Canada entered World War 1 after Britain declared war on Germany in 1914. Over the course of the war, Canadian troops fought in major battles in Europe such as Ypres, Somme, Vimy Ridge, and Passchendale. Life in the trenches of the Western Front was difficult, as opposing forces faced each other across no man's land. While the war was expected to be over quickly, it led to four years of brutal trench warfare with high casualties and little territory gained. Canada's involvement helped develop a stronger national identity and unity among Canadians.

1. CANADA IN WWI

2. CANADA IN WWI
1. Causes of WWI
2. Canada’s Response
3. War on Land / Battles in Europe
4. Warfare in Air / Sea
5. The War at Home
6. Building Peace
The period before WWI was the high-water mark of imperial
feeling, an era when “imperialism” was not a dirty word.
- historian Daniel Francis

3. Part 1 - Causes of WWI
1. Europeans had forgotten what war was
like
2. Militarism
3. Alliance systems
4. Nationalism
5. Imperialism
6. Assassination of Franz Ferdinand

4. War Was Forgotten
The last war involving a major European
nation had ended in 1878, and the last war
that involved all European nations had
ended in 1815

5. Militarism
• Many European nations were militaristic.
• Most of them had large standing armies,
and because of conscription (compulsory
service in the armed forces), most men
had some military experience.
• Because most wars in the 1800s had
been short, gov’ts felt wars were a good
way to settle international disputes.

6. Alliance System
• European nations had divided themselves into
2 alliance systems
• An attack against one member of an alliance
was treated as an attack against all members
of that alliance
• Although this system was supposed to deter
confrontation, it actually ↑ the likelihood of an
international crisis

7. WWI Alliance System
Triple Alliance
(also called Central
Powers; formed 1884)
• Germany
• Austria-Hungary
• Italy – joined triple
entente in 1915
Triple Entente
(formed 1907)
• France
• Russian Empire
• British Empire

8. Nationalism
• Europeans felt strong devotion to their
countries
• Many believed they had legitimate
grievances with other nations
• And had the right to promote their
international goals at the expense of
others

9. Imperialism
• Imperialism is when a country increases their
power and wealth by bringing additional
territories under their control.
• Before World War 1, Africa and parts of Asia
were points of contention amongst the
European countries. This was especially true
because of the raw materials these areas could
provide.
• The increasing competition and desire for
greater empires led to an increase in
confrontation that helped push the world into
World War I.

10. Assasination of Franz Ferdinand
• On June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand
(heir to the Autro-Hungarian throne) was assass.
In Sarajevo, Bosnia (part of A-H Empire), by a
Bosnian Serb nationalist
• Serbia was a small nation making a claim to
Bosnia
• Austria blamed Serbia and presented a series of
demands
• Russia, Serbia’s ally, objected and Serbia
refused to comply with the demands

11. This Archduke: Not:
Gavrilo Princip was a student
from Belgrade. Born in Bosnia,
he hated Astrian rule

12. • In late July, Austria declared war on
Serbia
• Within a week, all the members of the
alliance systems were at war

13. World Leaders
• Canada – PM Robert Borden
• Great Britain – PM David Lloyd George
• France – PM Georges Clemenceau
• Russia – Czar Nicholas II
• United States – President Woodrow Wilson
• Germany – Kaiser Wilhelm II
• Austria-Hungary – Emperor Franz Joseph

14. Chain Reaction
• Break-down of diplomacy, outbreak of violence,
nations commit to going to war
• July 28: Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia
• July 30: Russia mobilizes its army to defend Serbia
• August 1: Germany declares war on Russia; France
mobilizes army
• August 3: Germany declares war on France
(Schlieffen Plan – attack France, via Belgium, then
focus on Russia)
• August 4: Germany invades Belgium on way to
France; Britain declares war on Germany

