USA HISTORY

AMERICAN IMPERIALISM(1890 1919)

THE UNITED STATES IN WORLD WAR I

[SOURCES]
Germany sunk a ship called the Lusitania. Why was this a big deal?

(A) t was a merchant ship with a large number of supplies

(B) it was a military ship that had been shelling the German coast

(C) ** it was a passenger ship on which 1, 200 were killed, including 128 Americans

(D) it was a sailboat on which the king of England was traveling

EXPLANATIONS BELOW

Concept note-1: -The Lusitania was carrying a cargo of rifle ammunition and shells (together about 173 tons), and the Germans, who had circulated warnings that the ship would be sunk, felt themselves fully justified in attacking a vessel that was furthering the war aims of their enemy.

Concept note-2: -The ship’s name was taken from Lusitania, an ancient Roman province on the west of the Iberian Peninsula-the region that is now southern Portugal and Extremadura (Spain).

Concept note-3: -On May 7, 1915, the German submarine (U-boat) U-20 torpedoed and sank the Lusitania, a swift-moving British cruise liner traveling from New York to Liverpool, England. Of the 1, 959 men, women, and children on board, 1, 195 perished, including 123 Americans.

Concept note-4: -Of the 1, 959 passengers and crew aboard Lusitania at the time of her sinking, 1, 195 had been lost.