Germany's prediction 🐱
Back in 1915, a submerged German U-boat had been responsible for sinking the ocean liner Lusitania, drowning 1198 passengers, including 128 US civilians. The loss of the Lusitania would have drawn America into the war, were it not for Germany's reassurances that henceforth U-boats would surface before attacking, a restriction that was intended to avoid accidental attacks on civilian ships.
However, on 9 January 1917, Zimmermann attended a momentous meeting at the German castle of Pless, where the Supreme High Command was trying to persuade the Kaiser that it was time to renege on their promise, and embark on a course of unrestricted submarine warfare.
German commanders knew that thier U-boats were almost vulnerable if they launched their torpedoes while remaining submerged, and they believed that this would prove to be the decisive factor in determining the outcome of the war. Germany had been constructing a fleet of two hundred U-boats, and the Supreme High Command argued that unrestricted U-boat aggression would cut off Britain's supply lines and starve it into submission within six months.
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