15. How Can I remember the
causes of Wwi?
• M
• A
• N
• I
• A

16. Part 2 – Canada’s Response
1. Role of government
2. War Measures act
3. Mobilizing
4. The Economy

17. Role of Government
1. Britain still controlled Canada’s foreign policy:
– When Britain declared war on Germany, Canada
was included automatically.
2. War Measures Act:
– A law meant to ensure “security, defence, peace,
order, and welfare of Canada”
– Gave government immense control over country:

18. 3. Business, transportation, manufacturing,
trade, production, etc.
4. Limit civil liberties (ex. habeas corpus
suspended)
5. “Enemy aliens”: recent immigrants from
Germany and Austria- Hungary could be
deported or imprisoned:
– Carry special ID cards and report regularly to
registration officers
– Over 8000 held in internment camps
– Mail censored
– Publications in “enemy” languages banned

19. Enemy Aliens
• When war broke out, the Cnd gov’t was faced with
what to do with the 500,000 German, Austrian, and
Hungarian people who were residents, and even
citizens of Canada.
• There were fears of sabotage, and suspicion of spies.
• People demanded that the enemy aliens be fired from
their jobs and locked up.
• The gov’t used the War Measures Act to place
restrictions on enemy aliens. They could be arrested
or searched, and many were sent to internment camps
in remote areas. (In reality, the majority interned were
Ukrainians)

20. “Alien enemies" arriving at the
Petawawa Internment Camp
during WWI. During the war
more than 8,500 immigrants
from "enemy" countries were
placed in internment camps
across Canada.
Many labor bosses in Canada laid off
immigrant workers and hired Canadian
born workers in an attempt to be
patriotic. For this reason,
unemployment was very high among the
immigrant population of Canada during
WWI. Internees were paid only 25 cents
for a full day of work, building roads,
building and repairing buildings, and
clearing the rugged land of the Northern
Canadian frontier.

21. Mobilizing Troops
• Enlistment:
– 30,000 Canadians enlisted in the first month
– Reasons: British patriotism, adventure, honour,
travel, a job
– Women – nurses or ambulance drivers
– Minorities – at first not allowed to enlist; eventually
accepted
– Training: Valcartier, Quebec training centre
• Brought Canadians together, developed unity/
identity
• Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF)

22. The Economy
• Sam Hughes:
– Minister of Militia
– Gave manufacturing contracts to friends (war
profiteering)
• Poor quality equipment and supplies (ex. Ross rifle,
leaky
Boots, and trench
equipment)
• Behind schedule
– Fired in 1916

23. Part 3 - War on Land / Battles
1. The Plans
2. Back by Christmas?
3. Life in the Trenches
4. Ypres
5. Somme
6. Vimy Ridge
7. Passchendaele
8. Canada’s 100 Days
http://www.richthofen.com/ww1sum/

24. The plans
• Germany -The Schlieffen Plan
• France – Plan XVII
• Austria-Hungary – Plans B & R
• Russia – Plans G, A, & 19
• Britain – no plan, but keen to protect interests
• Canada – joined Britain automatically
• Belgium – defend German invasion
• Serbia – strike against Austria-Hungary
• United States – neutral until 1917

25. The Schlieffen Plan
• Developed by Count Alfred von Schlieffen (General)
• Move rapidly on France because Russia would take a
long time to mobilize – avoid a 2 front war
• Mislead France and attack from north (Belgium) to fall
on Paris from the west – take 6 weeks
• Then turn all armies on Russia
• Gamble: Britain would not object invasion of Belgium
• But they did. Germany turned south too soon, failed as
they faced France, British Empire (Canada)
• Instead of short campaign, became a horrible war – 4
years of trench warfare begun.

