7 may 1915: How The Sinking Of The Lusitania Heralded An Entirely New Kind Of War

[niyad]

How The Sinking Of The Lusitania Heralded An Entirely New Kind Of War



A century ago today, the world’s most famous luxury liner, the Lusitania, was sunk by a German U-boat. It was a shocking incident, one that signaled a disturbing change in how the war was to be fought. It also set the U.S. on a path that would eventually lead it to war. Here’s what happened on that fateful day in May.

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--by2BYSsT--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/1241805294780684973.jpg
Illustration: Norman Wilkinson - The Illustrated London News, May 15, 1915. P. 631.

A week before the disaster, New York residents were greeted by newspaper ads warning them to steer clear of “vessels flying the flag of Great Britain” as they “are liable to destruction,” adding that travelers who board such ships “do so at their own risk.”

The ads, which were placed by the Imperial German Embassy, were in response to intelligence reports indicating that the passenger liner Lusitania was doubling as a British merchant ship.

The embassy’s admonition wasn’t taken seriously. That German U-boats might sink a luxury liner of such stature and renown was an inherently preposterous idea. Years later, a survivor recalled: “I don’t think anyone took very much notice of this because they thought, well, no nation would dare go to the point of sinking a passenger liner and especially a liner so famous as the Lusitania.” (Image: Robert Hunt Picture Library/CC.)

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http://io9.com/how-the-sinking-of-the-lusitania-heralded-an-entirely-n-1702800197

[navarth]

1. The new Eric Larson book "Dead Wake" covers it nicely.

Lots of info about the whole thing. Good read.

[niyad]

2. thank you.

[IDemo]

3. I've got that on hold with the library

I just finished 'Thunderstruck', about the advancement of wireless communication by Marconi and murder by Dr. Harvey Hawley Crippen. This and 'Devil in the White City' are both must-reads.

I did have one exception with Larson's acclaim for the Titanic's wireless operator being responsible for saving lives after the iceberg was struck, leaving out that he had also told another ship's wireless operator to cease and desist with ice warnings because he was too busy sending stacks of passengers' personal messages to be bothered.

[navarth]

4. We originally had it on hold at the library but

my wife wanted me to have it as soon as I started my vacation, bless her.

I'm pretty sure I've read all the Larson books up to today. I agree about the Marconi story and of course nobody should miss out on The Devil In The White City.

I have no memory of the treatment of the Titanic reference you mentioned.