Lusitania 100th anniversary

We now know of course that the ship did have war gear on board. The German embassy also took out adverts in travel sections of newspapers stating the high risk of travel on British ships. I have every(original)copy of the ww1 period "the war illustrated"which I got,mint condition, for free.
In them you see stuff like"evil hun submariners" and a page later"noble Brit submariners". Propaganda eh.
 
Technically there were some arms on board the Lusitania,but still, sinking her an incredibly stupid act on the part of Imperial Germany,given the huge amount of ill will it created in the United States.particulary since it was Passenger ship, and was very limited in the amount of arms it could have carried.
 
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dudalb said:
Technically there were some arms on board the Lusitania,but still, sinking her an incredibly stupid act on the part of Imperial Germany,given the huge amount of ill will it created in the United States.particulary since it was Passenger ship, and was very limited in the amount of arms it could have carried.
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The Lusitania carried ammunition, the UK government knew about this.
 
My great-great uncle Elbert died on the Lusitania. Oddly I learned new information on a trip to Liverpool last year. There were 3 Liverpool-related ship disasters commemorated in a museum there, including the Titanic.

Elbert Hubbard & wife reportedly declined space on a lifeboat & retired to their stateroom. He supposedly needed a last-minute presidential pardon to obtain a passport. His goal, supposedly, was to talk to the Kaiser.
 
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Peter May said:
The Lusitania carried ammunition, the UK government knew about this.
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No one is debating that, the question is if Germany acted wisely in sinking a Passenger liner (as opposed to a freighter) with all the heat that was guaranteed to generate given the ammount of ammo that a passengger liner could carry was pretty small.
 
dudalb said:
No one is debating that, the question is if Germany acted wisely in sinking a Passenger liner (as opposed to a freighter) with all the heat that was guaranteed to generate given the ammount of ammo that a passengger liner could carry was pretty small.
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Agreed,the political ramifications are sometimes exaggerated but were nonetheless severe-it also ratcheted up american public support for anti-german action. That'mixed with the later effects of the Zimmerman revelations pretty much got the entire american political and public behind getting involved.
 
dudalb said:
No one is debating that, the question is if Germany acted wisely in sinking a Passenger liner (as opposed to a freighter) with all the heat that was guaranteed to generate given the ammount of ammo that a passengger liner could carry was pretty small.
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Yeah, it was "within the rules of war" but not "wise" as it it was a PR disaster.

Similar "legal" but "ill-judged from a PR perspective" WW1 events:
(By Germany): The execution of Edith Cavell
(by Britain): The executions of various Easter Rising leaders
 
Giz said:
Yeah, it was "within the rules of war" but not "wise" as it it was a PR disaster.

Similar "legal" but "ill-judged from a PR perspective" WW1 events:
(By Germany): The execution of Edith Cavell
(by Britain): The executions of various Easter Rising leaders
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Padriac Pearse and the rest of the leaders of 1916 were regarded as kooks by the majority of the people in the Ireland in the aftermath of the Easter rising;but after the executions they became national heros. It was one of the most idiotic acts in history,but then,sadly, the whole history of British rule in Ireland is one bad decision after another.

I suspect we will hear a lot about the Easter Rebellion next year;it's the Centiennal of the rising, and I am sure the Republic will make a huge deal out of it.
 
And on the 200th anniversary of her sinking people will still be saying the event is why America entered WW1.
 
Polaris said:
And on the 200th anniversary of her sinking people will still be saying the event is why America entered WW1.
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Granted, it was a factor in that it did deal a huge blow to Germany's image in the United States but agree that is good example of bad popular history.
The Zimmerman Telegram and Germany's resort to unlimited Submarine warfare in 1917 were the major causes.
 
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