Canada S Part In The Great War

Colonel G.W.L. Nicholson's Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1919 was first published by the Department of National Defence in 1962 as the official history of the Canadian Army’s involvement in the First World War. Immediately after the war ended Colonel A. Fortescue Duguid made a first attempt to write an official history of the war, but the ill-fated project produced only the first of an anticipated eight volumes. Decades later, G.W.L. Nicholson - already the author of an official history of the Second World War - was commissioned to write a new official history of the First. Illustrated with numerous photographs and full-colour maps, Nicholson’s text offers an authoritative account of the war effort, while also discussing politics on the home front, including debates around conscription in 1917. With a new critical introduction by Mark Osborne Humphries that traces the development of Nicholson’s text and analyzes its legacy, Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1919 is an essential resource for both professional historians and military history enthusiasts.

Canada’s Great War, 1914-1918: How Canada Helped Save the British Empire and Became a North American Nation describes the major role that Canada played in helping the British Empire win the greatest war in history—and, somewhat surprisingly, resulted in Canada’s closer integration not with the British Empire but with its continental neighbor, the United States. When Britain declared war against Germany and Austria-Hungary in August 1914, Canada was automatically committed as well because of its status as a Dominion in the British Empire. Despite not having a say in the matter, most Canadians enthusiastically embraced the war effort in order to defend the Empire and its values. In Canada’s Great War, 1914-1918, historian Brian Douglas Tennyson argues that Canada’s participation in the war weakened its relationship with Britain by stimulating a greater sense of Canadian identity, while at the same time bringing it much closer to the United States, especially after the latter entered the war. Their wartime cooperation strengthened their relationship, which had been delicate and often strained in the nineteenth century. This was reflected in the greater integration of their economies and the greater acceptance in Canada of American cultural products such as books, magazines, radio broadcasting and movies, and was symbolized by the astonishing American response to the Halifax explosion in December 1917. By the end of the war, Canadians were emerging as a North American people, no longer fearing close ties to the United States, even as they maintained their ties to the British Commonwealth. Canada’s Great War, 1914-1918 will interest not only Canadians unaware of how greatly their nation’s participation in the First World War reshaped its relationship with Britain and the United States, but also Americans unacquainted with the magnitude of Canada’s involvement in the war and how that contribution drew the two nations closer together.

"The first comprehensive history of the Aboriginal First World War experience on the battlefield and the home front. When the call to arms was heard at the outbreak of the First World War, Canada's First Nations pledged their men and money to the Crown to honour their long-standing tradition of forming military alliances with Europeans during times of war, and as a means of resisting cultural assimilation and attaining equality through shared service and sacrifice. Initially, the Canadian government rejected these offers based on the belief that status Indians were unsuited to modern, civilized warfare. But in 1915, Britain intervened and demanded Canada actively recruit Indian soldiers to meet the incessant need for manpower. Thus began the complicated relationships between the Imperial Colonial and War Offices, the Department of Indian Affairs, and the Ministry of Militia that would affect every aspect of the war experience for Canada's Aboriginal soldiers. In his groundbreaking new book, For King and Kanata, Timothy C. Winegard reveals how national and international forces directly influenced the more than 4,000 status Indians who voluntarily served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force between 1914 and 1919--a per capita percentage equal to that of Euro-Canadians--and how subsequent administrative policies profoundly affected their experiences at home, on the battlefield, and as returning veterans."--Publisher's website.

This book describes the organization, lists the units and illustrates the uniforms and equipment of the four Canadian divisions which earned an elite reputation on the Western Front in 1915-18. Canada's 600,000 troops of whom more than 66,000 died and nearly 150,000 were wounded represented an extraordinary contribution to the British Empire's struggle. On grim battlefields from the Ypres Salient to the Somme, and from their stunning victory at Vimy Ridge to the final triumphant 'Hundred Days' advance of autumn 1918, Canada's soldiers proved themselves to be a remarkable army in their own right, founding a national tradition.

The first comprehensive history of Canadians in WWI in forty years, and already hailed as the definitive work on Canadians in the Great War, At the Sharp End covers the harrowing early battles of 1914—16. Tens of thousands, and then hundreds of thousands, died before the generals and soldiers found a way to break the terrible stalemate of the front. Based on eyewitness accounts detailed in the letters of ordinary soldiers, Cook describes the horrible struggle, first to survive in battle, and then to drive the Germans back. At the Sharp End provides both an intimate look at the Canadian men in the trenches and an authoritative account of the slow evolution in tactics, weapons, and advancement. Featuring never-before-published photographs, letters, diaries, and maps, this recounting of the Great War through the soldiers' eyes is moving, engaging, and thoroughly engrossing.

During the “Hundred Days” campaign of the First World War, over 30 percent of conscripts who served in the Canadian Corps became casualties. Yet, they were often considered slackers for not having volunteered. Reluctant Warriors is the first examination of the pivotal role played by Canadian conscripts in the final campaign of the Great War on the Western Front. Challenging long-standing myths, this Patrick Dennis examines whether conscripts made any significant difference to the success of the Canadian Corps in 1918. Reluctant Warriors provides fresh evidence that conscripts were good soldiers who made a crucial contribution to the war effort.

The First World War is often credited as being the event that gave Canada its own identity, distinct from that of Britain, France, and the United States. Less often noted, however, is that it was also the cause of a great deal of friction within Canadian society. The fifteen essays contained in Canada and the First World War examine how Canadians experienced the war and how their experiences were shaped by region, politics, gender, class, and nationalism. Editor David MacKenzie has brought together some of the leading voices in Canadian history to take an in-depth look into the tensions and fractures the war caused, and to address the way some attitudes about the country were changed, while others remained the same. The essays vary in scope, but are strongly unified so as to create a collection that treats its subject in a complete and comprehensive manner. Canada and the First World War is a tribute to esteemed University of Toronto historian Robert Craig Brown, one of Canada's greatest authorities on the Great War World War One. The collection is a significant contribution to the on-going re-examination of Canada's experiences in war, and a must-read for students of Canadian history.