honderd jaar geleden torpedeerde een Duitse U-Boot het passagiersschip Lusitania
Drie jaar na de Titanic zonk een ander groot Brits passagiersschip. Ditmaal niet door een ijsberg maar door een laffe oorlogshandeling. Bij de ramp met de Titanic kwamen tussen de 1490 en 1635 mensen om het leven. De torpedering van de Lusitania kostte aan 1195 mensen het leven, waaronder 123 Amerikanen. Een van de slachtoffers was Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt I, de derde zoon van Cornelius Vanderbilt II.
voorpagina van The New York Times van 8 mei 1915, speciale ochtendeditie
Omdat er in 1915 en 1916 meer van dergelijke incidenten volgden waarbij niet alleen Amerikaanse staatsburgers om het leven kwam, maar ook schepen onder de Amerikaanse vlag getroffen werden door een Duitse torpedo, was dit voor de VS de aanleiding om in 1917 de oorlog aan Duitsland te verklaren.
On May 7, 1915, less than a year after World War I (1914-18) erupted across Europe, a German U-boat torpedoed and sank the RMS Lusitania, a British ocean liner en route from New York to Liverpool, England. Of the more than 1,900 passengers and crew members on board, more than 1,100 perished, including more than 120 Americans. Nearly two years would pass before the United States formally entered World War I, but the sinking of the Lusitania played a significant role in turning public opinion against Germany, both in the United States and abroad.
In early May 1915, several New York newspapers published a warning by the German Embassy in Washington, D.C., that Americans traveling on British or Allied ships in war zones did so at their own risk. The announcement was placed on the same page as an advertisement of the imminent sailing of the Lusitania liner from New York back to Liverpool. The sinkings of merchant ships off the south coast of Ireland prompted the British Admiralty to warn the Lusitania to avoid the area or take simple evasive action, such as zigzagging to confuse U-boats plotting the vessel’s course. The captain of the Lusitania ignored the British Admiralty’s recommendations, and at 2:12 p.m. on May 7 the 32,000-ton ship was hit by an exploding torpedo on its starboard side. The torpedo blast was followed by a larger explosion, probably of the ship’s boilers, and the ship sank off the south coast of Ireland in less than 20 minutes.
It was revealed that the Lusitania was carrying about 173 tons of war munitions for Britain, which the Germans cited as further justification for the attack. The United States eventually protested the action, and Germany apologized and pledged to end unrestricted submarine warfare. However, in November of that same year a U-boat sunk an Italian liner without warning, killing more than 270 people, including more than 25 Americans. Public opinion in the United States began to turn irrevocably against Germany.
Bron: history.com
In early May 1915, several New York newspapers published a warning by the German Embassy in Washington, D.C., that Americans traveling on British or Allied ships in war zones did so at their own risk. The announcement was placed on the same page as an advertisement of the imminent sailing of the Lusitania liner from New York back to Liverpool. The sinkings of merchant ships off the south coast of Ireland prompted the British Admiralty to warn the Lusitania to avoid the area or take simple evasive action, such as zigzagging to confuse U-boats plotting the vessel’s course. The captain of the Lusitania ignored the British Admiralty’s recommendations, and at 2:12 p.m. on May 7 the 32,000-ton ship was hit by an exploding torpedo on its starboard side. The torpedo blast was followed by a larger explosion, probably of the ship’s boilers, and the ship sank off the south coast of Ireland in less than 20 minutes.
It was revealed that the Lusitania was carrying about 173 tons of war munitions for Britain, which the Germans cited as further justification for the attack. The United States eventually protested the action, and Germany apologized and pledged to end unrestricted submarine warfare. However, in November of that same year a U-boat sunk an Italian liner without warning, killing more than 270 people, including more than 25 Americans. Public opinion in the United States began to turn irrevocably against Germany.
Bron: history.com
Op 5 mei 1975 was ons land dertig jaar bevrijd. Als twaalfjarige kon ik mij bij dertig jaar nog niets voorstellen. Mijn vader keek toen terug op de meidagen van 1940 en 1945 met een kortere afstand die ik nu heb ten opzichte van 5 mei 1975. Ik kan mij deze dag nog tamelijk goed herinneren. In de zesde klas van de lagere school kregen we allemaal een poster in harde “jaren-zeventig-kleuren” waar “30 jaar vrij” op stond. Jarenlang heeft deze op de deur van mijn kamer gehangen. Ook verscheen een postzegel in grijswaarden met een veelzeggende voorstelling: een oog dat over prikkeldraad verwachtingsvol naar de toekomst kijkt. Vrijheid is niet vanzelfsprekend, ook in 1975 niet.
