Basic Background
World War I began in 1914 with the assassination of the heir to the Austria-Hungary throne at the hands of a Serbian group. Austria-Hungary then proceeded to declare war on Serbia. From there on everything snowballed.
Bound to Serbia by treaty, Russia entered into the war to fight along side the Serbians. Germany then joined as well, fighting on the side of Austria-Hungary. Later on France and England became involved as France held a treaty with Russia and England with France. In August 1914, the United States declared neutrality in the war, much to the dismay of their allies, the British.
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In 1915, Germany declared they would be conducting unrestricted submarine warfare. Designated as a war zone, the waters around the British Isles were were a danger to any ship that passed through. Germany warned that they would attack any vessel, whether it belonged to a neutral country or not, that they believed to be associated with England with not prior warning. The most significant sinking that would come out of this declaration is that of the RMS Lusitania.
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