War+At+Sea-+Lusitania+and+Other+Outcries



The German Unrestricted Submarine Warfare wasn't conducted without risks. The German government had long feared that the U-Boat campaign will push neutral countries the Allied side because their ships will be sunk as part of the campaign to blockade Britain. Therefore it had earlier tried to warn neutral countries and their ships about the risks of travelling through the 'war zone' that they have set up. However, sinkings of neutral ships continue to happen, and the taking of innocent passengers' lives shocked the world. On 7 May 1915, the passenger line RMS Lusitania was torpedoed by U 20 off the coast of Ireland, and sank in just 18 minutes. Of the 1,959 people aboard, 1,198 were killed, 128 of them US citizens. The event caused massive public outrage in Britain and the US. Britain had expected US to join the war after the incident yet President Wilson had remained unshaken and insisted on remaining neutral. The German government attempted to justify it by saying that firstly the ship had violated rules, taken the risk of travelling through war zones and therefore paid the price and secondly that the ship had been carrying ammunitions to help the British war effort.



Although the sinking of Lusitania did not cause any major direct consequences, it had contributed to the reason US entered the war in 1917 because it successfully turned the public opinion in the US against German, as can be clearly proven as propaganda media now used the sinking of Lusitania as an incentive for civilians to join the army, shown below. Actually, before the Germans have started their Unrestricted Submarine Warfare operations, the US, and other neutral countries, were slightly against the actions of Britain because of the harshness of the blockade it had imposed on Germany.

The sinking of Lusitania, however, was not the only outrage of the war. On 10 April 1915 the British steamer //Harpalyce//, a Belgian relief ship was sunk without warning by a German submarine. It wasn't intended to travel inside the war zone, but had crossed the line just a little. However, the Germans had ignored this fact and went on to sink it. Becasue of the fact that the ship was also on a humanitarian mission American citizens were outraged.

On 19 August 1915, another passenger liner, the SS Arabic, was torpedoed by a German U-Boat and sunk in 10 minutes, resulting in a loss of 44 lives, including 3 American ones. The German Chancellor tried to reconcile with the US by creating newer orders for submarine commanders requesting that all passenger ships should first be warned and its passengers safe. However the German Navy rejected this.

In November 1915 Italian steamer //Ancona// was sunk by a German Submarine in the Mediterranean, resulting in the loss of 40 American citizens caused the United States to pressure Germany into abandoning the unrestricted submarine warfare until its resumption in 1917.

When Germany began its submarine campaign against Britain again in 1917, Wilson had asked the German Government to think twice and that any loss of American lives will be accounted for. He delivered three notes to Germany, the first note called for the Germans to abandon submarine warfare against commercial vessels, whatever flag they sailed under, for the safety of American people and their rights. In the second note Wilson strengthened his position by saying he didn't believe the British blockade was illegitimate and that the Lusitania had been carrying munitions. The third note had been an ultimatum stating that any more sinkings of American ships would be hostile and followed by actions.

Because of Germany's failure to comply with American demands, America declared war on Germany on April 1917. Similar attacks resulting in Brazilian lives also cause Brazil to declare war against the Central Power.