Sinking of the Lusitania
Witness History7 Maj 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)

Avsnitt(2000)

The founding of Magnum Photos

The founding of Magnum Photos

In the aftermath of World War Two, a group of famous photographers brought their individual styles into one powerful collaboration, over a celebratory bottle of champagne. On 22 May 1947 the agency, M...

22 Maj 202510min

Martín Chambi: Peru's pioneering documentary photographer

Martín Chambi: Peru's pioneering documentary photographer

Martín Chambi is regarded as one of the most important indigenous Peruvian photographers of the 20th century. Famous for his black and white images of local Andean people and the surrounding countrysi...

21 Maj 202510min

Nigerian photographer’s iconic 'Hairstyles' series

Nigerian photographer’s iconic 'Hairstyles' series

J. D. 'Okhai Ojeikere, who was known as Nigeria’s top photographer, started documenting women’s hairstyles in 1968. He built up a portfolio of around 2,000 negatives revealing the elaborate ways Afric...

20 Maj 202510min

Lunch atop a Skyscraper

Lunch atop a Skyscraper

In 1932, a photo was taken showing 11 New York ironworkers casually eating their lunch while sitting on a steel beam at the top of a skyscraper. No safety harnesses, no helmets. Their legs dangled fre...

19 Maj 202510min

Sweden’s shocking sugar experiment

Sweden’s shocking sugar experiment

In the 1940s, some vulnerable Swedish hospital patients were fed large amounts of sugary sweets as part of an experiment to see what it would do to their teeth. Researchers considered the study a succ...

16 Maj 20259min

Mexico’s soda tax: Confronting soft drink giants

Mexico’s soda tax: Confronting soft drink giants

In 2013, Mexico’s government approved a tax on sugary soft drinks. The country has one of the highest rates of fizzy drink consumption in the world. Some rural homes do not have access to safe drinkin...

15 Maj 202510min

The founding of the Warsaw Pact

The founding of the Warsaw Pact

On 14 May 1955, the leader of the Soviet Union and leaders from seven European countries met to sign the Warsaw Pact. In the years following World War Two, the Soviet Union and the United States start...

14 Maj 202510min

Tesla and Edison: Electricity rivals

Tesla and Edison: Electricity rivals

By 1915, the two great rivals, Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison, had brought electricity to the world. It was reported that they were set to share the Nobel Prize for Physics, but it never happened. In ...

13 Maj 202510min

Populärt inom Samhälle & Kultur

en-mork-historia
podme-dokumentar
mardromsgasten
p3-dokumentar
badfluence
skaringer-nessvold
nemo-moter-en-van
killradet
spar
creepypodden-med-jack-werner
flashback-forever
hor-har
vad-blir-det-for-mord
rattsfallen
rss-brottsutredarna
svenska-fall
rss-mer-an-bara-morsa
aftonbladet-daily
gynning-berg
p1-dokumentar