28. France – Plan XVII
• Purpose was to reclaim Alsace and Lorraine
from Germany – entirely offensive
• Made use of belief in mystical élan vital (a
powerful fighting) within every Frenchman
• Advanced on German territory, not planning for
attack through Belgium
• Also underestimating strength of German army
almost let to devastation and thrown on
defense

29. Austria-Hungary – Plans B & R
(assumed war would be limited to Serbia)
Balkans
• 3 armies to invade
Serbia
• 3 guarding Russian
border
• Committed to Schl. Plan
and sent most armies to
the west to help
Germany
Russia
• Revised plan B
• 4 to Russia, 2 to Serbia

30. Russia – Plans G & 19
• G – assumed German full-scaled on them –
false
• Allow them to come into its borders, but win
once fully mobilized – like Napoleon
• 19 – French pressed for more “O” strategy
• Now assumed Germany would ‘go west’ first
• Russia would advance on East Prussia
(Poland)

33. Britain – no plan
• Had no particular desire for war to break out
and no plans for expansion
• Keen to protect interests, trading links with
empire
• Once war broke out, Asquith’s admin. Came to
aid of Belgium and France

34. United States – neutral until 1917
• Determined to stay neutral
• Huge leap in exports to Allies led to a vested
interest
• Germany’s aggressive tactics frowned upon
• Sub warfare brought US to war (Lusitania &
Sussex)
• Wilson proposed plan once peace was esta. –
Fourteen Points & he pushed for League of
Nations to secure ongoing peace -

35. Back by Christmas?
•The war in Western Europe had ground to a halt. In N.
France the two sides dug into trenches and faced each
other across a barren ‘no man’s land’ of barbed wire and
pockmarked craters.
•One of the most brutal stalemates in history, one that
cost millions of lives without advancing more than a few
km in either direction.
•Back to contents page.

36. Life in the Trenches
Victory of First
World War battles
was measured in
mere meters, and
by the vast amount
of bloodshed
resulting from the
slow, painful
advance of Allied or
enemy troops.

37. • The complex system of trenches that created
the 1,030-kilometres long Western Front was
set up into three distinct lines: defense (the
front line), support and reserve.
• Soldiers went up the line in shifts, generally
spending four to six days on the front line, then
moved back to the support section spending
the same amount of time there, and, finally,
spending an equal amount of time on the
reserve line.

38. • Sometimes, less than 90 metres separated you
from the enemy.
• The trenches were ditches, often muddy and
water-soaked, protected by metres of barbed
wire necessary to encourage enemy troops into
open areas where they would be prey for
machine guns.
• Sandbags reinforced the trenches, and troops
often used corrugated iron, wood and anything
else at hand to build up their lines.
• Communications lines connected the front lines
to the second and then reserve trenches
behind.

39. • Life in the trenches was filled with almost
indescribable horror.
• The lines were cesspools of rotting carcasses,
both animal and human.
• Often spending days waiting for a battle to
begin, soldiers were subject to trench raids by
enemy camps, snipers, aerial attacks and
surprise attacks by the enemy using mortars
and grenades.
• While moving up the line to begin your rotation
at the front, soldiers were instructed to keep
their heads down, lest they become prey for an
apt German sniper.

40. • Both sides participated in surprise raids,
reconnaissance missions to steal
information about upcoming attacks or
maps of positions, capture prisoners
and/or destroy enemy lines.

41. The Verdun sector of the Western Front. Millions of exploding
artillery shells completely stripped the land down to bare
ground. In some places, hilltops ended the war several
meters lower in altitude than they were in early 1914.

43. ypres
• Modern warfare was born at Ypres, Belgium, on April
22 1915.
• German army released more than 5,700 cylinders of
chlorine gas into the wind
• A sickly greenish-yellow cloud wafted across no man’s
land, burning their throats and lungs
• Canadian troops rushed in to stop the German
advance
• The line was held again on April 24 with a second gas
attack.
• More than 6,000 Can were dead, missing or wounded

44. German and British soldiers fraternizing
in No Man's Land, Christmas 1914

45. • "Just you think," wrote one soldier to his family, "that
while you were eating your turkey I was out talking
with the very men I had been trying to kill a few hours
before!"
• At Christmas 1914 and again at Christmas 1915,
enemy shook hands with enemy in No Man's Land,
exchanged souvenirs, even played football. The truce
between the trenches extended over two-thirds of the
British line. There were similar cease-fires in the
French and Belgian sectors.
• The outraged staffs on both sides eventually put an
end to these illegal truces. Soldiers were threatened
with court-martial and even execution if they dared to
do such a thing ever again.

