The U-20 is commanded by Walther Schwieger, a talented submarine captain known for his ruthlessness in pursuing targets. However, the Lusitania’s passengers are unconcerned by the warning because they believe that the ship is impervious to submarine attacks.Īt the same time that the Lusitania sets sail for Liverpool, a German submarine, the U-20, is ordered to patrol the waters between Britain and Ireland. Many readers interpret the advertisement as a warning that specifically targets the American passengers boarding the Lusitania.

On May 1, 1915, the day of the Lusitania’s departure, the Germans publish an advertisement in American newspapers announcing that any British ships-even merchant ships-are vulnerable to German attack. The Lusitania’s captain for its final voyage is William Turner, an experienced officer who previously set the Lusitania’s record for fastest round-trip journey between New York and London. Though these attacks have started harming American citizens, President Woodrow Wilson remains unwilling to enter the war and fight Germany because he hopes to remain neutral and avoid conflict. In the months before the Lusitania’s final departure, German submarines have begun to target neutral merchant ships more often, placing the lives of innocent civilians at risk. Germany’s U-boats (or submarines) prove to be particularly adept at destroying British warships. Germany and Britain quickly become embroiled in a deadly naval warfare. France, Britain, and Russia form the Allies and Germany and Austria-Hungary form the Central Powers. The conflict quickly splits into two sides. One year prior, World War I breaks out in Europe, and Germany aggressively seeks to expand its power by invading and conquering France. Wilson, a past president of Princeton University, 'felt deeply the destruction of Louvain,' according to his friend, Colonel House the president feared 'the war would throw the world back three or four centuries.Dead Wake follows the Lusitania’s final journey, which took place during the first week of May 1915. The assault was deemed an affront to just to Belgium but to the world. Three days of shelling and murder left 209 civilians dead, 1,100 buildings incinerated, and the library destroyed, along with its 230,000 books, priceless manuscripts, and artifacts. On August 25, German forces bean an assault on the Belgian city of Louvain, the 'Oxford of Belgium,' a university town that was home to an important library.

The American press called such atrocities acts of 'frightfulness,' the word then used to describe what later generations would call terrorism.

In the town of Dinant, German soldiers shot 612 men, women, and children. “As Wilson mourned his wife, German forces in Belgium entered quiet towns and villages, took civilian hostages, and executed them to discourage resistances.

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