Good evening ladies and gentlemen,. I serve as the president here that we are delighted to welcome you to the very energizing conversation real robber think full to the memorial or the museum. Welcome were glad youre here again were glad you took time to come back and spend time in the park the museum was designated by congress as a museum for world war war memorial that was only given that on your december last year 2014. So we are delighted to be the United StatesNational Museum and memorial it carries with it all the prestige that congress has taken action to pass something. [laughter] so that his reason jews celebrate of the distinguishing action of 2014 of the bipartisan bill. Pleased to welcome the English Speaking union to be grateful for the support of this project i am especially pleased flow of the cosponsors of the 60kilometer bike ride on sunday where we were having a drink one of the students asked if i spoke british in australia. [laughter] the world was forever changed to have that injuring impact when is of legacy of how they die or who is killed in the summer of 19,581st year of role for one for those who were targeted and killed were changed. To identify three pivotal events with a new era of warfare said targeting of of a merchant ship with three nations on board that is often display in the bombing of london. The rules changed and they are still fluid to this very day. Donna will deliver her presentation after their brief q when day period and also of cspan is building this plays be aware there filming. Board and raised in london to study history at Oxford University where she became involved in journalism. She was of freelance writer of the newspapers and magazines with reviewed books for other publications including the wall street journal and Los Angeles Times also with the bbc and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and documentarys. Ladies and gentlemen, please jury may to welcome donna. [applause] hq very much for those kind words. It is a great honor and privilege to be here this evening. In the spring of 1915 of the First World War that were 38 pivotal events that signal a change of warfare that is why i would like to discuss with you this evening. Tour talk about this we need to route go back to before. Floor when i call a higher form of killing. With the First World War attempts were made as conference is to regulate the conduct of a civilized nation. No one busher of those International Conventions could succeed. With Jackie Fisher one of those of Technical Development and certainly was not convinced that all nations want peace and he said you might as well talk about violence and a moderation where the picture itself of the arms race. But with history and american counterparts and the second conference from civilian areas with poison weapons including incorporating gases. The image a the al lusitania with Jackie Fisher and the admiral to attack merchant ships in from the time of henry teeeight despite the arguments that they were impractical with the torpedo bearing submarines what is the effect of this . New technology of the submarine to the archaic prove. To say that day prohibited those attacks on any merchant vessels for those to be searched and only then could they be sunk but dash you know the best efforts to shake those european powers in the arms race early august 1914 with the assassination with the archduke prince ferdinand taken just minutes before the assassination. So breaking out between the german and hon period empires on the one hand and russia on the other. Britain joined earlier on the russian side following germanys invasion fe flagrant disregard of international law. The german chancellor argued necessity knows no lot is. But typically it is hypocritical of what he calls a scrap of paper. Which those powers had belgian neutrality. But i think the words are important in for what could occur throw a the war. End expedience the. As you know to be in camps in the west with territory. However by the end of the year to stabilize the position. To have a line running 460 rials from switzerland to the north sea. The discussion because they needed to achieve that. So before they could fully succeed so with that economic potential. So what we see happening poison gas and the use of the torpedo and is considered the new longerrange sudbury and which was the product of engineering already but he fell to disrupt the allies handed particular the line of communication. According to one german officer for the employment of submarines with warfare to argue that he says the shipping trade should cease. We have something extremely significant germany announcing a campaign of unrestricted submarine warfare as jury declared so of a statement in the u. K. Followed by the United States president Woodrow Wilson and secretary of state William Jennings bryant and more of a little later on. By march 1950 with the british port of liverpool to attack the lender of this titania and lusitania. With the largest and most luxurious ship but it was in wartime. So in that success will to bomb london so on either side to have any capability the following is that population for the war to be continued and if what we do is frightful to do take active in the british in the mutual press for jurys actions however those officers failed to convict the kaiser. Why . Because the feelings were highly ambivalent. And with those policies with those landmarks for what we see here also those between morality and expediency. And the indiscriminate building from women and children. Fyi and could set fire then to be in a small way something powerful. Battle that lies should be situated on the city. But it was less expensive. With the battlefield use because it was a new option. As a weapon before the war began but that military use by this gentleman here, a german chemist because there is the major explosion of says coworkers. Of not only casualtys of these psychological warfare. But 1815 she had a weapon that he couldnt demonstrate to the high command. From the military statement stalemate seen by