46. Somme
• A ‘Big Push’ was launched in July 1916 along the
Somme River – 100,000 troops were to advance
across no man’s land in broad daylight into German
fire – with obvious consequences
• Slaughter – 57,000 British soldiers were killed,
wounded, or missing – heaviest single-day loss ever
by a Brit. Army
• The 1st Newf. Reg. suffered same fate – of 790 who
went over, only 68 answered roll call the next morning
• July 1, 1916 remembered as the darkest day in
Newfoundland history

48. • “the Battle of the Somme was less a battle than it was
a meat grinder” - Will Ferguson
• In 3 months of long-drawn-out warfare, the Allies lost
well over half a million men
• It had become a war of attrition, where the goal was
not to defeat the enemy but simply to outlast him, to
kill more of his men than he did yours
http://www.richthofen.com/ww1sum/

49. Vimy ridge
• Vimy Ridge was a key high ground in N. France
• Germany had taken control of it in1914 and attacks by
the French and British to reclaim it were unsuccessful
• It was Canada’s turn – preparations were careful and
meticulous
• Easter Monday – April 9 , 1917, all 4 div. of the Can
Corps advanced together
• In the cold, wet winds and driving snow and sleet the
Canadians took the hill – captured more guns, ground,
and prisoners than any British offensive
• Called “the most perfectly organized and most
successful battle of the whole war”

50. • It was Canada’s greatest victory, and hailed as a
‘nation-making moment’ that involved Canadians from
every region
• “We went up Vimy Ridge as Albertans and Nova
Scotians. We came down as Canadians”
• After that battle, Canadians were used as storm
troopers, brought in to head the assault in one great
battle after another
• Arthur Currie, the key strategist behind Vimy, was
given command of the entire Canadian Corps – one of
the greatest generals of the war
• Virtual tour of Vimy Ridge: http://www.vac-acc.
gc.ca/remembers/sub.cfm?
source=memorials/ww1mem/vimy/vtour

51. Arthur currie
• When WWI started in 1914, Currie
was given command of the first
Canadian unit to assist Britain.
• Currie could see the advantage of
keeping the Canadians under
Canadian leadership.
• He was a real soldier and a keen
commander who planned and trained
the units under him.
• Currie was put in command of four
divisions and replaced British General
Sir Julian Byng.
• Because of his successful leadership,
he became the first appointed General
of the Canadian Army.
• He took part in every major action of
the Canadian forces on the Western
Front.

52. passchendaele
• Perhaps the most horrific of all (Oct 1917)
• A marshland in Belgium, it became a ‘bottomless mire’
from artillery and heavy rains
• Wounded soldiers drowned, and guns and supplies
disappeared into the soup of mud – waist-deep
• British lost 68,000 in a month, then called Currie in
• Two weeks later, Nov 6, the ridge was taken costing
almost 16,000 Canadian lives
• 500,000 lives from both sides

53. Canadian troops carrying trench mats with
wounded, with prisoners in background, during the
Battle of Passchendaele, 1917.

54. The german drive - 1918
• Spring 1918, mounted a series of grand offensives to
break the Allied front
• The plan was to separate the Allied armies and force a
decision in the west before the Americans arrived – it
nearly succeeded
• Blows in the vicinity of Ypres, Soissons and Reims –
reached the Marne & within 42 miles of Paris
• Build up of American troops provided needed
reserves, while the German morale was shattered

55. Canada’s 100 days
• The final 3 months of the war Aug-Nov 1918
• Canadians acted as a “spearhead to victory”
• Flanked by French & Auzzies, Canadians broke
German lines at Amiens – has been called the most
crucial battle of the war
• Advanced 13 km in one day – stalemate of trench
warfare was over, it was now a quick-running, open
battle, of speed and strategy
• Led by Gen. Currie, 5,000 Germans captured in 1st day
alone – Aug 8 “Black Day” for German army
• At Amiens, the tide had turned
• Next important battles were won at Arras, Cambrai, &
Valenciennes

