If you believe the sinking of the Lusitania on May 7, 1915 caused the U.S. to enter WWI, you’d be wrong. But the sinking certainly contributed to the eventual declaration of war. The R.M.S. Lusitania had its maiden voyage in 1906. It was the Titanic of its time – a state of the art passenger ship. Construction had been subsidized by the British with the understanding that it might be used for military purposes in the future. When WWI broke out, it was secretly adapted to carry military supplies. On its last voyage, it was carrying tons of munitions. This made it a legit target for u-boats and the British knew this. When the war began, the German policy was to warn ships before sinking them, allowing passengers to get in lifeboats. But in February, 1915, realizing that the policy reduced the effectiveness of the stealth craft and put them at danger from armed merchantmen, the Germans abandoned the humane policy in favor of unrestricted submarine warfare. Now, any British ship in the war zone was subject to sinking with no warning. Aware of the reaction to this change, the German embassy issued a statement warning passengers on cruise ships that they were liable to be sunk. Few of the Lusitania passengers took the warning seriously. After all, at 22 knots, no sub could catch the Lusitania. No ship had been sunk at over 15. The ship was six days out from New York City on its run to Liverpool and was one day from port when it crossed the path of U-20. The u-boat had sunk some ships in the area and Capt. William Turner had been warned of a sub in the vicinity. He took no evasive action, but it probably would have made no difference since the contact was just by luck. U-boat Captain Walther Schwieger fired one torpedo which hit the ship in the middle, followed by a massive explosion. It is still unclear what caused the explosion, but the munitions have been ruled out by most experts. In 18 minutes, the ship sank. 1,195 passengers and crew died (but not Capt. Turner), including 128 Americans. 761 passengers survived. Schwieger was not a war criminal, but if he had had even a bit of political savvy, he would have let the fat target sail on by. The sinking was a huge propaganda gift for the British, who lied about the innocence of the ship. The propaganda convinced many Americans, including the bellicose Teddy Roosevelt, that the U.S. should enter the war. However, Pres. Woodrow Wilson refused to be railroaded. The Germans, realizing America was on the brink, stopped unrestricted submarine warfare for a couple of years. When it was renewed in 1917, Wilson declared war.
https://www.history.com/news/how-the-sinking-of-lusitania-changed-wwi
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/533739/facts-about-rms-lusitania
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_the_RMS_Lusitania
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