Lusitania Lusitania Lusitania (; ; ) or Hispania Lusitana was an ancient Iberian Roman province located where modern Portugal (south of the Douro river) and part of western Spain (the present autonomous community of Extremadura and a part of the province of Salamanca) lie. It was named after the Lusitani or Lusitanian people (an Indo-European people). Its capital was "Emerita Augusta" (currently Mérida, Spain), and it was initially part of the Roman Republic province of Hispania Ulterior, before becoming a province of its own in the Roman Empire. Romans first came to the territory around the mid-2nd century BC. A war
RMS Lusitania accused of breaching the internationally recognised Cruiser Rules. It had become more dangerous for submarines to give warning with the British introduction of Q-ships in 1915 with concealed deck guns. ("Lusitania" had been fitted with 6-inch gun mounts in 1913, although she was unarmed at the time of her sinking.) The Germans justified treating "Lusitania" as a naval vessel because she was carrying hundreds of tons of war munitions, therefore making her a legitimate military target, and argued that British merchant ships had violated the Cruiser Rules from the very beginning of the war. The Cruiser Rules were obsolete by