Past Canada Essay Topics1. Discuss the nature of imperialism in regards to Canada 1875-1914.2. What did Canada hope to gain by sending armed forces outside her borders in (a) the Nile

Campaign, and (b) the Boer War?3. Explain why and how Canada began to develop its own foreign policy during the First World

War.4. What major political and economic changes occurred in Canada before and immediately after

the First World War?5. How did Canada's participation in the First World War affect its economic and social

development?6. Assess the importance of the "conscription crisis" in Canada's national development.7. Analyze the relationships of Canada and (a) Britain and (b) United States between 1900 and

1950.8. Analyze the relations between the United States and Canada in the first half of the twentieth

century.9. Examine the immediate and longer-term effects of the First World War on the economic and

political development of Canada.10. How and why did the relationship between Canada and Britain change between 1900 and 1931?11. Why was the First World War so important politically and economically to Canada's development

as a nation?12. Assess the role of Canada in the First World War.13. For what reasons, and with what results, was Canada involved in the First World War?

Canada and WWI

The Bloodiest Conflict in Canadian History: A War Which Would Both Unite and Divide a

Nation

Canada: 1912

1867: Canada is Born• British North America Act/Constitution Act

– Made Canada a self-governing confederation– 3 Brit. N. Amer. Colonies: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Canada

united as 1 “dominion”:• 4 Provinces (Quebec, Ontario, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick)

– British Parliament retained # of key political powers, including control of Canada’s foreign affairs

– The executive government vested in Queen Victoria and her successors.

– Legislative: Canadian Parliament and cabinet government. (Senate/House of Commons )

– Referred to as the “Dominion of Canada”…Why not “Kingdom”• Generic context refers to any colony that was more or less self-governing under Brits

Entering the War• 1914: British declaration of

war automatically brought Canada into the war, but…

• Canadian government had the freedom to determine the country's level of involvement in the war

• Prime Minister, Sir Robert Borden accepts call of duty

Photo: Queen Elizabeth…just kidding, it’s Robert Borden

Interesting side note: Well into the 20th century, Canadian politicians still openly spoke of Canada as a "colony," and it's worth remembering that independent Canadian citizenship (as opposed to British citizenship) was only created in 1947.

Mobilization for War• Sam Hughes: Minister of Militia and

Defense– Ordered to train and recruit an army

• At the time, Canada had a regular army of only 3,110 men and a fledgling navy

• 30,000 enlist voluntarily in 1st month…why?– Loyalty to British Empire (many British

immig.)– Escape unemployment; adventure; fight

German militarism

Canadian Expeditionary Force• 1915: Canadians arrive in battle

– Trench Warfare taken hold• Canadians ill-prepared

– Lack adequate equipment– Ross Rifle

• Hughes uses system of patronage-incompetent officers

• Serve under British military control• 1916: Borden/Hughes rift—Hughes

resigns

Canadian Expeditionary Force• Canadian Air Force…

– Canadian Flying Schools not estbl. until 1917; however…

– 20,000 Canadians in British Royal Air Force• 11 of whom would become “Flying Aces”

• Canadian Navy…minimal role– Convoys for cargo ships crossing Atlantic– Mine-sweeping & anti-sub operations off

the coast

Good old Billy Bishop

Canadian Expeditionary Force• Total Served: 600,000• Minorities/“Enemy Aliens” not welcomed…

yet some segregated units were formed• Aboriginal Canadians were allowed to

enlist and accepted into a 114th battalion• 3,500 Aboriginal Canadians would serve

with C.E.F• No. 2 Construction Battalion included black

soldiers from both Canada and the U.S. • Over 1,000 black Canadians who served

would continue to be segregated•When black Canadians in Nova Scotia volunteered their services, they were told, "This is not for you fellows, this is a white man's war.”

Canadian Women and WWI• Women’s Roles during the War…

• Sent overseas as nurses, ambulance drivers, and staff officers

• Home Front• Factory Work:

• Munitions factories (30,000), build aircraft and ships

• Worked in banks, insurance firms, civil service, gas jockeys, street-car conductors and fish cannery workers (though paid less)

• Run Farms• Fundraising• Support soldiers

• knit sock, roll bandages, and wrap food parcels for the troops.

Canada Enters the Fight

Second Battle of Ypres (April 1915)• 2nd Battle of Ypres

• April 1: Battle Begins• 1st Canadian Division brought in to

reinforce British• April 22:

• Germans released 160 tons of chlorine gas

• Left four-mile hole in the Allied line. • Canadians only division able to hold

the; fight to close gap. • April 24

• Germans launch poison attack on Canadian lines

• Canadians suffer over 6,000 casualties, one man in every three in 48 hrs.

