Also, the U.S. did not enter the war in 1915, in case anyone forgot. It took the sinking of a DOZEN U.S. ships by the Germans, after repeated promises not to sink neutrals. Any ONE of those should have been grounds for war, and the sickening thing is that Woodrow Wilson waited so long to do what needed to be done in the first place.
The same people who complain about 3,000 civilians being killed at the WTC, which, God knows, must have had SOME offices doing "defense work," hence were "legitimate targets" as the jihadists claim, want to excuse German atrocities at sea. So the question of what the Lusitania was transporting is irrelevant. Even if it was ALL high explosive shells, the U-boats were NOT to be torpedoing passenger liners and they had promised not to do so in any event.
Waited? Wilson campaign in the 1916 election campaigned on not entering the War. Then betrayed the American people as soon as he got elected by entering.
Hey, I’m glad we got into WWI but munitions should not have been shipped in passenger liners. Bad idea.
Horse sh..., uh road apples:
The first clear indication of increased peril to LUSITANIA was the extraordinary notice placed in American newspapers by the German Embassy on 1 May 1915, the day the Cunarder sailed: "Travellers intending to embark on the Atlantic voyage are reminded that a state of war exists between Germany and her allies and Great Britain and her allies; that the zone of war includes the waters adjacent to the British Isles; that, in accordance with formal notice given by the Imperial German Government, vessels flying the flag of Great Britain, or of any of her allies, are liable to destruction in those waters and that travellers sailing in the war zone on ships of Great Britain or her allies do so at their own risk."
AND the Zimmerman note....
It would seem to me that shipping munitions in a passenger vessel would have been an act of gross negligence and/or provocation on the part of the U.S., and that Germany wouldn’t bear much responsibility at all for the sinking of that ship if it were a legitimate target.
I am not justifying the sinking, but I think what you write is misleading. Germany put an advertisement in the paper next to the ad for the Lusitania warning passengers that such ships might be sunk. The media had articles on the subject. Passengers were so worried the Captain of the ship had to reassure them by telling them the ship was too fast to be attacked by submarine. If that wasn’t enough, German spies were arrested on board early in the voyage.
(Note: One of my Great Grandparents traveled on the previous journey of the Lusitania too the U.S.)
“Even if it was ALL high explosive shells, the U-boats were NOT to be torpedoing passenger liners and they had promised not to do so in any event”. ....................HMMMM? Once they take ammo on board, are they still a passenger liner? Passenger liners probably have rules to follow too. Was there ammo on board? Yes, and previous dives have shown it. Where they warned before departure? Yes, in the NYT if I remember correctly. The owners of the liner put their passengers at risk knowing that they were transporting war supplies (ammo).
History is written by the victors and before you say anything, my late Maternal Grandfather, son of German immigrants, was a Corporal in the Infantry, 42nd Infantry Division, AEF in the trenches in France. He came home with Krupp steel in his hip along with his own bone splinters. Grandpa believed in what he did and the rightness of it. I respect his memory, but I am also trying to be objective about history.
Your logic is faulty. If they were carrying ammunition then they were no longer just civilian passenger boats.
This is the same problem we are having in the Middle East where terrorists attack us, then run into Mosques for sanctuary, where they re-arm from weapons stored inside.
When is a mosque a military storage facility?
If I was president that would make it a target. I would make it known we will attack any miliary targets. We should also dip all our arms in bacon grease too.