[nopardons]

According to mt grandmother ( not to mention the general consensus ) is yes, the Germans sank the Lusitania because it was carrying munitions AND because it was an "enemy" ship.

The Lusitania was NOT an American ship, but it did have quite a few American passengers on board and THAT was the excuse that was used for Wilson to get us into WW I; not about American ships, of any kind, being in harms way. Until then, America was a NEUTRAL country and the Germans even let our Government know that Americans shouldn't travel on that ship, prior to its last voyage.

[Archie Bunker on steroids]

Wilson was involved in a fairly tight race in 1916. He had to play both sides rather than risk upsetting the German American electorate. After the election he led us into the war with the Zimmerman telegram and unrestricted sub warfare. A huge debate circles around our real reasons to enter WW1 when we did.

This war had no good guys and no bad guys. I am still amazed that the Germans could be involved in 3 of the largest battles in military history at the same time (Somme, Brusilov, Verdun) and still survive.