Unit 4: WWI

Question 1

WWI started on

Answer 1

August 1914

Question 2

The Golden Summer of 1914

Answer 2

People looked back on the summer before the war nostalgically, as the “calm before the storm.”

WWI is a war caught up in transition; it is the first time there is a sense that the world is changing and we are entering into modernity (example: sinking of Titanic in 1912). In the summer of 1914, when war breaks out, Canada is totally unprepared.

Question 3

1911 Election

Answer 3

PM of Canada: Sir Robert Borden (1911-1920)

• Conservative Robert Borden wins over Wilfred Laurier in 1911 election
• Laurier’s “tinpot” Navy has been killed, and instead, Borden passes his own Naval Bill in 1912 that essentially hands funds over to Britain
• The problem is that, in 1912, the Bill must go to the Senate, and the Upper House is dominated by Liberals who refuse to pass Borden’s Naval Bill in 1912
• The house is full of old men who get these positions as rewards for serving in parties
• The war breaks out, and after discussing defense and contribution for 15 years, Canada has done nothing
• In August 1914, WWI begins and Canada is totally unprepared
• 600 000 troops out of Canada’s population of 8 million are sent to battle in Europe.
• From 1914 to 1919, everything changed
• Canada has never even come close to dealing with a crisis of this size

Question 4

Why did WWI begin?

Answer 4

Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand.

Question 5

How do changes in communication affect the war?

Answer 5

There is a national press, and everyone is receiving the same news and the same stories. The power of media fosters the nations and the news they receive about war.

Question 6

When does Canada declare war in WWI?

Answer 6

In 1914, Canada declares war when Britain declares war. The Empire controls foreign policy.

Question 7

How does Canada respond to war breaking out?

Answer 7

Initial Enthusiasm
Canada is initially excited, and patriotic, and thinks war will be over by Christmas.
The economy has begun to fall by 1910-11 and there is an economic downturn, so the war is an opportunity for work. The war is also an opportunity for travel and adventure for young boys.

There are massive amounts of enthusiasm, excitement, patriotism, pro-British sentiment.

Very few oppose Canada’s involvement in the war

When the war begins, there is spirit of national unity and formation of national consciousness. However, the war is incredibly divisive for Canada; Canada emerges from the war with extreme, fundamental divisions that take decades to heal.

Question 8

What is the starting point of divisions in Canada that result from the war?

Answer 8

When Winston Churchill told Laurier that the time will come when Britain calls on Canada.

Question 9

How is Quebec going to respond?

Answer 9

For Quebec, there cannot be conscription. Laurier makes it clear that there will be no conscription in the Boer War, and Borden makes the same promise to Quebec. He can say that as PM in 1914, because of the amount of enthusiasm in Canada about war.

Canada has never even come close to dealing with a crisis of this size.

Question 10

What is the major change that comes out of the Great War?

Answer 10

The Rise of the State.

Question 11

Sam Hughes (a veteran of the Boer war):

Answer 11

In charge of recruitment and getting Canada’s military effort together, and he does a good job.

Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF): Canadian Army

• Canadians will fight under British or French officers because there are no Canadian generals
• Canada relies on colonial British forces for leadership; there is a sense of colonialism from the British and Canadians feel it
• It’s 1915 by the time Canadians are making their way to Britain
• Canada does not head straight to the Western front because they are not well-trained soldiers
• They spend a lot of time in Britain training and face one of Britain’s wettest, dampest winters ever and they are getting frustrated and want to get onto the front and fight

Question 12

Technological Innovations

Answer 12

1. Mustard Gas, Chlorine Gas (Canadians are some of the first to experience these)
2. Tanks (used by the end of the war to break through the trenches; trench warfare & camoflouge)
3. Machine Gun
4. Massive Artillery (scars the land in a way that has never happened; constant shelling in wet, rat-infested trenches where bodies cannot be buried )
5. Barbwire (seen as cowardly until now)
6. Submarines (pivotal in bringing the US into the war

Question 13

The War Measures Act

Answer 13

The War Measures Act suspends civil liberties (e.g. the right to the justice system and judicial review) and censors the press (i.e. suspends the freedom of the press). It gives the police the power to arrest anyone who is suspected of treason, and detain them indefinitely without charging them. It was implemented three times in Canadian history.

