132: The US Enters WWI (RMS Lusitania, Black Tom Island, & The Zimmermann Telegram

History That Doesn't Suck

ProfGregJackson

Education, History, Society & Culture

4.5 • 5.1K Ratings

🗓️ 24 April 2023

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

“I still think I see the struggling of poor passengers in the water.” This is the story of the United States’ path into the Great War. The United States wishes to stay out of the Great War. Woodrow Wilson wins reelection (barely) on that very basis. But as Germany contends with Britain’s blockade, its submarines, or “u-boats,” are attacking merchant and passenger ships (like the RMS Lusitania) without warning. This policy is touch and go, but worse still, the US learns in Februarly 1917 that Germany sent a secret telegram to Mexico offering to ally against the US! After more than two years of clinging to peace, President Woodrow Wilson can’t turn a blind eye to this and Germany’s other atrocities. In the name of protecting democracy, he calls for war. But what about Britain’s unethical if not illegal “hunger blockade” of German ports? Do starving German children justify unrestricted submarine warfare? What about the billions of dollars in loans and goods the “neutral” US has sent to Britain and France over the years? Does that tip the scales on why the US is going to war? These complications and questions of right and wrong are for Congress to decide. ___ 4 Ways to dive deeper into History That Doesn’t Suck Join our growing facebook community Get our weekly newsletter, The Revolution Become part of the HTDS Patreon family Subscribe to Greg’s monthly newsletter, Connected History Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Advisory. This episode contains the account of a massive drowning that includes young children.
0:05.1	Listener discretion is advised.
0:07.8	History that doesn't suck is a bi-weekly podcast to living in a legit, seriously researched
0:11.5	hard-hitting survey of American history through entertaining stories.
0:14.5	If you'd like to support HTDS or enjoy bonus content, please consider giving it Patreon.com-forward-slash-history-that-doesn't-suck.
0:21.7	It's an early, foggy morning, May 7, 1915, and life is brimming aboard the RMS of
0:36.2	Sittania.
0:37.7	One thousand nine hundred fifty-nine souls to give the official figure, though its complete
0:42.3	accuracy is contested by some.
0:45.0	Nearly one in three are members of the crew, while the rest are passengers on this voyage
0:48.8	from New York City to Liverpool, England.
0:52.1	Everywhere we look, families and friends are chatting, mingling, and enjoying breakfast.
0:57.0	That's particularly true of the vessel's hundreds of first-class passengers eating the glass
1:01.4	domed, white and gold decorated, Louis XVI styled dining solos.
1:06.5	You know, it's true what they say, even after 201 Atlantic crossings and almost a decade
1:12.0	at sea, the nine deck, 30,296 tonne, Lucetania, remains not only one of the world's fastest
1:19.6	and biggest ocean liners, but also one of the most luxurious.
1:24.1	Meanwhile, far away from the hubbub of the passengers, Captain William Turner is on his far quieter
1:31.4	range.
1:32.4	That's how he likes it.
1:34.3	William, or Boller Bill as the 59-year-old stocky Liverpool native and longtime seamen is known
1:40.5	due to his love of Boller hats, likes to describe passengers as, a load of bloody monkeys
	...

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