AMERICAN IMPERIALISM 1890 1919
THE UNITED STATES IN WORLD WAR I
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Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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Lusitania
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USS Maine
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Either A or B
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None of the above
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Detailed explanation-1: -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.
Detailed explanation-2: -On the afternoon of May 7, 1915, the British ocean liner Lusitania is torpedoed without warning by a German submarine off the south coast of Ireland. Within 20 minutes, the vessel sank into the Celtic Sea. Of 1, 959 passengers and crew, 1, 198 people were drowned, including 128 Americans.
Detailed explanation-3: -Torpedoes. The U-boats’ main weapon was the torpedo, though mines and deck guns (while surfaced) were also used. By the end of the war, almost 3, 000 Allied ships (175 warships; 2, 825 merchant ships) had been sunk by U-boat torpedoes.
Detailed explanation-4: -Germany built new and larger U-boats to punch holes in the British blockade, which was threatening to starve Germany out of the war. In 1914, Germany had just 20 U-boats. By 1917, it had 140 and the U-boats had destroyed about 30 percent of the world’s merchant ships.