It was first implemented in WWI (1914-1919) by Robert Borden’s Conservative government. Canada sets up internment camps for those whom Canada deems “enemy aliens” (such as Germans, Turks, and mainly Ukrainians). Canada detains Ukrainians throughout the war. Freedom of the press and freedom of speech are suspended during the war, and the newspapers are totally sanctioned, and all letters coming home and all news are censored. Ultimately, there is a Propaganda Machine at work. The War Measures Act is especially significant in WWI because it suspends the 1915 election to 1917, and this is when the government’s promise of no conscription to Quebec is broken.

Question 14

1915: Battle of Ypres (Kitchener’s Wood)

Answer 14

2000 Canadians are dead

Question 15

1915 and 1916: The Somme

Answer 15

24 000 Canadians are dead

5 divisions in France and Belgium

Newfoundlanders are not fighting as Canadian troops in the Great War, they are their own dominion, but they join Canadians on the Somme.

1 million casualties on both sides of 1 battle on the Western front

Question 16

1 June 1916: Battle of Montsorrel

Answer 16

8000 Canadians are dead

Canadians perform well

Question 17

How did Canadian Soldiers perform in Battle? What changed in mid-1916?

Answer 17

Canadians were making a great name for themselves through their fighting, but they are letting their emotions show with regard to unhappiness about their European leadership.

Question 18

What important events occur in 1917 to lead to Conscription?

Answer 18

Vimy Ridge
Russian Revolution
Enthusiasm Wanes
Rise of Anti-Quebec and Anti-Immigrant Sentiment
Conscription
Wartimes Election; Wartimes Election Act

Question 19

1917: Vimy Ridge

Answer 19

By 1917, it looks like the allies will lose and not be able to stop germany. Britain requires more troops for a final push to stop Germany, and so, Vimy Ridge happens. This is a critical moment in Canadian history. Thus far, WWI has been a good victory in Canada and the CEF was a great source of pride at the time for Canadians.

Question 20

1917: Russian Revolution

Answer 20

In 1917, Russia collapses because of the Russian Revolution. This is the most important historical event of the twentieth century. This ends the Eastern front, and Germany is no longer fighting on two fronts. Russia is out for the war, and ends communism and the Russian Revolution. By the end of 1917 and in to 1918, the Germans put up a massive offensive front, and it looks like it could be all over for the allies. Also, in 1917, the United States enters the war, which is critical.

Question 21

1917: Enthusiasm Wanes

Answer 21

Around 1917, the post-war patriotism and enthusiasm wanes and shows up in the decline of recruitments. This happens at the exact time that Borden is in Europe and recognizing the need for one final push against Germany.Borden decides that Canada MUST enforce Conscription, and go against their promise to Quebec and many others in Canada (farmers, pacifists, lower class, etc.).

Question 22

1917: Rise of Anti-Quebec and Anti-Immigrant Sentiment

Answer 22

On the one hand, we have a propaganda machine pumping out the idea of “unity” and the need for everyone in Canada to unify on the same side in the war (Internal Pressure Build), and on the other hand, we have a rise in anti-Quebec sentiment and resentment against immigrants. In a country of recent immigrants, it is not find to hard the “enemy.” People are not happy that their boys are fighting and dying in war, while people down the street have their families at home. Anti-ethnic sentiment (anti-ethnic/foreign/immigrant) builds during the war, and produces great deals of racism.

Question 23

1917: Conscription

Answer 23

In 1917, Robert Borden returns home to Canada. There should have been an election in 1915, but the War Measures Acts allowed it to be postponed for 2 years, and so a new election has to happen in 1917. This is important because this is when the promise to Quebec is broken. Henri Bourassa looks at the Great War and sees a capitalist, imperial war which he is willing to support as long as there is no conscription. However, by 1917, Borden and the Conservative party decides that they will enforce conscription. Upon doing so, he alienates Quebec by breaking a promise. In July 1917, the Military Service Act is passed, which is the official title of the conscription bill (although recruitment did not begin until January 1918).

