Re: Why did the US declare war on Germany?

"David Thornley" <thornley@xxxxxxxx> ha scritto nel messaggio
news:dfsbu9$ntj$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> In article <dfqi9b$clf$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
> Michele Armellini <don'tspam.miarmel@xxxxxx> wrote:
> >"Cub Driver" <warbird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> ha scritto nel messaggio
> >news:dfpml8$ktr$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

earwitnesses supposedly heard a mighty explosion, which those
> >> unsympathetic to the Allied cause interpreted to be proof that the
> >> ship was secretly carrying munitions to Britain, therefore Lusitania
> >> was fair game.
> >
> >Of course it was not. You just don't know the applicable international
laws,
> >evidently.
> >
> Except that the international law in this matter was changed by some
> sort of weird consensus.

That's a possible way of putting it, yes.

The problem of interpreting the "everybody did that" justification that took
place in 1945 as a change in the law is that it came _a posteriori_. Indeed,
Doenitz was not convicted at Nuremberg for waging unrestricted submarine
warfare.
This, however, doesn't change the fact that when he, and others, began doing
that, they did not _know_ that the law would change. What they were doing
was simply breaking the law.

Moreover, what the airman is suggesting is that in 1939, the law was already
that of 1945, i.e., that at the start of the war, a combatant could sink a
neutral merchant ship on sight "because it was carrying war supplies for the
enemy". And that is patently wrong, even taking into account the evolution
you correctly described.

Also note that there are several minor differences in the behavior of the
various combatants who carried out submarine warfare against the enemy's
merchant traffic.
--

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