Canada and World War I

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Canada and World War I
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War Begins

• World War I broke out in 1914, shortly after the
  assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
• Britain declared war on Germany on August 4, 1914
• Because Britain still controlled Canadas foreign
  policy, Canada was automatically at war with
  Germany.
• Canadas Prime Minister at the time was Robert
  Borden

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A New Kind of War

• In the past, wars had been fought by small
  professional armies with weapons such as rifles,
  guns and bayonets
• Artillery Cannons
• Cavalry Men on horses with muskets
• Infantry Soldiers with bayonets on the end of
  their muskets

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A New Kind of War

• War would consist of a few decisive battles
  whoever had the most men standing at the end
  would win
• Armies would meet on a field, fire one round of
  shots every 30 seconds or so
• Dont fire until you see the whites of their
  eyes close range, very bloody.
• At the onset of World War I, this is all the
  world knew of war. This was the type of warfare
  they were used to A quick decisive battle
• Canadian solders were expecting Well be home by
  Christmas

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A New Kind of War - Technology

• Technology introduced new weapons capable of much
  greater death and destruction
• Machine guns
• Submarines
• Tanks
• Airplanes
• Bombs

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Submarines
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Tanks
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Airplanes
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The Result?

• High body count / high numbers of soldiers needed
  to fight
• Trenches limited mobility
• Static warfare (little to no movement)
• Defensive style war whomever is defending has
  the advantage
• World War I became a war of attrition
• Attrition wearing down by friction / A gradual
  decrease in number or strength because of
  constant stress

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The Numbers

• By the end of the conflict in 1918, 65 million
  soldiers from 35 nations had served in the war.
• Historians estimate that over 30 million people
  died
• 15 million due to battle related causes and an
  equal number due to pandemics such as the Spanish
  Influenza which followed the movement of troops
  around the world

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Canadas Human Toll

• With just 8 million people, Canada was one of the
  smallest of the combatant countries by
  population, yet it contributed 600 661 soldiers
  to the war effort
• Over 1/3 of all eligible combatants in Canada
  signed on, most voluntarily
• Over 61 000 men and women died
• Almost 173 000 more were wounded
• In cities, towns and rural areas there was hardly
  a family that had not been touched by the loss of
  a brother, a son, a father, an uncle, or a cousin
• In some communities, an entire generation of
  young men were lost creating long term effects on
  demographics

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The Home Front

• No one was exempt from military service at
  home.
• Canadians who could not serve directly in combat
  were expected to participate in smaller, but
  still significant ways
• Women volunteered for service overseas as nurses
  and ambulance drivers
• Women knitted socks, wrapped food parcels, and
  packed medical kits
• Women and young boys picked up the slack on the
  farms to keep food production going
• Women began to work in factories and take over
  other jobs for the men who were away at war

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STATIONS
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Canada Goes to War