-
The Canadian Parliament didn't choose to go to war in 1914. The country's foreign affairs were guided in London 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 and Russia, and France against the German and Austro-Hungarian empires.
-
On 3 October the First Contingent of 30,617 men sailed for England. Much of Canada's war effort was launched by volunteers. The Canadian Patriotic Fund collected money to support soldiers' families, A Military Hospitals Commission cared for the sick and wounded and Churches, charities, women's organizations, and the Red Cross found ways to do their bit for the war effort In patriotic fervor. -
At first the war hurt a troubled economy increasing unemployment and making it hard for Canada new, debt ridden transcontinental railways, the Canadian Northern and the Grand Trunk Pacific to find credit By military spending equaled the entire government expenditure Minister of Finance Thomas White opposed raising taxes Since Britain could not afford to lend to Canada Canada's economic burden would have been unbearable without huge exports of wheat, timber and munitions, A prewar crop failure
-
At the second Battle of Ypres April 1915, a 1st Canadian Division suffered 6,036 casualties and the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry a further 678. The troops also shed their defective Ross rifles -
Canadians were spared the early battles of the Somme in the summer of 1916 though a separate Newfoundland force, 1st Newfoundland Regiment, was annihilated at Beaumont Hamel on the disastrous first day 1 July When Canadians entered the battle on 30 August, their experience helped toward limited gains, though at high cost. By the end of the battle the Canadian Corps had reached its full strength of four divisions -
The victory at Vimy Ridge was greeted with enthusiasm in Canada, and after the war the battle became a symbol of an awakening Canadian nationalism. -
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 In 1917 the Royal Flying Corps opened schools in Canada, and by war's end almost a quarter of the pilots in the Royal Air Force were Canadians. Three of them, Major William A. Bishop, Major Raymond Collis haw, and Colonel William Barker, ranked among the top air aces of the war -
In September and early October the Canadians attacked again and again, suffering heavy casualties but making advances thought unimaginable. The Germans fought with skill and courage all the way to Mons, the little Belgian town where fighting ended for the Canadians at 11 a.m. More officially, the war ended with the Treaty of Versailles signed 28 June 1919. -
The 1920s were known as the Roaring Twenties or the Jazz Age in North America, and Western Europe. The end of the First World War in 1918 caused instability and labor unrest as Canada, and the world, transitioned from war to peace time economies. Cultural and artistic accomplishments nonetheless flourished.
-
The Balfour Report of 1926 was an important document in Canada’s evolution to become a fully self-governing nation. The report declared that Britain and its Dominions were constitutionally equal. -
late October of 1929, terror seized the stock exchanges of North America. Capitalism’s speculative party, with its galloping share prices and its celebrity millionaires, came to an abrupt stop. The Great Crash, it was called, and it was followed by the Great Depression.
