On May 7, 1915, a German U-boat operating off the coast of Ireland fired a torpedo into RMS Lusitania, causing the massive ocean liner to list precariously and then sink in just 18 minutes. The attack, part of Germany’s campaign of unrestricted submarine warfare, killed 1,198 passengers and crewmembers, including 128 Americans. Contrary to popular belief, this did not directly precipitate U.S. involvement in World War I. Yet it did serve as a widespread propaganda tool and rallying cry once American doughboys began shipping out overseas two years later.
Known as the “Greyhounds of the Seas,” Lusitania and its sister ship, Mauretania, were the fastest passenger liners of their age, capable of crossing the Atlantic Ocean in under five days. At more than 30,000 gross tons each, they were also the world’s largest liners from their launch in 1906 until being surpassed by Olympic and Titanic in 1910 and 1911, respectively. Said to be “more beautiful than Solomon’s Temple and big enough to hold all his wives,” Lusitania attracted a plethora of wealthy, prominent passengers. On its ill-fated final voyage, for example, those onboard included millionaire heir Alfred Vanderbilt, Broadway producer Charles Frohman and actress Rita Jolivet, as well as art collector Hugh Lane, who was purportedly traveling with Rembrandt and Monet paintings stashed away in sealed lead tubes. They were joined by a former British member of Parliament, an amateur boxing champion and a special envoy to the king and queen of Belgium, not to mention businessmen, nurses, would-be soldiers and children. What’s more, as secret documents and evidence gathered at the wreck site would later show, Lusitania had 4.2 million rounds of rifle ammunition, 1,250 cases of shrapnel shells and 18 cases of non-explosive fuses hidden away in its cargo hold, bound for the Western Front.
The sinking of Lusitania prompted an outcry in the United States (as well as in other Allied countries). “The freely expressed unofficial feeling is that the United States must declare war or forfeit European respect,” the U.S. ambassador to Britain told President Woodrow Wilson the next day. Yet Wilson did not immediately send in the troops, choosing to remain neutral in exchange for a German apology and an end to unrestricted submarine warfare. He even ran for re-election in 1916 using the slogan, “He kept us out of war.” Early the following year, however, Germany sank several U.S. merchant vessels after resuming unrestricted submarine warfare, which it believed would cause Britain and France to surrender in just a few months. Moreover, British intelligence uncovered a telegram from Germany’s foreign minister in which he proposed a military alliance with Mexico. If Mexico entered World War I, the telegram stated, Germany would help it recover Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. Feeling he no longer had a choice, Wilson called for a declaration of war on April 2, a decision that would help turn the conflict in the Allies’ favor. Far from forgotten, Lusitania featured prominently in recruitment posters and war bond advertisements as Americans geared up for battle in Europe.
