The Role Of Justification In Rethinking The Lusitania
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On May 7, 1915, the Germans sank a British ship named the Lusitania. The ship, returning to Great Britain from New York, was carrying American passengers, primarily women and children . At the time Britain and Germany were in a state of war. The Germans were justified in sinking the Lusitania because the ship had a British flag, had weapon storage departments, and went into enemy territory. One of the Germans reasons they had for attacking the Lusitania was because it was a British ship. Before sailing of the Lusitania the Germans had put out a statement saying “in accordance with formal notice given by the Imperial German Government, vessels flying the flag of Great Britain, or of any of her allies, are liable to destruction..”(Imperial German embassy) ; Thus, proving the Germans gave a fair warning. The treading into enemy territory was a violation of the statement the German Government had put out. The ship was considered a threat to the Germans giving them the reason to annihilate the Lusitania. The temptation of even a passenger ship that was British was enough to cause the destruction of Lusitania.…show more content… In the article no trace of weapon storage is found until the narrator states “He mentioned the fact that there was no guns on board,and that there was no place to put them. I agreed that there were no guns, but pointed out that there were places to put them…”(The Sinking of the Lusitania) ; thus, proving there were places to put weapons on a passenger ship. The ship had placement of weapons which could lead the Germans to think it was more than an average passenger ship. The Germans could have believed because of the weapon storage there could be war materials aboard. The possibility of weapons on the ship would of given the Germans reason to believe the Lusitania was an actual war