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8 August to 11 November 1918: The Hundred Days. Canadians played a key role in the series of battles that formed the Hundred Days campaign. With the infantry and artillery working in a combined arms system, along with tactical airpower, machine-guns, mortars, chemical weapons, and armoured vehicles, the German armies were driven back and defeated.
- Who Fought
The war started in Europe, but soon spread throughout most...
- Legacy
The Cost of Canada’s War. Bookmark this page. Print;...
- Recruitment and Conscription
War Weariness and Declining Enlistment. The early strength...
- Canada Enters The War
Canada’s War. In 1914, Canada was a self-governing dominion...
- Land Battles
He painted this enormous work of art, with the canvas 371.5...
- Maps
Canada and the First World War. Introduction; History;...
- Objects and Photos
Objects and Photos - Key Canadian Events - Canada and the...
- Credits
Credits - Key Canadian Events - Canada and the First World...
- Who Fought
- June 28, 1914. First World War Timeline. Franz Ferdinand Assassinated. Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip assassinated Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, in Sarajevo, setting off a chain of events leading to the First World War.
- August 04, 1914. First World War Timeline. McBride Purchases Submarines. Knowing that war was about to break out and fearing attack by German warships, Premier Richard McBride authorized spending $1.1 million for 2 submarines that had been built in Seattle for the Chilean navy.
- August 04, 1914. First World War Timeline. Canada and Newfoundland Enter the First World War. After Britain’s ultimatum to Germany to withdraw its army from Belgium expires at midnight on the third, the British government declares war on Germany the next day.
- August 18, 1914. First World War Timeline. First Internment Camp for “Enemy Aliens” The first internment camp for “enemy aliens,” meaning people residing in Canada who were born in enemy countries, opened in Fort Henry, ON.
- Going to War
- War and The Economy
- Recruitment at Home
- The Canadian Expeditionary Force
- Other Canadian Efforts
- Vimy and Passchendaele
- Borden and Conscription
- The Final Phase
The Canadian Parliamentdidn't choose to go to war in 1914. The country's foreign affairs were guided in London. So when Britain's ultimatum to Germany to withdraw its army from Belgium expired on 4 August 1914, the British Empire, including Canada, was at war, allied with Serbia, Russia, and France against the German and Austro-Hungarian empires. T...
At first the war hurt a troubled economy, increasing unemployment and making it hard for Canada's new, debt-ridden transcontinental railways, the Canadian Northern and the Grand Trunk Pacific, to find credit. By 1915, however, military spending equaled the entire government expenditure of 1913. Minister of Finance Thomas White opposed raising taxes...
Unemployed workers flocked to enlist in 1914–15. Recruiting, handled by prewar militia regiments and by civic organizations, cost the government nothing. By the end of 1914 the target for the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) was 50,000; by summer 1915 it was 150,000. During a visit to England that summer, Prime Minister Bordenwas shocked with the...
Canadians in the CEF became part of the British army. As minister of militia, Sam Hughes insisted on choosing the officers and on retaining the Canadian-made Ross rifle. Since the rifle jammed easily and since some of Hughes' choices were incompetent cronies, the Canadian military had serious deficiencies. A recruiting system based on forming hundr...
While most Canadians served with the Canadian Corps or with a separate Canadian cavalry brigade on the Western Front, Canadians could be found almost everywhere in the Allied war effort. Young Canadians had trained (initially at their own expense) to become pilots in the British flying services. In 1917 the Royal Flying Corps opened schools in Cana...
British and French strategists deplored diversions from the main effort against the bulk of the German forces on the European Western Front. It was there, they said, that war must be waged. A battle-hardened Canadian Corps was a major instrument in this war of attrition (see Canadian Command during the Great War). Its skill and training were tested...
By 1916, even the patriotic leagues had confessed the failure of voluntary recruiting. Business leaders, Protestants, and English-speaking Catholics such as Bishop Michael Fallon grew critical of French Canada. Faced with a growing demand for conscription, the Borden government compromised in August 1916 with a program of national registration. A p...
In March 1918, disaster fell upon the Allies. German armies, moved from the Eastern to the Western Front after Russia's collapse in 1917, smashed through British lines. The Fifth British Army was destroyed. In Canada, anti-conscription riots in Québec on Easter weekend left four dead. Borden's new government cancelled all exemptions. Many who had v...
From Vimy to Juno. Explore the connections between Canada’s participation in the two world wars. Canada’s role in the First World War from 1914 to 1918.
Aug 4, 2014 · Feb. 16, 1915 First Canadian Division arrives in France. April 22-28, 1915 Second Battle of Ypres. Canadians hit by chlorine gas attack. First Canadian Division suffers more than 6,000 casualties ...
After years of tension and rivalry, Europe’s Great Powers went to war in 1914. What started as a localized conflict grew into a global war. Canada’s contribution to the First World War led to growing autonomy and international recognition, but at great cost. The war was one of the most far-reaching and traumatic events in Canadian history.
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The First World War of 1914–1918 was the bloodiest conflict in Canadian history, taking the lives of more than 60,000 Canadians. It erased romantic notions of war, introducing slaughter on a massive scale, and instilled a fear of foreign military involvement that would last until the Second World War.
