Sinking The Lusitania

Words: 1541
Pages: 7

The sinking of the Lusitania and the assassination of Franz Ferdinand will be discussed and how these tragedies caused the outburst of World War I. Consequently, the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and the Sinking of the Lusitania would be the spark of World War I, because both the countries and many others dealt with a horrific loss, causing outrage, and leading to major and minor countries to clash and band together. In 1914, under the rule of Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, Austria-Hungary was the largest, and most powerful empire in Europe during this time. During this period was slowly tying and dragging Serbia into the empire, destroying Serbian independence, which would lead to the creation of a Serbian terrorist group nicknamed. …show more content…
They would rapidly gas the Russian soldiers. Many German soldiers who saw the event claimed the Russian soldiers became “Zombie-like” covering their faces with cloth while coughing up their lungs while at the same time grabbing whatever weapon they could gain and crying out a battle cry as they fought. These many losses of lives would shake Russia and its ruler, Tsar Nicholas II. With this devastating loss of soldiers, the central powers would continue to fight, leaving Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire to grow with more power. Along with this time of power, Germany would introduce U-boats and illegal U-boat usage. As the introduction of U-boats was popularized in 1915, the United Kingdom would tag along in this craze. U-boat testing and fighting were oftentimes scheduled and had dedicated waters, specifically the North Atlantic section of the ocean, during this time a new boat had been created, the Lusitania which was called “The fastest ship to cross the Atlantic” (RMS Lusitania Home) and known as one of the most luxurious ships of its …show more content…
The Lusitania continued its great travel of the Atlantic Ocean, until 2:10 PM on May 5, 1915. During this time, the Lusitania holding civilians from countries such as British nationalists, Canadians, and Americans, would be hit by a U-20 Boat, the illegal usage of U-Boats, causing the death of 1,834 men, women, and children, along with 128 American lives. Once the news was reported to Woodrow Wilson, he was stricken with rage, declaring war on Germany on April 6, 1917, joining France, the United Kingdom, Russia, Italy, and Japan on the allies' team. Wilson was determined to get back at Germany, he tried to avoid the involvement of America in this battle but enough was enough, American lives had been lost and that would lead to 127,500 American soldiers fighting the German soldiers along with the Central Powers in places such as the Western front portion of France, unknowing about the trench warfare approach but confident in their abilities, soon the American soldiers would be a major fighting force, with American soldiers by the central power’s side they would swiftly begin to overthrow the Allied forces that were taking the war