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Unrestricted submarine warfare is a type of naval warfare in which submarines sink merchant ships such as freighters and tankers without warning. The use of unrestricted submarine warfare has had significant impacts on international relations in regards to both the First World War and the Second World War .
The campaign was abandoned on 1 September 1915 following American protests after the sinking of the liners Lusitania and Arabic, in which a number of US citizens were killed. [1] By 1916 there had been no major breakthrough in the war on land or sea and arguments were made by the military to resume unrestricted submarine warfare.
1916 was a year of political struggles between opponents and proponents of unrestricted submarine warfare. Reinhard Scheer became the commander of the High Seas Fleet, and as an effort to "blackmail" command into adopting unrestricted submarine warfare, refused to use his submarines in any sort of limited commerce raiding campaign. [23]
The U-boat campaign from 1914 to 1918 was the World War I naval campaign fought by German U-boats against the trade routes of the Allies, largely in the seas around the British Isles and in the Mediterranean, as part of a mutual blockade between the German Empire and the United Kingdom.
The Germans had anticipated that unrestricted submarine warfare would lead to war and thus tried to line up new allies ahead of the announcement, especially Mexico. Arthur Zimmermann, the German foreign minister, sent the Zimmermann Telegram to Mexico on January 16, 1917.
On 31 January 1917, it was announced to the German Reichstag that unrestricted submarine warfare would resume the next day, 1 February. [1] The renewed U-boat campaign was initially a great success; nearly 500,000 tons of shipping being sunk in both February and March, and 860,000 tons in April, when Britain's reserve of wheat fell to 6 weeks ...
At the end of January 1917 the German Government announced it would now conduct full unrestricted submarine warfare, deliberately breaking its prior promises. Once again, Woodrow Wilson was furious and on 6 April 1917 the United States Congress followed Wilson's request to declare war on Germany.
At the beginning of the year, the German High Command had begun to resume unrestricted submarine warfare. By April, losses had increased to 545,282 tonnes of cargo. The Admiralty estimated that at this level, the war would end in defeat for Great Britain by November. To avert this danger, the convoy system was introduced in the same month. By ...