this gentleman here churchill, to be demanding to attack the german ally. Of the political ahead of admiralty they were responsible both against submarines and aerial bombardment. So the submarines would take very few measures to but what about air attacks . Will those combustible gas with of possibility with the blackout but beyond that there was little that he could do those that could scarcely reached a altitudes in the morning of 22nd of april at half past five with those german engineers with 6,000 cylinders racing 168 tons to the french and canadian churches that causes death by a asphyxiation. To be supervised during war time. With a country but in peacetime and known to the world. To the day gap and then to fail to take a vantage of a breach but a french general describes those to give them all the air that they could get. And in it a horrible sight over the next few days have german troops watching to be horrified with the allied soldiers to improvise as rudimentary but one soldier described how felt as he was gasping and gasping for breath. That i was wounded in my mind. And then to reply to a request of his commander in the field of the rebels to defeat the germans. To agree to the production but the german high command to build the much larger supplies of and if they had a largescale attack the bush have won the war we have the german submarine to leave the north face. The same day rehab said German Embassy in washington within to follow a the morning. And then to sit there to see something strange. With the american passengers in the others to juxtapose of the of lusitania that very afternoon. Just a lot gets those german measures say anybody intending to fail with allies but most of them from vanderbilt and trusted from boston from the atlantic threatened to attack by the german uboats. But as well as her passengers and then the many cases then it it begins to captain William Turner from the british admiralty but it is about to enter. But they slipped into the private room and then the next day than the ship was just off the tip of ireland but then to attend that afternoon had the of this stadia in his sights. They saw the white streaks across the surface of the water he said it was like trying on the ocean with the piece of chalk. It was the torpedo of course, the passengers said there was a slight shock through the deck then the explosion but i the secondary and tertiary experience. Just 88 minutes later but then to drop into the water. And then to describe the valiant rescue attempts when he heard a womans voice please wont you help the you know, that i cannot swim . She had half of a smile on her face and was chewing gum. He pulled her to safety but there was another survivor that drew up alongside from queenstown. They were stacked among the coils of rope on the walls. Of the 1900 people had been aboard the ship 1198 have died including 128 citizens of the mutual United States and the children. The German Government hailed for syncing as to quote from the german newspaper the triumph of the kurdish and superior technology. It was the crown prince who telegraphed his father from the western front to tell him of the great joy among the troops at the news. It was here in the 17th century courthouse just up the coast we have the irish coroner reporting the verdict of the willful murder of the in the deaths of the victims. He received an urgent message from the british admiralty that was ordering him to holt to request for revealing the secrets. They had done more to protect the lusitania. But theres also Something Else at work. Fisher and churchill feared incorrectly as it later turned out that the large quantities of the american rifle in the inanition being imported into ships cargo might have exploded at the moment that torpedo hit hastening the ships and. Had this been true if would have lost some of the propaganda. She had the world sympathy. They didnt want anything to be said that would undermine that. As a result they begin orchestrating a coverup to deceive the end of a double Public Inquiry that the new would be held. But meanwhile, in germany, we have this lady here, the wife of fritz, herself a chemist quarreling with her husband who just returned to berlin about the morality of his use of poison gas. In undertaking this may come three weeks after the first gas attack, we knew that she was so distressed that she took her husbands service revolver, went into the garden of the balloons over and shot herself. The same day haber nearly promoted the leftist plan for the prompt to continue and to refine the use of chlorine gas to be used as a weapon against the russians. But she soon returned to berlin to oversee work. But its now that we move on to the bombing campaign. In 1915 they finally permitted the bombing of london. The sports desk the next day when the 40 days after the first gas attack, 20 for since the lusitania sank and on the 303rd day of the First World War 530 feet long by 60 feet in diameter, and filled with over a million cubic feet of gas took off to attack london. One of them had to turn back and they flew on a limited top speed of just over 60 miles per hour. Around 11 p. M. His ship was over the state on which he dropped the first bomb ever to fall on the city. Here we have that picture on the first rate of london. Seven people were killed including an 8yearold boy. His words here he said my finger hovered on the button that electrically operated the bombing operators. Then i pressed it and we waited. Then it seemed to pass before the song of the engines rose a shadow and cascade of sparks and a bellow of incandescent smoke drifted slowly to reveal the raging fire on the face of the wounded city. The london inquest learned how the couple had been trapped by fire in the bedroom. They were discovered dead dealing by their bed as if in prayer the husbands arm around his wife. The verdict on those killed was willful murder of the sinking of the lusitania three weeks earlier. In the United States we have the government under president wilson by now arguing about just how far to