Question 24

1917: Wartimes Election

Answer 24

A coalition government - the call for a united government (for an effective, efficient war effort) - is common during wartimes. Borden proposes a coalition government to Laurier and the Liberals, and is rejected because Laurier, as a Liberal, is opposed to Conscription (and foresees that is he joins a coalition, he will hand Quebec’s Liberal support over to the Nationalists). Most English-Canadian Liberals support Robert Borden and his coalition government and conscription, and this causes a major divide amongst Liberals (the supporters and non-supporters of Laurier), therefore temporarily killing the Liberal Party. Many English-Canadian Liberals at the provincial and federal level went against Laurier to join a Union government. The 1917 Election is between Robert Borden and the Conservative Party and Wilfred Laurier and the Liberal Party.

Question 25

1917: Wartimes Election Act

Answer 25

In 1917, the Wartimes Election Act is passed which is a piece of legislation that gives women the vote. The federal government give into the women’s suffrage movement, and women gain the federal vote in 1917, but not all women. In 1912, women gained vote in Manitoba - then Saskatchewan, then Ontario, then Maritimes. Only Quebec does not give women the right to vote, which highlights the power of the Catholic Church in Quebec. Women do not gain the provincial right to vote in Canada until 1940. This act is a piece of political, pre-election manipulation. It is given to the wives, mothers, sisters and daughters of servicemen because they support Conscription, the issue of the Election of 1917. The vote is given to white, anglo-saxon women and taken away from all alien-subjects (foreigners) in Canada. The Wartimes Election Act guarantees a result that was likely already guaranteed. Soldiers overseas could vote, but Canada decides in which provinces they want these votes to belong to. In 1917, Robert Borden and the Conservative Party win. The pro-British vote is overwhelmingly unionist. Quebec votes overwhelmingly Liberal, and Laurier has guaranteed a Liberal majority in Quebec for the future.

Question 26

What is one of the positives that comes from WWI?

Answer 26

As we get to the end of 1917, there are 160 000 casualties and 173 000 are wounded in Canada from the war. There is a demand, even from the Conservative government, to give Canada more of a say. Borden is spending most of his time in Europe pushing for the representation on the Imperial War Council. Britain concedes in the incredible sacrifices and contributions made by its dominions and Empires (it focuses on its white, self-governing dominions) and a new organization comes out from it called The Imperial Conferences held every 3 years in London, England, where the leaders of the white, self-governing dominions are invited to go and have a say and voice in its own foreign policy. This is one positive that comes from the war for Canada, and brings a new sense of self and nationalism. It is a silver lining to what is ultimately a catastrophe (the amount of lives lost).

Question 27

What is the result of the 1917 Conscription Issue & Election for Canada?

Answer 27

Ultimately, the issue of Conscription in 1917 - the issue of the 1917 election - strained national unity in Canada and was utterly divisive. National parties formed on the basis of ethnic and regional lines, rather than industrial and political lines.

Question 28

Women and WWI

Answer 28

It seems like women are making gains, because they have gained the right to vote (top political issue of the suffrage movement)
Women are entering traditionally male jobs (factories) and it is not seen as offensive to the patriarchy, because when the men return home, it is expected that women will go back to their traditional role in the household

Women also get prohibition brought into Canada by the end of the war, largely by shaming men for wasting resources, money and time by drinking alcohol

Only Quebec does not join prohibition

Question 29

In WWI, the last of the schools question arises

Answer 29

1915: Ontario

During the Great War, the Ontario government passes Resolution 17.

Resolution 17: limits taxpayers money going to Catholic schools and makes new provisions and requirements which it does not feel French, Catholic schools will be able to meet.

Question 30

1915: Ontario Schools Question

Answer 30

The ethnic divisions exacerbated by the Great war took the form of another schools question, and rose in Ontario. By 1910, French Canadians who had been moving into northern and eastern Ontario since the late nineteenth century made up 10 percent of the province’s population. The Franco-Ontario government appealed to the government to protect bilingual schools. The Orange Order and Irish Catholics attacked the schools on the justification of poor quality, but it in reality it was because they were French. Irish Catholics favoured Catholic schools, but not bilingual, fearing that it would give the French Canadians control over the separate school system. This schools question was more about language, than religion.

