. Without having a position on that assertion, it should be noted that the Lusitania was sunk about 2 years before the US entered the war.
I once read something about the German [Kaiser's] Embassy getting anthrax samples from Johns-Hopkins or the like, and the considered using it on the US.
What Buchanan misses is that Germany all but declared war on the US before sinking the Lusitania.
In early February 1917, when Germany announced a return to unrestricted submarine warfare, the U.S. broke off diplomatic relations with the country. By the end of March, Germany had sunk several more passenger ships with Americans aboard and Wilson went before Congress to ask for a declaration of war on April 2, which was made four days later. The first American ships arrived in Europe within a week, marking a decisive end to U.S. neutrality.
Why did Germany do this? The war was stalling and it could not sustain it economically. It tried one more push which included to cut US supply lines. Germany knew this would draw the US into the war. Germany hoped however, that by the time the US was able to muster forces it could defeat the allies. When this failed after a year, Germany suddenly surrendered.
I agree with Pat the Wilson and others desperately wanted into the war and maintained risky policies to draw the US into to the war. Also Wilson 14 points convinced America this was a righteous war more than German U boats. When this turned out to be a lie- the war was for European boundaries, the US went isolationist and allow the European Allies to run over Germany in the treaty of Versailles.
I would imagine the first difficulty would be establishing the piece’s provenance. But assuming that could be done, I would think your potential market would be museums or the rare collector, which would limit the demand.
On the other hand, the supply is even more limited, so you might fetch a decent price.
Can anyone provide a date for this comment and a first-hand reference? Who is supposed to have heard Churchill say this, a reporter? Is there an contemporaneous news account?
Governments always need a plausible reason to start a conflict, be it a sinking, a shooting down or a land incursion any of which can be real or fabricated. Hitler’s excuses for attacking Poland come to mind as does the Gulf of Tonkin incident or remembering the Maine or the firing on Ft. Sumpter. What will be the next one? Who knows? Maybe when Obama misses a two foot birdie putt.
“What Buchanan misses is that Germany all but declared war on the US before sinking the Lusitania.”
Yes... and Wilson was dilly dallying like mad to keep the US out.
The Germans as well did NOT want the US involved and there was a lot of back and forth with the Kaiser and his admirals on specifics of torpedoing ships in open sea ... THEY wanted to and HE was trying to keep the US at bay... knowing that only outright and wanton targeting would move Wilson.
And we all would have enjoyed the delights of the Easter Bunny for ever after.
And then there is now ‘ISIS is on its way to conquer America’, screaming by today’s war mongers, ‘we have to do something’. They ‘have killed a captured American newsman with a knife’. So here comes ISIS on camels, discarded American military arms, improvised devices, stolen planes and suicide vests. Sorry mongers, I’m not impressed until they get a bunch of Messerschmitts, Stukas, Rockets, etc. We have nothing to fear except fear itself.
Lusitania had the 6 inch gun mounts installed in 1913.
The altered cargo manifest-——filed after the ship was at sea-—— includes the 6 million rounds of .303 ammo and 5,000 artillery rounds. The fuses for the three inchers were carried in separate boxes.
There would have been an Adolf Hitler, of course, since he was in uniform at the time. He would likely not have risen to power but even that isn’t certain. Had the Allies managed to break the German front without American help, the outcome might have been pretty much the same. It’s all speculation.
Should add that IIRC the rifle ammo was from the Eddystone plant.
Nope. This error puts the rest of the piece in doubt.
The Lusitania was sunk in 1915.
America joined WW1 in 1917: two years later. I dare say the sinking helped sway public opinion, but it wouldn’t seem to have been the proximate cause.
Saddam did have WMD’s. There were satellite photos at the time that showed miles long convoys of Russian trucks hauling WMD’s into Syria. ISIS has them now.
That seems reasonable - the cause being Germany’s return to unrestricted submarine warfare in an attempt to win the war by maritime siege.
In that case I can see how the two-years-previous sinking of the Lusitania would have had resonance.
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