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Competition for Worldly Power
By the late 1800s claims to overseas colonies, especially in ivory, gold, and diamond rich Africa, had become extremely competitive. France and Britain continued to expand their established oversea colonies, while Germany, Belgium, and Italy had only just begun to colonize other continents. -
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Arms Race
Prior to WWI many great European nations had been competing to build the most powerful and largest army and navy, Germany and Britain had been especially expanding their armed forces in a great arms race. -
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Frustration Leads to War
Before the First World War, Eastern Europe was dominated mostly by three weak Empires: the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Russian Empire, and the Ottoman Empire. Many smaller nations were discontented with being dominated by these super powers and their citizens' great sense of nationalism drove them to act. Serbia was especially fearful of being taken over by Austria-Hungry, which lead to the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. -
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Alliances Form
Feeling surrounded, Germany created a blank cheque alliance with Austria-Hungary and Italy, called the Triple Alliance. France, now feeling vulnerable joined up in her own blank cheque alliance with Britain and later Russia, called the Triple Entente. -
Assassination of Franz Ferdinand
On June 28, 1914, when visiting Sarajevo, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was assassinated. Both he and his wife were killed by Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian nationalist and member of a terrorist group called "The Black Hand". -
War Is Declared
On July 23, 1914, after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Austria-Hungary sent Serbia an Ultimatum, which Serbia rejected. Austria-Hungary then declared war on Serbia, which lead to the mobilization of troops by Serbia's Ally, Russia. Germany, as an ally of Austria-Hungary also prepared for war. Britain attempted to stay out of other European affairs, and Italy also did not enter the war at first, but eventually countries around the world were participating in war affairs. -
Schlieffen Plan
In order to avoid war on two fronts Germany wanted to defeat France quickly, so they created a strategy called the Schlieffen Plan. Germany estimated it would take Russia six weeks to organize their army, so he planned an attack on France using 90% of their forces. Germany invaded Belgium and Luxembourg but were halted by British forces, which arrived very quickly, and Russia was able to mobilize their troops in just ten days. The invasion of Belgium resulted in the joining of Britain in WW1. -
Second Battle of Ypres
The Canadian soldiers arrived at Ypres on April 17, 1915. This battle was the first to use poisonous gas (chlorine gas) on the western front. This gas warfare took the lives of many allied soldiers, but the German's could not take the city. German forces bombarded Ypres with artillery, reducing it to ruble and the battle ended in a stalemate. -
Battle of Somme
British General Haig, "the butcher of the Somme," caused the death of hundreds of thousands of Allied soldiers. The British Allied Forces (Canadians) bombarded the German's with artillery, and assuming they had killed the majority of the enemy's men, were told to walk across no man's land without shooting. This was not successful and quickly turned into a slaughter of Canadian soldiers. Even though so many Canadians died there were more casualties on the German side. The result was a stalemate. -
Battle of Vimy Ridge
Past attempts by both British and French forces failed to capture Vimy Ridge, but it took Canadian troops only days to capture Vimy. They took time to train and organize Canadian troops and used a successful strategy "the Vimy Glide." Troops would move forward only every three minutes in order to keep pace with the slow moving artillery barrages. The Battle lasted from the 9th to the 12th of April, 1917 and it marked a great victory for the Canadian Corps. -
Women's Suffrage
During WW1 Canadian women had to take over the jobs and responsibilities of the overseas soldiers. Women worked in factories, shipyards, and on farms. Feeling he was losing support, Prime Minister Robert Borden passed the Wartime Election Act, allowing wives, mothers, sisters, and widows of overseas soldiers to vote in federal elections. Later, in 1918, women aged 21 or older were given the right to vote. -
Battle of Passchendaele
The battle of Passchendaele lasted from July 31 to mid-November of 1917. This three month battle took place in conditions so wet and muddy that horses got stuck in the mud. 20,000 Canadians fought and 15,000 were injured or killed. In the end Canadian and British forces were able to take the city of Passchendaele. -
Military Voters Act
There were few men on the home front left to vote in federal elections, and even less in support of Prime Minister Robert Borden's plan to introduce conscription, so Borden passed the Military Voters Act, giving overseas soldiers the right to vote. This gave Borden the support he needed to pass The War Measures Act. -
Halifax Explosion
Belgian relief vessel, Imo was leaving the Halifax harbour when it collided with French munitions ship, Mont Blanc. The Mont Blanc was full of explosives, so when it caught fire the crew and captain fled the ship for safety. The Mont Blanc drifted to shore and rammed into pier six, where it exploded. The explosion flattened everything within 800 metres and caused damage within a 1.6 kilometre radius. -
Operation Michael
Operation Michael was the first of four major assaults in a German offensive designed to move troops from the Eastern front to the Western front, in order to hastily win the war on the Western front. Operation Michael was the largest assault and was intended to cut off British Expeditionary Forces from the French to the South. -
War Measures Act Is Invoked
The War Measures Act, first invoked by Canadian Prime Minister Robert Borden in 1918, gave the government the right to breach the rights given to its citizens in the constitution, in times of war. If it was in the best interests of Canada the government could arrest people without warrant and force people to fight in the war. The War Measures act lead to the encampment of many German Canadians, and to the Conscription of many Canadian men. -
Conscription Crisis
Once the War Measures Act had been passed the government of Canada force it's citizens to fighting the war (conscription). Many men were conscripted, but few were actually sent overseas to fight. Conscription caused much controversy in Canada, particularly with farmers, workers, and French Canadians. Factory workers and farmers argued that if they were sent overseas then there would be no one to supply for the soldiers and the war. French Canadians were also unhappy with conscription. -
Armistice
On November 11, 1918 Germany and the allies came to an agreement to end the war. By this time Russia and Austria-Hungary have quite fighting, Italy has joined the allied forces, and Germany is running out of men, money, and resources. -
Paris Peace Conference
After the Armistice it was decided that a Peace Conference was necessary. The Paris Peace Conference was organized by the Allies and neither Germany, nor Austria-Hungary were invited. At the Conference the Treaty of Versailles and the War Guilt Claus were written at the Paris Peace Conference. At the conference new borders, change of territories, and the recognition of independent nations is also discussed. The three ideals at the conference were a better world, revenge, and independence. -
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was created at the Paris Peace Conference without the consult of Germany. Germany has no choice but to sign the treaty. This resulted in Germany giving away thirteen percent of his territory, reducing his military to 100,000 men and being charged with $33 billion. -
League of Nations
The League of Nations was essentially the 1919 version of the United Nations. Created by Woodrow Wilson, the League of Nations was a group of countries made to avoid war.
