Sinking of the Lusitania
Witness History7 Mai 2025

Sinking of the Lusitania

On 7 May 1915, the British ocean liner, the Lusitania, was sunk by a German submarine off the Irish coast, as it sailed from New York to Liverpool.

Thousands of passengers were onboard and 1,200 people died.

The attack helped turn American opinion against Germany.

In 2015, Alex Last used BBC archives to tell the story.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.

(Photo: Sinking of the Lusitania. Credit: Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

Episoder(2000)

The Rose Revolution in Georgia

The Rose Revolution in Georgia

In November 2003, the people of Georgia ousted veteran president Eduard Shevardnadze. Protestors stormed the parliament building in the capital Tbilisi, holding flowers in their hands.It would become ...

15 Okt 202410min

The Sunflower Movement

The Sunflower Movement

Between 18 March and 10 April 2014, more than 500,000 people in Taipei, Taiwan, protested against a new trade deal with China.It was one of the largest social movements in Taiwanese history.Rachel Nay...

14 Okt 20249min

'Robocops’ in the Democratic Republic of Congo

'Robocops’ in the Democratic Republic of Congo

After the death of her brother, engineer Thérèse Izay Kirongozi got to work handmaking huge robots to direct traffic and save lives. In 2013 they were installed on the streets of Kinshasa, in the Demo...

11 Okt 202410min

How the QR code was invented

How the QR code was invented

In 1994, bar codes were in widespread use in businesses around the world, but the Japanese car component company, Denso Wave, wanted something quicker.So they asked one of their engineers, Masahiro Ha...

10 Okt 202410min

The world's first general purpose electronic computer

The world's first general purpose electronic computer

In 1946, one of the world’s first electronic computers was unveiled in Philadelphia, in the USA. It was called the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, or ENIAC, and was initially designed to...

9 Okt 20249min

WABOT-1: The first humanoid robot

WABOT-1: The first humanoid robot

Scientists at Waseda University in Japan built the world's first humanoid robot in 1973. They called it the 'WABOT', the Waseda robot. It could see, walk and even talk. It was a huge leap forward in t...

8 Okt 20249min

Eliza: When chatbots started

Eliza: When chatbots started

Eliza is the name of a 1966 invention by German born scientist, Joseph Weizenbaum, that is said to be the first chatbot.Eliza worked by someone typing their feelings into a computer keyboard, and then...

7 Okt 202410min

The longest plane hijacking in Latin America

The longest plane hijacking in Latin America

In 1973, two men pretending to be Colombian guerrillas took a plane and flew across Latin America for 60 hours. It was the longest hijacking of an aircraft in the region.The SAM Airlines plane stopped...

4 Okt 20249min

Populært innen Samfunn

rss-spartsklubben
giver-og-gjengen-vg
alt-fortalt
aftenpodden-usa
aftenpodden
konspirasjonspodden
rss-nesten-hele-uka-med-lepperod
popradet
rss-henlagt-andy-larsgaard
wolfgang-wee-uncut
grenselos
fladseth
min-barneoppdragelse
frokostshowet-pa-p5
rss-dannet-uten-piano
rss-dette-ma-aldri-skje-igjen
synnve-og-vanessa
rss-frekvens-med-anine-olsen
krisemoter
relasjonspodden-med-dora-thorhallsdottir-kjersti-idem