56. November 11
• Currie shifts fronts to the famed Hindenburg Line – a
series of entrenched fortifications that had taken the
Germans 2 years to build – their main line of defence
• Successive attacks broke through German defences
between Aug 26 & Sept 2, though Canadians suffered
11,400 casualties – Currie ‘one of the finest feats in
history’
• Capture of Cambrai by Oct 11 and continued to
overcome opposition before reaching Mons in Belgium
at the time of the armistice
• On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month
Germany surrended and the Great war came to an
end

59. Part 4 – Air / Sea Warfare
1. Canadians in the Air
2. Canadians at Sea

60. Canadians in the Air
• The airplane, regarded by military authorities in 1914
as little more than a novelty, became over the next
four years a military necessity.
• Remarkable technical advances in aerial warfare
enabled the aircraft to fulfill every expanding functions.
• In the early stages of the war aircraft were used
largely for reconnaissance, to observe enemy troop
movements and spot artillery, and to obtain
photographs and motion pictures.
• Then came the bombers and fighters as airmen
sought to destroy railroad centres and industrial
targets far behind enemy lines, to destroy Zeppelin
bases, and to hunt submarines at sea.

61. • The fighter pilot was one of the elite, one of the
most daring, and his job was one of the most
dangerous. What started out as a hazardous
adventure developed into a science of killing.
• One third of all the fliers died in combat, among
them 1,600 Canadians.
• Canadian airmen played a particularly
significant and brilliant role in the air. No less
than 25,000 Canadians served with the British
air service as pilots, observers and mechanics,
in every theatre of the war.

62. • The names of Canadian flyers as W.A. "Billy"
Bishop, W.G. Barker, Raymond Collishaw and
A.A. McLeod became household names in
Canada.

63. Canadians at Sea
• When the war began in 1914 Canada had an
embryonic naval service consisting of less than
350 men and two ships, HMCS Rainbow and
HMCS Niobe.
• It was decided that Canada's war effort would
be best concentrated on the army and,
therefore, the protection of Canada's coasts
and shipping in Canadian waters was handed
over to the Royal Navy.

64. the outbreak of the First World War, during
which, apart from two submarines, she was the
sole defender of Canada 's western seaboard.

65. • The share of the Royal Canadian Navy in
defence though small was, nevertheless,
important.
• The R.C.N. assumed responsibility for such
services as examining and directing shipping in
Canadian ports; radio-telegraph services, vital
to the Admiralty's intelligence system; operation
of an auxiliary fleet which engaged in mine
sweeping and patrolling operations.
• In 1916, when the threat of submarine warfare
spread to North American waters, the Canadian
government undertook, at the request of the
British Admiralty, to build up a patrol force of
thirty-six ships.

66. • The struggle at sea was chiefly between the
British effort to strangle Germany by naval
blockade; and the German attempt to cut off
Britain's source of food and supply by
submarine warfare.
• Vigilance of the British navy kept most of the
German fleet bottled up in home ports, and at
the same time British warships freed the seas
of German commerce raiders.
• Deprived of the use of surface ships Germany
increasingly resorted to submarine warfare to
bring Britain to her knees.

67. • The German U-boat fleet preyed on enemy and
often neutral ships, sank merchantmen on
sight, and threatened the supply lines on which
the survival of the Allies depended.
• Protests from the United States brought a
reluctant promise in 1915 not to sink ships
without warning, but this greatly reduced the
effectiveness of the submarine as a weapon.
• By the end of 1916 the British blockade was
beginning to be felt severely in Germany.
• The policy was initially spectacularly effective.
Allied shipping losses mounted, reaching a
peak in April 1917 of 869,000 tons.

68. • However, the submarine campaign did not
achieve the expected speedy victory. New
anti-submarine devices, together with the
allied adoption of the convoy system,
gradually overcame the submarine menace.
• On the other hand, by the middle of 1918, the
effects of the British blockade were such that
Germany could not continue the war for much
longer.

