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624 General History of Europe 1129. The Germans extend the Zone of Marine War. This was regarded by the Germans as an obvious attempt "through starvation to doom an entire nation to destruction." The German government thereupon declared that the waters around England should be regarded as within the zone of war, that within this zone all enemy merchant vessels would be sunk, whether it were possible to save the passengers and crews or not. Neutrals were warned that they would be in great danger if they entered the zone. In former days it was possible for a man-of-war to hold up a vessel, and if the cargo was found to be contraband, to capture or sink the vessel after taking off the people on board. But the submarine had no room for extra persons, and the Germans found it much more convenient to torpedo vessels without even the warning necessary to enable the passengers and crew to take to the lifeboats. 1130. The Sinking of the Lusitania. In February, 1915, Ger- man submarines began to sink not only enemy vessels but neutral ones as well, sometimes giving the people on board warning, but often not. The most terrible example of the ruthlessness of the U-boats was the sinking, without warning, of the great liner Lusitania, May 7, 1915, involving the loss of nearly 1200 men, women, and children, including over a hundred American citizens. The Germans hailed this as a heroic deed. They claimed that the vessel was armed and laden with shells, and that the Americans had no business to be on it, since a notice in the New York papers had warned them against traveling on the fated boat. But after careful investigation an American court decided that the vessel was not armed and did not carry any explosives. This act aroused the greatest horror and indignation not only in England and the United States but throughout the rest of the world. 1131. The British Drive (1915). On the Western Front the English forces had steadily increased, until, by the end of Sep- tember, 1915, Sir John French had a million men under his com- mand. The English had also been very busy producing arms and munitions of war, in which they had been sadly deficient at the opening of the war, and they had greatly added to their supplies