Uncle Sam weighs the lives lost in the German sinking of the Lusitania (and other ships, as seen on the horizon) to his cash flow from selling weapons and other supplies to the combatants, particularly the allies. The moneybags have tipped the scales. A 1916 postcard by Em. Dupuis.
A l'ombre, de la LibertéIn the Shadow of LivertyOn the coffin and the ship in the distance, 'Lusitania'
"From February 1, 1917, sea traffic will be stopped with every available weapon and without further notice in the following blockade zones around Great Britain, France, Italy and in the Eastern Mediterranean:[Footnote:] Briefly summarized, the following paragraphs describe a complete enclosure or blockade of Britain and adjacent isles, France, Belgium, Italy and their North African possessions, except for one small space on the French Mediterranean coast near the Spanish border."
Beginning of a memorandum included with a letter delivered to the United States Secretary of State by German Ambassador von Bernstorff, Washington, D.C., January 31, 1917 announcing the commencing of unrestricted submarine warfare effective in a few hours, on February 1. The policy was opposed by German Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg who argued that it would bring the United States into the war. The campaign was supported by Kaiser Wilhelm, German Generals Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff, and Admiral Henning von Holtzendorff, Chief of Germany's Naval General Staff, all of whom argued that America would not react, or if it did, it would be too late to prevent the starving of Britain or its intervention would prove ineffectual.
The Great Events of the Great War in Seven Volumes by Charles F. Horne, Vol. V, 1917, p. 6, copyright © 1920 by The National Alumnia, publisher: The National Alumni, publication date: 1920
1917-01-31, 1917, January, unrestricted submarine warfare, submarine warfare, submarine, Bernstorff, von Bernstorff, neutral United States