In 1912, under Ontario Premiere James Whitney, the Ontario government passes Regulation 17. It limits taxpayers money going to Catholic schools and makes new provisions and requirements which it does not feel French, Catholic schools will be able to meet. Franco-Ontarians received support from Quebec and Henri Bourassa, who viewed the real enemy of the war as the English Canadians in Ontario. The Ontario government did not find a solution until 1927. This highlights how the war poisoned relations between ethnic groups in Canada, especially between the French and English.

Question 31

Economic Calamity

Answer 31

The Great War is an economic disaster; the war guts the economies of the allied nations.

• Only the US does well during the war
• Rising inflation is a major issue in Canada, that Canada had not seen before
• The state is becoming increasingly powerful during the Great War
• Canada goes into major debt
• The state is taking on roles that it does not want to, but feels it has to
• John Maynard Keynes: Deficit-Financing (publishes books such as “how to pay for the great war”)
• Countries are trying to avoid the economic mistakes that they made in WWI
• At the end of the war, we enter Economic Recession
• There was already an economic recession in Canada before the war in the 1910s, but it was temporarily delayed by war
• When the soldiers are coming home after war, having spent 4 years in the trenches in war, wondering what the sacrifice was for, they are assuming that they will come back to a great nation
• Instead, they return to Economic Recession and Rising Unemployment

Question 32

Economic Calamity

Answer 32

The Great War is an economic disaster; the war guts the economies of the allied nations.

• Only the US does well during the war
• Rising inflation is a major issue in Canada, that Canada had not seen before
• The state is becoming increasingly powerful during the Great War
• Canada goes into major debt
• The state is taking on roles that it does not want to, but feels it has to
• John Maynard Keynes: Deficit-Financing (publishes books such as “how to pay for the great war”)
• Countries are trying to avoid the economic mistakes that they made in WWI
• At the end of the war, we enter Economic Recession
• There was already an economic recession in Canada before the war in the 1910s, but it was temporarily delayed by war
• When the soldiers are coming home after war, having spent 4 years in the trenches in war, wondering what the sacrifice was for, they are assuming that they will come back to a great nation
• Instead, they return to Economic Recession and Rising Unemployment

Question 33

How does the state become increasingly powerful (and increasingly involved) during the Great War?

Answer 33

Examples:

Railways: The federal government nationalizes the Canadian railway system.

Taxation: In 1917, the government begins to tax the population directly.

Wheat: Canadian government sets up the wheat board to stabilize and control the price of grains and wheat which the farmers struggled with.

Question 34

WWI was a disaster

Answer 34

This is exemplified through the Halifax Explosion

1917: The Halifax Explosion
2000 dead, 9000 injured, Halifax waterfront entirely destroyed

• In any history, this would be a massive event, and yet it has received little attention by historians
• This shows the state of mind of people after 5 years of war as it comes to an end
• People are so accustomed to death that it does not have much of an impact

1918: Crossing the Canal du Nord
- In September 2018, after 100 days of planning, the Canadian corps attacked across the Canal du Nord (Western Front) in a high-risk operation against the Germans

Spanish Influenza
At the end of the war, the Spanish influenza hits
500 million people infected, 20 million dead globally, 50 000 Canadians die of the flu epidemic (and 60 000 in war)

• And still, there is little historical attention paid to this epidemic and its severity

Question 35

WWI was utterly divisive

Answer 35

• Canadian politics became even further divided and split into groups
• The conscription crisis, occurring at the centre of the Imperial question, heightens the Imperial question even more
• Canada is the most divided it has ever been at the start of WWI, and becomes even more divided during the war

Question 36

WWI devastated economies of the Western World

Answer 36

• Modern states and economies that are on the rise have to deal with a crisis of this magnitude that they are unprepared for and many mistakes are made
• Inflation, Unemployment, How to pay for the war
• An economic disaster

Question 37

Personal Issues for Vets

Answer 37

• No veterans affairs in place (no pensions, no canteen funds, etc.)
• No knowledge about PTSD
• Veterans return from war to their homes and farms and are very poorly treated by an unprepared state apparatus

Question 38

Major Outcomes of the War for Canada

Answer 38

Disaster
Utterly Divisive
Devastated Economies of the Western World
Personal Issues for Vets