7 May in military history: Sinking of the Lusitania, 1915

In February 1915 Germany declared the waters around Great Britain and Ireland a war zone in which its submarines would attack enemy merchant ships, without always warning those aboard. The Cunard liner Lusitania left New York for Liverpool on 1 May 1915 with close to 2,000 people on board; Royal Museums Greenwich counts 1,959.¹

On the afternoon of 7 May, off the Old Head of Kinsale on the south coast of Ireland, the German submarine U-20 torpedoed her. The Naval History and Heritage Command puts the ship 11 miles south of the headland, Royal Museums Greenwich about 15 miles. A second explosion followed, and the liner went down in less than 20 minutes; the Navy's historians give 18. The dead numbered 1,198, among them 128 Americans.²

Germany claimed that the ship was carrying war material, which the British denied; there was in fact ammunition on board. Royal Museums Greenwich says the second explosion has never been fully explained, and the Library of Congress calls the question of what she carried, and what caused the damage, an ongoing controversy.³

Outrage, but not yet war

In the neutral United States the sinking turned public opinion against Germany. President Woodrow Wilson answered with diplomacy, not war: on 13 May the State Department sent Berlin a note demanding disavowal, reparation and assurances.⁴

The United States declared war on Germany only in April 1917, after Germany had resumed unrestricted submarine warfare. Royal Museums Greenwich says the Lusitania played a role in bringing the United States into the war, and the Library of Congress that it set the stage for American entry.⁵

7 May 1104 · 922 years ago

Harran, 1104

Also on 7 May, in 1104, the Franks of Edessa and Antioch were defeated near Harran in Upper Mesopotamia. Two emirs, Chökürmish of Mosul and Sokman ibn Artuk of Mardin, had set their quarrel aside and joined forces against them. Bohemond of Antioch and his nephew Tancred joined Count Baldwin of Edessa and his vassal Joscelin, and the Franks laid siege to Harran.⁶

When the emirs' army came up, the Franks went out to meet it. Fink and Ibn al-Athir describe a pretended flight that drew the Franks on, for three days in Fink's account and about two parasangs in Ibn al-Athir's. The Damascus chronicler Ibn al-Qalanisi dates the battle to 9 Sha'ban, which his translator H. A. R. Gibb gives as 7 May; the historian Harold S. Fink gives 7 May 1104. The chroniclers place the fight in different spots: Ibn al-Athir on the banks of the Balikh, Fulcher of Chartres near Racha, and Matthew of Edessa at Oshut, two days' march from Harran.⁷

Baldwin and Joscelin were taken prisoner. Bohemond and Tancred escaped with a small following. The chroniclers' figures for the dead do not agree: Ibn al-Athir puts the Frankish loss in the campaign at about 12,000 men, while Matthew writes of the corpses of more than 30,000 Christians.⁸

A limit in the east

Chökürmish had Baldwin taken out of Sokman's tent and carried him off to Mosul, while Sokman held Joscelin. Bohemond left Tancred in charge of Edessa and went west to raise new forces. Baldwin, the captive count, later became king of Jerusalem.⁹

Ibn al-Qalanisi called the battle "a great and unexampled victory for the Muslims; it discouraged the Franks, diminished their numbers and broke their power of offence". Fink's verdict: "As in the time of Crassus it put a limit to Latin conquests eastward. It ended forever any chance the Franks might have had to penetrate Iraq". For a later battle of the crusades, see our article on the Battle of Hattin.¹⁰