Dispute in Congress over armed merchant ships

A British chronology of the war records under 21 February 1916 that the German government informed the United States that merchant ships armed “for defence” would henceforth be regarded as cruisers. The published documents of American diplomacy contain no separate German note of that day. Berlin had already announced its position on 10 February, and in the following two weeks merely explained and confirmed it. The chronology entry is best understood as a summary of those weeks, in which the German decision became a fact and a political crisis came to a head in Washington.

An order for the commanders

From the outset the Germans used the formula that armed enemy ships would be treated as auxiliary cruisers, that is, as warships that need not be warned before an attack. According to the German official history of the naval war, the imperial order on the matter was issued on 11 February. It instructed commanders to destroy “by all means” enemy merchant ships armed with guns and was to take effect from 29 February. At the same time a dispute was going on within the German leadership over whether to go further and resume unrestricted submarine warfare. Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz and the chief of the General Staff, Erich von Falkenhayn, pressed for this, while the Chancellor, Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg, feared war with the United States.

The Lusitania in suspense again

The German declaration came at the worst possible moment. On 16 February the ambassador, Johann Heinrich von Bernstorff, handed the Secretary of State, Robert Lansing, a letter in which the German government expressed its profound regret at the death of Americans on the Lusitania, acknowledged its liability and agreed to pay an indemnity. After nine months of dispute this was almost everything the Americans had demanded. A day later, however, Lansing told Bernstorff that the letter would be acceptable were it not for the new policy towards armed ships. The German assurances for the future, which the Americans had considered settled, were once again in question. Bernstorff asked whether postponing the new orders by at least a month would help. Lansing replied that it might ease the tension. That same day he cabled the ambassador in Berlin that the German decree had “completely upset” the negotiations.

Bernstorff did not give way on principle. On 19 February he sent Lansing a copy of a secret British instruction found on the liner Appam, captured in January by the raider Möwe. The instruction, of May 1915, said plainly that any submarine approaching a merchant ship could be treated as hostile, and that a ship being chased should, if necessary, turn her bow straight at the submarine. For the Germans this was further proof that British merchant ships were not defenceless traders.

Unease in Congress

In Washington unease was growing. On 15 February Lansing declared that the government did not intend to warn Americans against travelling on ships armed for defence, and that it would hold Germany responsible for the death of citizens on such a ship. Many congressmen, especially from the governing Democratic Party, concluded that the right of a few travellers to sail on a British liner was not worth the risk of war. On 21 February the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, William J. Stone, and other congressional leaders met President Woodrow Wilson at the White House. Wilson did not give way. According to the participants’ accounts, he declared that if Germany sank a ship with Americans on board, he would break off diplomatic relations with it. The meeting only heightened the fears of the opponents of war. A day later Congressman Jeff McLemore introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives calling on Americans to avoid armed ships.

On 24 February Wilson replied to Stone in a letter that was published in the press: he would not consent to “any abridgement of the rights of American citizens”. That same day the Germans softened their order. According to the German official history, submarines were, until further notice, to spare enemy passenger ships, even armed ones. Cargo ships with guns on board could be attacked without warning from 29 February.