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Britain declared war on Germany on August 4th, 1914 as they had passed through Belgium in order to attack France which was against the Treaty of London. Since Canada was still one of Britain's colonies at the time Canada was called on to join the war efforts as well because they were still ruled by Britain. -
The First Canadian Contingent sailed for England with over 30,000 Canadian volunteers ready to join the fight. -
On the first Christmas of the war, an unofficial ceasefire agreement occurred on the western front. It started with Christmas caroling that could be heard from across no man's land. Slowly men started to peak up and enter no man's land unarmed. In no man's land, some soccer games were held and even gifts were exchanged. This was the only occurrence of Christmas truces. -
The second battle of Ypres was one of Canada's first major battles. Canada was outnumbered and faced chlorine gas for the first time. There were 6,000 casualties or about one-third of the Canadian forces in the battle. despite all odds acting against them Canada managed to hold off the German soldiers. -
The Newfoundland Regiment went into battle at Beaumont Hamel as part of a general British offensive. There was a miscalculation that lead the regiment to attack through uncut barbed wire through heavy machine gunfire. Within 30 minutes, 324/801 soldiers were dead or missing, and 386 wounded. -
The battle of the Somme started on July 1st, 1916, and ended on November 18th, 1916. It is known to be one of the bloodiest battles in all of history. The battle of the Somme was a British launched battle and was one of the largest battles on the western front of the whole war. Over the course of the 5 months, there were approximately 1.2M casualties. -
The battle started on April 9th, 1917, and only lasted 3 days till the 12th of April. Canadians attacked the German-held strongpoint of Vimy Ridge and won. Vimy ridge is now a monumental place and was even donated by the French government to Canada as a thank you. -
The Battle of Passchendaele took place between October 26th-November 10th, 1917. The battle was fought under extreme weather conditions. The Canadian soldiers captured their objective but suffered 16,000 casualties. -
The battle of Amiens lasted 3 days but was a very significant battle. It was a crucial win for the allies as it was the first battle in the 100 days offensive which eventually led to then end of the war. -
The 100 days offensive is exactly as it sounds. It was a string of offensive attacks lead by the allies, that lasted 100 days. It ultimately left the Germans so exhausted it also lead to the end of the war. -
On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month the war officially ended. Armistice was signed and a cease fire order was sent out.