ON THIS DAY · 7 MAY 1915

Sinking of the Lusitania

7 May 1915 — Off the Irish coast, U-20 torpedoes the liner Lusitania. Of the 1,198 civilians who drown, 128 are American. The submarine war’s dead deserve their own remembrance; outrage at their loss also starts the countdown on American neutrality.

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Map: Sinking of the Lusitania, 7 May 1915 — 7 MAY 1915 · THE GREAT WAR, 1871–1923

These maps are reconstructed from published sources · Cliopatria v 0.2.1 · Natural Earth physical geography · February 1917 shipping-zone amendments · German barred-zone declaration, February 1917

Source details

Cliopatria contributors / Seshat Global History Databank. Source polygons retained with original identities; geographic selections and corrections by Maps of History.. CC BY 4.0
Made with Natural Earth; geographic reference and physical land only. No modern political boundary is used as a historical boundary.. Public domain
Commercial and Financial Chronicle,10 February 1917, preserved by Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis.. Historical factual coordinate transcription; no scan redistributed
US Naval Institute Proceedings, March 1917, German declaration transcribed; February 3 Dutch safety-strip correction described separately.. Published 1917 historical document; factual boundary coordinates transcribed

Annual source features can describe claims, legal territory or military control. Occupied extensions are separated from the prewar Central Power homelands, while the original source names and shapes remain available.

The displayed state is isw 17. Geographic reference dates and reconstruction methods are recorded for each feature.

reconstruction: 1917 · reconstruction: February 1917 · vector: 1815–1937 · vector: 1840–1978 · vector: 1848–1935 · vector: 1864–1921 · vector: 1866–2023 · vector: 1877–1935 · vector: 1877–2023 · vector: 1885–1925 · vector: 1890–1978 · vector: 1890–2023 · vector: 1895–1917 · vector: 1895–1941 · vector: 1895–1978 · vector: 1898–2023 · vector: 1900–1918 · vector: 1900–1986 · vector: 1905–1921 · vector: 1905–1923 · vector: 1905–1925 · vector: 1905–1927 · vector: 1905–1928 · vector: 1905–1942 · vector: 1905–1949 · vector: 1905–1999 · vector: 1908–1931 · vector: 1908–1935 · vector: 1911–1925 · vector: 1911–1929 · vector: 1912–1919 · vector: 1912–1921 · vector: 1912–1955 · vector: 1913–1918 · vector: 1913–1919 · vector: 1914–1938 · vector: 1915–1918 · vector: 1915–1921 · vector: 1915–1940 · vector: 1916–1917 · vector: 1916–1918 · vector: 1916–1919 · vector: 1917–1917 · vector: 1917–1919 · vector: 1917–1921

Layer records and reconstruction methods

The moment in context

The world map shows a front without a trench line. Britain controlled the exits from the North Sea and could restrict the overseas trade on which Germany depended. Food, fertilizer and raw materials became harder to obtain. The pressure accumulated gradually, but its effects were felt in severe civilian hunger. Estimates of the deaths attributable to the blockade remain disputed.

From Blockade and U-boat war in WWI, chapter 8 of The Great War, 1871–1923 (JAN 1917).

The place: Sinking of the Lusitania — map and full story →

Teach this in 5 minutes

Why it happened — The fleet and its diplomatic purpose. Admiral Tirpitz intended the “risk fleet” to make a war against Germany so dangerous that Britain would prefer neutrality and concessions, including…
The turn — Convoy begins in May 1917. Escorted convoys began in May 1917. During the following six months shipping losses fell sharply and U-boat losses rose; one comparison puts the…
What it changed — The United States enters. The United States entered the war on 6 April 1917 after unrestricted submarine warfare and the Zimmermann telegram helped end its neutrality. The…

Then ask the room: Can a moral distinction be drawn between the British blockade and Germany’s submarine campaign? The argued answer is on the chapter page →

The atlas that shows it

The Great War, 1871–1923

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