2nd Battle of Ypres (April 1915)• Significance:

• 1st use of poison gas in war• Boosts Canadian prestige• Inspired John McCrae’s In Flanders Field• Led Canadians to abandon the Ross Rifle

• Major Canadian defeats following Ypres• Canadians suffer heavy losses at St Eloi and

Mont Sorrel in June 1916• Eliminated inept officers • Demonstrated importance of discipline and

preparation

Battle of Verdun

Battle of Verdun (Feb.-Dec. 1916)• Battle of Verdun

– Incredible artillery battle, with over 40 million shells fired.

– 714,000 battlefield casualties• 377,000 French • 337,000 German• Avg. 70,000 for each of the ten months

of the battle– The French held the ground at the

end of the battle, though it ultimately proved to be a stalemate

The Battle of the Somme (July-Nov. 1916)• Battle of the Somme

• Launched to relieve pressure from French forces at the Verdun• Allied casualties would actually exceed those at Verdun

• Begins July 1, 1916• Royal Newfoundland Regiment among 1st troops: Massive

casualties --Only 68 of 801 men alive by July 2• Every officer that had gone over the top had been killed.

• The Canadian Corps enterbattle in September• The Battle of the Somme claimed more than 24,000 Canadian

casualties• Battle of Attrition

• Allies: 623,907 casualties• Germany: 465,000 casualties

• The British gained approximately two miles and lost about 420,000 soldier• Meaning that a centimeter cost about two men.

The Battle of the Somme• Significance:

• First use of the tank • Though not fully functional until Battle of Cambrai (1917)

• Considered a draw, but…• Some historians believe that without it and the immense German losses,

WWI may not have ended until 1919-1920• Gave Canadian units the reputation of a formidable assault force.

• As British Prime Minister Lloyd George wrote, "The Canadians played a part of such distinction that thenceforward they were marked out as shock troops; for the remainder of the war they were brought along to head the assault in one great battle after another.”

Conscription Crisis• 1917: Enlistments drying up (country of only 8 million)• British PM David Lloyd George summons leaders of Dominions to

London (March 1917) – Russia collapsing, French army close to mutiny, British under U-Boat attacks– Borden visits Canadian hospitals in London persuades him of need for draft

• Calls for Conscription Causes Division on the Home Front– French Canadians :

• Felt little allegiance to France or Britain • Don’t want to fight to Canada who they viewed as restricting basic rights (i.e. restriction on

French in schools• Henri Bouraassa argued: Canada had done enough; Canada’s interests not served by European

conflict; men needed on home front

– English Canadians• Complain that French Canada not doing its share• Business leaders, Protestants, and Eng. speaking Catholics critical of French Canada

– Farmers also resist draft, fearing livelihoods lost

Conscription Crisis• 1917 Canadian Election:

– Main Issue: Conscription/The Draft– Borden takes action to ensure the election of supporters of Conscription…– Military voters Act:

• Gave the vote to men and women serving overseas & British subjects serving with Canadian forces

– Wartime Election Act: • Gave women the right to vote to women who had relatives in the military• Blocked Canadian citizens who had emigrated from enemy nations from voting

• Military Service Act– Over 400,000 drafted under law (so many exemptions had to be put in place to get the bill

to pass, that 380,510 appealed,…only 20,000 ended up making it to France by war’s end)– Significance:

• Fueled tension/social unrest in French Canada (Quebec)

Battle of Vimy Ridge (April 1917)• Battle of Vimy Ridge (April 1917)

– First time all four Canadian divisions were to be assembled to operate in combat as a corps. The

– Extensive planning of Arthur Currie– April 9, 1917: Attack Begins

• Every artillery piece at the disposal of the Canadian Corps began firing.

– April 12, 1917: Canadian Corps was in firm control of the ridge.

• Outcome:– Canada: suffered 10,602 casualties – Germany: unknown number of casualties with an

approximate 4,000 POWs– The Germans did not attempt to recapture the ridge and

it remained under British control until the end of the war.

Battle of Vimy Ridge (April 1917)• Significance:

– Arthur Currie became 1st Canadian promoted to General as result of his leadership at Vimy Ridge

– One of the most important Canadian victories, it was a conquest that the British and French had failed at earlier in the war

– Largest advance the British had made since the war began

– Some argue Vimy Ridge marked Canada’s emergence in world status from a colony to a nation about fifty years after Confederation

– Helped secure Canada a separate signature on the Versailles Treaty which ended the war

Battle of Amiens (Aug. 8-11, 1918)• Battle of Amiens

– Marked the end of trench warfare, as mobile war became the tactic (tank functional…Battle of Cambrai)

• German loss referred to by Paul von Hindenburg, the joint head of the German army, as “the black day of the German Army”– Canadians play vital role in German defeat, capture 5,000

Germans• Because of the shift from trench warfare, the war now

started to move toward Germany, partially leading to their surrender.

