On May 7, 1915, the Lusitania was sunk off the southern coast of Ireland by a German U-boat, the U-20. She exploded and sank in eighteen minutes, taking with her some twelve hundred passengers and crew. Besides hastening the United States' entry into World War I, the sinking of the Lusitania became a pivotal moment in history and the repercussions of this sinking affected Germany, the United States, Britain, and Europe, far into the 20th century.
