What physicaly happened to the ship was that when the Titanic hit the iceberg, the blow had buckled her plates, it didn't tear open the side of the ship as people once thought.
There are many reasons that caused the loss of so many lives on the night of April 14, 1912, besides what physically happened. Starting with, the over confindence of the engineers and the expectations of society due to the media. If all the standard procedures would have been followed then the sinking of the Titanic could have been prevented. Fundamental, the Ship was designed with vertical compartment as compared to the standard horizontal compartments. Between each compartment there were water tight doors that if left locked, would stop the spread of water. The ship was designed to still be able to sail even if two of the compartments are flooded. The crew members left these doors open because the press had convienced them that the ship was unsinkable.
If the captain was using all the necassary precautions then they wouldn't have been going so fast, or would have taken a safer route then through a field of icebergs. All these lives could have been saved if only society had not thought that it had conquered nature.