Canada’s Hundred Days Offensive• Hundred Days Offensive

– Throughout these three final months, the Canadian troops saw action in several areas

– Given task of breaking the Hindenburg line, Germany’s main line of defense…

• On September 27, 1918, the Canadian Forces broke through the Hindenburg Line

• Canadian Corps marched successfully to Mons, in Belgium– Canadian Corps suffered 46,000 casualties. – But captured over 30,000 enemy troops– The last Canadian to be killed was George Lawrence

Price• Two minutes before the armistice took effect at 11 am. on

November 11• traditionally recognized as being the last soldier killed in

World War I.• Significance:

– 100 days Canada played critical role in allied victory, proved they were a formidable force, and reliable

Reasons for Victory of Allies• The chief reasons for the defeat of the Central Powers

were as follows:– 27 Allied states fought against 4 Central Powers, so the

Allied states had more manpower and more resources– The Allied states had much control of the seas, so they

could successfully blockade the German coastline and starve the Central Powers of food and raw materials

– The Allied states had moral support due to their claim to fight for democracy

– The Germans committed two important strategic errors. • Invasion of Belgium which offended the moral conscience of the

world and brought Britain into the war. • Unrestricted submarine campaign which strengthened universal

hatred of German militarism and brought about the entry of the United States into war on the Allies' side

Impact of the War on Canada

Impact on Civil Liberties• War Measures Act (1914)

– Govt. right to suppress the rights of those considered “enemy aliens” • Non-Canadian citizens who had immigrated from Central Powers

– Oct. 1914: enemy aliens forced to register with the government, and report firearms

• Targets: Ukrainian, German, Polish, Austrian, Czech, Slovak decent, Pacifists, Socialists– Newspapers banned, churches and businesses closed, many lose their

jobs, have to carry i.d. papers– Socialist Parties and radical unions banned– Many Germans and Ukrainians sent to internment camps

• Most forced to work in logging camps and mines• Some detained up to 2 years after the war

Impact on Civil Liberties/Relation in Country

• War fought for “freedoms” against German militarism had uneasy contradictions… A war which unified and divided a nation…– War Measures Act…suspension of Civil Liberties– Conscription Crisis: English/French relations at a

low point• Deepened Divide between French and English Canada

– Some women get right to vote; but taken from “enemy alien” citizens

– Women major contributions during the war….but when it ends…

• Expected to return to home• Those who remain in work: Paid less, Hostile work

environments

Impact on the Economy• By 1915, military spending matched entire government expenditure of 1913

– Because Britain could not afford to lend to Canada, they turned to US for credit• Imperial Munitions Board by British (in Canada)

– IMB turned out shells, ships, explosives, and planes– By 1917 IMB largest business in Canada employed 150,000-200,000; – 1917 British stopped buying from Canadians…but Canada starts selling to the United

States• Industry eventually flourished and diversified, spurred urbanization…• But national debt soared…• Victory Bonds…covered 80% of war costs

– But increased national debt from $463 million to $2.46 billion– Heavy borrowing eventually led to high inflation in 1917– Most of 2 billion owed to other Canadians

• Led to the development of the Income Tax introduced in 1917

Impact on Canada• Mass Human Loss

– 61,000 killed, 172,000 casualties (out of population of only 8 million)

• Borden’s rigging of 1917 election succeeded in short term, but fractured country along regional, cultural, linguistic and class lines– French Canada…liberal Party bastion; Conservative wasteland

• Increased role of government– Mobilized Economy– Food/Fuel shortages lead to “Meatless Fridays” and “Fueless

Sundays”– Conscription– Income Tax

• Labor and Farmers– Labor playing large role in war, pushed for more rights…through

negotiations and strikes

Impact on Canada• Canada claimed place on international stage: Increased prestige• New national identity/self image/national pride• The war accelerated the transformation of the British Empire into the

British Commonwealth– Demonstrated Great Britain’s military and economic reliance on the self-governing

dominions. – Most Commonwealth heads of government recognized this

• Use wartime contributions as route to greater independence and standing within imperial counsels.

– PM Borden impatient with Britain’s lack of respect for Canada…fought for Canada to have a greater voice in international affairs

• Imperial War Cabinet Meeting of Dominion Leaders (1917)– Called for by Brit. PM: David Lloyd George, Borden presented Resolution IX which

gave the Dominions recognition as autonomous nations of an Imperial Commonwealth…stepping stone to full autonomy

Impact on Canada• 1919 Canada signed the Treaty of Versailles independent of

Britain• Canada joined the League of Nations and the International

Labor Organization• WWI set the stage for the Statute of Westminster• Statute of Westminster (1931)

– Formalized the dominions’ full control over their own foreign policy.• Canada’s Constitution Act of 1982

– Any remaining British Parliament authority was transferred to the independent Canadian Parliament.

