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Laurier Settling In The West
Laurier continued to run the country for 15 years after he was elected in 1896. This was the Golden Age of Laurier. Their main goal was to get people from other countries to settle in the west. The government ran advertisements in Britain, Europe, and in the United States describing the opportunities available in western Canada. They restricted entry of Asians, Blacks, Jews, East Indians, Southern Europeans from the lack of farming experience. -
Life In The Trenches
The trenches were the front lines, the most dangerous places. Behind the trenches was a mass of supply lines, tgraining establishments, stores, workshops, headquarters and all of the other elements of the 1914-1918 system of war, in which a majority of the soldiers were employed. The trenches were the domain of the infantry. Trenches would protect you from powerful enemy artillery, and small fire arms. -
Battle Of Ypres (First Battle)
The Battle of Ypres has become linked forever with World War One. The town had been the centre of battles before due to its strategic position. Control of the town gave control of the surrounding countryside and all the major roads converged on the town. To the south of the town the land rises to about 500 feet which would give a significant height advantage to whichever side controlled this ridge of high land. -
Assasination Of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Sunday, June 28th 1914, Franz Ferdinand and his wife were killed in Sarajevo by 19 year old Gavrilo Princip. Gavrilo was a member of Young Bosnia, and one of a group of assasins organized by the blackhand. Earlier in the day the couple had been attacked by a Nedeljko Čabrinović who had thrown a grenade at their car. However, the grenade landed and exploded injuring people in the following car. -
Battle Of Verdun
The battle of Verdun was the longest battles of world war one. The attack on Verdun came about because of a plan by the German Chief of General Staff. He wanted to launch a massive German attack on a narrow stretch of land that had historic sentiment for the French. The area around Verdun has twenty major forts and forty small ones that historically protected the eastern border of France and had been modernised in the early years of the Twentieth Century. -
Prohibition
Prohibition in the United States was a national ban on the sale, manufacture and transportation of alcohol. The introduction of alcohol prohibition into law was a hotly contested issue. The overall consumption of alcohol dropped and remained below pre-Prohibition levels long after the Eighteenth Amendment was repealed. Prohibition directly influenced the swelling of organized crime. Powerful gangs corrupted law enforcement agencies, leading to racketeering. -
Nineteenth Amendment
The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits any US citizen from being denied the right to vote on the basis of sex. The Constitution allows the states to determine the qualifications for voting, and until the 1910s most states disenfranchised women. The Fourteenth Amendment did not give women the right to vote. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. -
Wall Street Crash
The wall street crash began late in October and was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the united states. The crash signalled the beginning of the 10-year Great Depression that affected all Western industrialized countries. Many believed that the stock market would continue to rise indefinitely. On March 25, 1929, however, a mini crash occurred after investors started to sell stocks at a rapid pace. exposing the market's shaky foundation -
Riding The Rails
Many people forced off the farm heard about work hundreds of miles away or even half a continent away. Often the only way they could get there was by hopping on freight trains, illegally. More than 2 million men and 8,000 women became hoboes. At least 6,500 hoboes were killed in 1 year either in accidents or by railroad bulls, brutal guards hired by the railroads to make sure the trains carried only paying customers. Finding food was a problem. Hoboes often begged for food at a local farmhouse. -
Japan Invades Manchuria
The invasion on Manchuria began on September 19th 1931, when the Kwantung army of Japan invaded Manchuria. The Kwantung Army commander in chief General Shigeru Honjō ordered that his forces quickly proceed to expand operations all along the South Manchurian Railway. -
The Holocaust
Adolph Hitler became chancellor of Germany from January 30th 1933, to May 8th 1945. At this time, the war in Europe has officially ended. During this time, Jews in Europe were subjected to progressively harsher torture that ultimately led to the murder of 6 million Jews. 1.5 million of these Jews were still children. 5000 Jewish communities were completely destroyed. They were the victims of Germany's deliberate and systematic attempt to annihilate the entire Jewish population of Europe. -
Munich Agreement
The agreement was negotiated at a conference held in Munich, Germany, among the major powers of Europe, without the presence of Czechoslovakia. Today, it is widely regarded as a failed act of appeasement toward Germany. The purpose of the conference was to discuss the future of the Sudetenland in the face of ethnic demands made by Adolf Hitler. The agreement was signed by Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Italy. -
Adolf Hitler
Adolf was the Führer of Germany. Hitler created a public image as a celibate man without a domestic life, dedicated entirely to his political mission and the nation. He met his mistress, Eva Braun, in 1929, and married her in April 1945. In September 1931, his half-niece, Geli Raubal, committed suicide with Hitler's gun in his Munich apartment. It was rumoured among contemporaries that Geli was in a romantic relationship with him, and her death was source of lasting pain. -
Baby Boom
The end of World War II brought a baby boom to many countries, especially Western ones. There are an estimated 79 million Americans who were born during this demographic boom in births. Marriage rates rose sharply in the 1940s and reached all-time highs. After World War II, Americans began to marry at a younger age. Getting married immediately after high school was becoming commonplace and women were increasingly under huge pressure to marry by the age of 20. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a pivitol moment in the Cold War. Fifty years ago the United States and the Soviet Union stood closer to Armageddon that at any other moment in history. In October 1962, President John F. Kennedy was informed of U-2 spy planes discovery of Soviet nuclear-tipped missiles in Cuba. John F. Kennedy resolved immediately that this could not stand. -
Medicare
In 1965, under the leadership of President Johnson, Congress created Medicare under Title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide health insurance to people age 65 and older, regardless of income or medical history. Medicare spurred the racial integration of thousands of waiting rooms, hospital floors, and physician practices by making payments to health care providers conditional on desegregation. Medicare has been in operation for well over forty years. -
Pierre Trudeau
Pierre Trudeau was born on October 18th, 1919 and died on September 28th, 2000. He was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada. Trudeau was in office from April 20th, 1968 to June 4th, 1979 and again from March 3, 1980 to June 30, 1984. From the late 1960s until the mid-1980s, he dominated the Canadian political scene and aroused passionate reactions. The first Trudeau to arrive in Canada was Etienne Trudeau (1641-1712), a carpenter and home builder in 1659. -
Toronto Blue Jays
The Blue Jays played their first game on April 7th,1977 against the Chicago White Sox infront of a home crowd of 44,649 fans. They won the snowy affair 9-5. That win would be one of only 54 of the 1977 season, as the Blue Jays finished in last place in the AL East, with a record of 54-107. The "Blue Jays" name originates from the bird of the same name, and the fact that blue is the traditional colour of Toronto's other professional sports teams, the Maple Leafs and the Argonauts. -
Terry Fox
In 1977, 18-year-old Terry Fox, while a student at Simon Fraser University was diagnosed with bone cancer and lost his right leg to prevent the spread of the disease. After 14 months of training, Terry convinced the Canadian Cancer Society to help sponsor his run across Canada to raise funds and awareness for cancer research. On April 12th 1980, Terry dipped his artificial leg into the Atlantic Ocean and began his Marathon of Hope across Canada. Terry ran for 143 days as the country watched. -
Toonie Replaces $2 Bill
Paul Martin announced the replacement of the $2 bill with a coin in the 1995 federal budget speech. The two dollar coin is made from two different metals. The two metals would be lighter and thinner than those produced anywhere in the world. By the end of 1996, the Winnipeg facility had struck 375 million of these coins. The weight of the coin was originally specified as 112.64 grains, equivalent to 7.299 grams.
