S1E1: A not so Warm Welcome to the War

In 1914 the world changed when a young Serbian named Gavrilo Princip assassinated Austro-Hungarian Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand. This one action set off a chain of events that became one of the bloodiest, mass-scale conflicts the world has ever seen. It lasted for four years and killed approximately 9 million soldiers.

Germany supported Austria-Hungry, Russia supported Serbia, and France supported Russia. When Germany set out to avoid a two-front war and invade Belgium on their way to France, Britain stepped in to defend Belgium citing the Treaty of 1839 which guaranteed Belgium’s neutrality.

Being a dominion of Britain, Canada automatically became part of the fray when Germany failed to answer to Britain’s ultimatum to leave neutral Belgium. Britain declared war on Germany on August 4, 1914 and shortly after Canada decided to support the war effort by committing 25,000 troops. Canada lost more than double the amount of soldiers originally committed and the young country had over 172,000 would wounded.

Canadians have considered this war their entrance onto the world stage and a symbol of national pride, but we explore what this pride cost the soldiers in Europe and civilians on the home front.

Sources:

Books

Burton, Pierre. Vimy. 1986. Pen & Sword Military, Barnsley, 2012.

Cook, Tim. At the Sharp End. Toronto, Penguin Group (Canada), 2009.

Nicholson, Colonel G.W.L. Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1919: Official History of the Canadian Army in the First World War. Ottawa, Queen’s Printer and Controller of Stationary, 1962.

On the Web

“First World War.” Veterans Affairs Canada, https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/wars-and-conflicts/first-world-war/. Accessed March 2021.

Desmond, Morton. “First World War (WWI).” The Canadian Encyclopedia, https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/first-world-war. Accessed March 2021.

“Enthusiastic Reaction to War.” Canadian War Museum, https://www.warmuseum.ca/firstworldwar/history/going-to-war/canada-enters-the-war/enthusiastic-reaction-to-war/. Accessed March 2021.

“How the War Started.” Canadian War Museum, https://www.warmuseum.ca/firstworldwar/introduction/how-the-war-started/. Accessed March 2021.

“Europe before the War.” Canadian War Museum, https://www.warmuseum.ca/firstworldwar/history/going-to-war/origins-and-early-phases/. Accessed March 2021.

Trouillard, Stephanie. “The scars World War I left on French Canadians.” France 24, https://www.france24.com/en/20140403-quebec-world-war-one-conscription-crisis-canada. Accessed March 2021.

“Dominion of Canada: 1911.” http://marcialalonde.weebly.com/uploads/9/3/8/2/9382401/dominion_canada_1911.pdf . Accessed March 2021.

“Profits for Lives.” CBC, https://www.cbc.ca/history/EPISCONTENTSE1EP12CH2PA5LE.html. Accessed March 2021.

“Camp Valcartier, the 1st Contingent, and the 78th Pictou Highlanders.” Pictou-Antigonish Regional Library, http://www.parl.ns.ca/greatwar/features/campvalcartier.html. Accessed March 2021.

Cash, Rick, Murat Yukselir, and Jerry Johnson. “Time machine: What life in Canada was like before the First World War.” Globe and Mail. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/what-life-in-canada-was-like-before-the-first-world-war/article19342310/. Accessed March 2021.

Brown, Robert Craig. “Sir Samuel Hughes.” Dictionary of Canadian Biography, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/hughes_samuel_15E.html. Accessed March 2021.

War Scandals of the Borden Government as told in the House of Commons and sworn to before The Public Accounts and Other Committees.” Wartime Canada, https://wartimecanada.ca/sites/default/files/documents/WarScandals.2Ed.1915.pdf Accessed March 2021.

“List of largest Canadian Cities by Census.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_Canadian_cities_by_census#1911.ki/Lis_of_largest_Canadian_cities_by_census#1911. Accessed March 2021.

Timeline - World History Documentaries. “Canada’s Remarkable War Efforts in WWI.” YouTube, www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uIRJxc5A-w.tch?v=_uIRJxc5A-w. Accessed March 2021.

The Great War. “The Outbreak of WII - How Europe Spiraled Into the GREAT WAR - Week 1.” YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FgaL0xIazk&t=2s6FgaL0x . Accessed March 2021.

Newspapers

Calgary Herald July 28, 1914 pg 1; August 5, 1914 pg 4, 6, 7; August 6, 1914 pg 1