– Canada Achieved Full Sovereignty

Impact on Canada• National identity• The impact of the First World War on the evolution of Canada’s identity is debated by historians. There is general agreement that in the early twentieth

century, most English-speaking Canadians saw no conflict between their identity as British subjects and their identities as Canadians. In fact, the British World or British Empire identity was a key part of the Canadian identity. Many Canadians defined their country as the part of North America that owed allegiance to the British Crown. Historian Carl Berger showed that there were relatively few dissenters from this view in English-speaking Canada. In 1914, most English-speaking Canadians had a hybrid imperial-national identity.[82][83]

• Other historians add that Canadian nationalism and belief in independence from the British Empire was strongest in French Canada, whereas imperialism was strongest in English-speaking Canada. These historians focus on Henri Bourassa, who resigned from Wilfrid Laurier’s cabinet to protest the decision to send Canadian troops to fight in the South African War. Bourassa’s resignation is widely regarded as involving a clash between imperialism and Canadian nationalism.[84]

• Some historians suggest that Canada was already beginning to move toward greater autonomy from Britain well before 1914. They note that Canada’s government established a Department of External Affairs, or de facto foreign ministry, in 1909. However, these historians also stress that the Department worked closely with British diplomats.[85] Historian Oscar Skelton noted that Alexander Galt, a Canadian government official, negotiated treaties with foreign countries such as Spain and France in the 1880s with only the token participation of British diplomats. These negotiations were precedents followed by Canadian diplomats after 1919, when Canada began to conduct its foreign relations without the involvement of British officials. In other words, Canada's gradual move towards independence was already underway before 1914, although this process may have been accelerated by World War I.[86]

• While there is a consensus that on the eve of World War I, most White English-speaking Canadians had a hybrid imperial-national identity, the effects of the war on Canada’s emergence as a nation are contested. The Canadian media often refer to World War I and, in particular, the Battle of Vimy Ridge, as marking “the birth of a nation.”[87] Some historians consider the First World War to be Canada’s “war of independence”[88] and the most important event in Canadian history, ahead of World War II and comparable in effect to the American Civil War on the United States.[89] They argue that the war reduced the extent to which Canadians identified with the British Empire and intensified their sense of being Canadians first and British subjects second. These historians posit two possible mechanisms whereby World War I intensified Canadian nationalism: 1) They suggested that pride in Canada’s accomplishments on the battlefield promoted Canadian patriotism, and 2) they suggest that the war distanced Canada from Britain in that Canadians reacted to the sheer slaughter on the Western Front by adopting an increasingly anti-British attitude.

• Canadian soldiers return home to Toronto, 1919.• Other historians robustly dispute the view that World War I undermined the hybrid imperial-national identity of English-speaking Canada. Phillip

Buckner writes that: “The First World War shook but did not destroy this Britannic vision of Canada. It is a myth that Canadians emerged from the war alienated from, and disillusioned with, the imperial connection." He argues that most English-speaking Canadians "continued to believe that Canada was, and should continue to be, a “British” nation and that it should cooperate with the other members of the British family in the British Commonwealth of Nations.”[90] Historian Pat Brennan has shown that the war strengthened Canadian officers' British identity as well as their Canadian identity.[91]

• Still other historians point out that the war’s impact on Canadians’ perception of their place in the world was limited by the simple fact that so many of the Canadian Expeditionary Force soldiers were British-born rather than Canadians. Geoffrey Hayes, Andrew Iarocci, and Mike Bechthold point out that about half of the CEF members who fought at the famous battle of Vimy Ridge were British immigrants. Moreover, their victory at the ridge involved close cooperation with artillery and other units recruited in the British Isles.[92] 70 percent of the men who enlisted in the CEF were British immigrants, even though British immigrants were just 11 percent of Canada’s population. Anglo-Saxon Canadians whose ancestors had lived in North America for generations had low enlistment rates similar to those seen in French Canadian communities.[93]

• Historian José Igartua argues that the hybrid imperialist-nationalist identity in English Canada collapsed in the 1950s and 1960s, not during or immediately after the First World War. It was in this period that Canada adopted its current flag and began to oppose Britain on substantive foreign policy issues, as it did in the 1956 Suez Crisis.[94] Historian C.P. Champion argues that Canada's Britishness was not eliminated in the 1960s but survives to the present day in more subtle forms. He cites the new flag, whose red and white echo the colours of England and Kingston's Royal Military College.[95]