press the protests to germany about the loss of the lusitania and demand that they cease the campaign of unrestricted submarine warfare. Most u. S. Public opinions have been massively hostile. It was before the loss of the lusitania and one day in the cabinet he said to his colleagues. He got a very dusty response for the president. He went home that weekend to think things over and over the weekend ended he resigned knowing that it would be the end of his political career that he would be reviled and he was current. This was typical of the sort of cartoons that appeared in the american press. What we are seeing is applauding the reasons for resigning. But meanwhile thats just this time in london in the admiralty officials were preparing their evidence to put before the official inquiry to the sinking. They were selecting and shaping the evidence. For a while they considered scapegoating that then they had the idea of suggesting suggesting what had caused the lusitania to sink so fast was that she had been sunk by two torpedoes not a single one that they knew perfectly well from the german messages have actually been fired. Accordingly, they selected witnesses prepared to back up the story. And the end. Self placed the blame on germany whose submarine concluded had fired the two were more torpedoes that had hit the ship and theres a copy in this museum of the inquirys conclusions. But meanwhile, while it had been sitting to the public in london had nervously been speculating about the possibility of another and the fears were proven correct on the 17th of august when they dropped bombs and then over london before returning unscathed this time hitting the heart of the city that some of you may know. It unsettled london even further. Observers noted how will they called a zeppelin whether the dark finite, london theaters were reporting much smaller audiences. An american reporter who was in london described one. He said among the stars it is dull yellow the color of the harvest moon the fingers and searchlights reaching up from the city touching all sides of the deaf messenger with the white tip. Great beaning shakes the city. It is the sound of the bombs falling, and another onlooker reported seeing a streak of fire shooting down straight at me. He said i stared at it hardly comprehending. The bomb struck the restaurant just a few yards away then was burning in the road. 22 people were killed and the next day they demonstrated out in the streets for better protection. But what about gas . On the 25th of september, the british who had at first command germanys use just five months previously made their own military use during the battle. The attack failed. The wind changed and blew a lot of the gas back over the british troops. The wrong turning piece had been sent with 5,000 cylinders of corine so that the contents could not be released. Even worse, they excluded some of the cylinders causing yet more damaging gas cheesecake to the british lines. In fact as 1915 through to a close, none of the technologies have a decisive effect. Then in spring of 1916 it was getting into the u. S. Demand that the germany seized the campaign. They resigned in protest but the admiral wrote a frank and counseling letter and this is what he said you are the one german sailor that understands the war. Killed were enemy without kilgore enemy without being killed herself. He said i dont blame you for the submarine business. I would have done the same myself from yours until hell freezes. However, germany of course returned against the Merchant Shipping later that year. President wilson again protested. This time refusing to budge and in the spring of 1917 the United States declared war joining the allies. But although only two years have passed, we can see how potent the memory still was. This is a recruitment poster which there is a copy of the museum here. If you look at the original you will see that single word superimposed in blood red over the image of a drowning lusitania passenger. In the new york times, news correspondents reported american troops advancing into battle shouting remember the lusitania and one contemporary commentator said that although in 1915 the lusitania failed to deliver 200 american citizens safely to liverpool that in 1917 and 1918, herb roasted delivered 2 million american troops to the western front. What is happening now with poison gas . All participants continued to use it for the remainder of the war either released from cylinders or as gas filled artillery shells. We knew that at the conclusion that stocks of poison gases were much larger than the german ones. Fritz harber continued to lead with mustard gas that caused skin burns as well as injuring eyes and lungs. Scottish soldiers were affected because they refuse to wear anything other than celts on their lower bodies. But he argued that even after the end of the First World War ii quote the use of gas was a way of saving countless lives if it meant it could be brought to an end sooner. Indeed, he said it was full of killing, the title of my book. The indiscriminate bombing of london continued. Eventually the performance was overtaken by that of british fighter planes and germany turned to these. The attacks led to the overstretching of the Emergency Services to panic among the citys inhabitants and many deaths including 18 children when the school at the east and took a direct hit. But whatever the consequences of what are the consequences of all of this after the war ended . After world war i disarmament conference is reaffirmed the ban on the use of gas but not on research or stockpiling it. This was in the 1925 credit and they also bombed the civilian areas and the sinking without warning of Merchant Shipping. But of course as we go through the 1930s, we see these provisions challenged. 1936 i pushes this is an awful image to show you. They used mustard gas in the conquest. Japan did the same in the invasion of china. Worried about germany like italy might in spite of having ratified the particle might be prepared to use gas in any future conflic