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)

Nigeria strikes oil

Nigeria strikes oil

In 1956 commercial quantities of oil were discovered in the Nigerian village Oloibiri.It marked the start of a huge oil industry for Nigeria but came at a cost for villages in the Niger Delta.Chief Su...

4 Okt 20238min

The oilfield that changed Kazakhstan

The oilfield that changed Kazakhstan

In the wake of the USSR breaking up, Kazakhstan was wrestling with the challenges of independence; hyperinflation, the economy collapsing and food shortages.But three-and-a-half kilometres underground...

3 Okt 20239min

The oil crisis of 1973

The oil crisis of 1973

In October 1973, Arab nations protested the American support of Israel in its war against Egypt and Syria by slashing oil production, causing prices to sky rocket.Dr Fadhil Chalabi was deputy secretar...

2 Okt 20238min

The first cat cafe

The first cat cafe

The world's first cat cafe opened in Taipei, Taiwan, in 1998. It started with just five street cats.For the first few months they hardly had any visitors. Then a film crew made a TV programme about th...

29 Sep 202310min

The Lampedusa shipwreck tragedy

The Lampedusa shipwreck tragedy

On 3 October 2013, a fishing boat taking more than 500 migrants from Libya sank 800 metres off the coast of Lampedusa, Italy’s southernmost island.It was one of the worst migrant shipwrecks on the Med...

28 Sep 20239min

Kassandra: The peacekeeping telenovela in Bosnia

Kassandra: The peacekeeping telenovela in Bosnia

In the early 1990s, the soap opera or telenovela craze was sweeping the world. One of the most popular was Kassandra made in Venezuela, about a girl switched at birth and raised in a travelling circus...

27 Sep 202310min

Concorde's first flight

Concorde's first flight

On 26 September 1973, Concorde, the supersonic passenger aircraft, made her first non-stop flight across the Atlantic. The droopy-nosed plane took to the skies for the first time four years earlier. S...

26 Sep 20238min

Vietnam War: Stopping nuclear disaster

Vietnam War: Stopping nuclear disaster

In 1975, during the final days of the Vietnam War, most of the world was unaware that the North Vietnamese were advancing a new breed of nuclear reactor, gifted to the South by the United States gover...

25 Sep 202312min

Populärt inom Samhälle & Kultur

podme-dokumentar
p3-dokumentar
badfluence
en-mork-historia
mardromsgasten
gynning-berg
nemo-moter-en-van
aftonbladet-krim
creepypodden-med-jack-werner
skaringer-nessvold
killradet
p3-historia
hor-har
flashback-forever
p1-dokumentar
spar
svenska-fall
historiska-brott
vad-blir-det-for-mord
kod-katastrof