69. Part 5 - The War at Home
1. Sacrifice / Rationing
2. Roles of Women / Suffrage
3. Propaganda
4. First Nations
5. Conscription

70. Sacrifice/rationing
• To finance the war effort, cost-saving measures
needed to be implemented in Canada
• Canadians were faced with food rations.
• In farming areas students were dismissed early
from school to help bring in the harvest.
• Daylight savings time was introduced to save
on energy consumption.
• People organized community fund raisers to
help fund the war effort.

71. Raising Funds
The women in this picture are selling
pharmaceutical drugs to help support the
Canadian Patriotic Fund. The fund was
established to give financial and social
assistance to soldiers' families.

72. Conscription

73. Role of Women

74. Propaganda

75. Building Peace
1. Fourteen Points
2. Treaty of Versailles
- perhaps the most important international
agreement of the 20th century.
- reps from the Allied Powers met at the
Paris Peace Conference in early 1919 to
decide what would happen to the defeated
countries.
- The goal was to create an agreement to
prevent another war from occuring.

76. Fourteen Points
• U.S. President Woodrow Wilson released a
document called the Fourteen Points
• He took the document to Paris and tried to convince
the Europeans that these points could be the basis
for a lasting peace.
• Main points:
1. countries should work together (internationalism)
2. for ethnic groups to create new countries based on
their nationalist desires (self-determination).
3. How German lands should be dealt.
4. Austro-Hungarian empire should cease to exist.

77. Treaty of Versailles (summary)
1. The War Guilt Clause.
2. Alsace-Lorraine returned to France.
3. Poland given strip of land to create sea
access (from Germany) – Polish Corridor.
4. All Central Powers was forced to surrender all
of its colonies to the League of Nations.
5. German army limited to 100,000 men; navy
and air force also restricted in size.
6. Germany was forced to surrender its entire
merchant fleet as compensation to the Allies
for shipping losses during the war.

78. 7. The west bank of the Rhine River Valley was
to be de-militarized (border between France &
Germany). Allied armies occupied the
Rhineland for 15 years, but it remained
German.
8. Unification between Austria & Germany was
forbidden.
9. Germany was to pay money and goods to
Britain, France and Belgium to repair
damages from the war.

79. The Big Four and Others of the Peace
Conference (1921). Pictured front, left to right:
Orlando, Lloyd George, Clemenceau and
Wilson; back, left to right, Aldrovandi, Hankey
and Mantoux.

80. 3 MAJOR PROBLEMS CAUSED
BY THESE PROVISIONS
• The first problem resulting from the treaty was the
isolation of Russia from western Europe by buffer
states along its western borders this also prevented
the rights of remaining national minorities.
• The second problem was that the treaty left the
Germany Economy so weak that people became bitter
toward the Weimar Republic and left the door open for
a dictator.
• The third problem was that it eliminated the
opportunity to include Germany in the planning stages
of the League of Nations which later led to the
League's demise.

81. How did WWI and the Treaty of
Versailles change or re-establish a
balance of power?
• Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and
Ottoman Empire lost territory.
• France, Japan, Great Britain, Belgium and Italy
gained territory and power.
• Germany could not even re-militarize and had
huge war debt.
• Changes did not ignore the causes of the war
but they did not correct them.

82. New Nations that were created:
• Yugoslavia was created from Austro-Hungary
territory included Serbia and Montenegro.
• Czechoslovakia from part of German lands and
part of Russian lands
• Four new nations were created: Finland, Latvia
Estonia, Lithuania

83. League of Nations was created by
the Treaty of Versailles
• MAIN PURPOSE OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS:
Maintain peace. Members pledged not to go to
war and submit disputes to arbitration by the
World Court.
• WEAKNESSES: was powerless to enforce
decisions or punish. the members did not take
the League seriously mostly because the major
nations did not join.
•

84. MAJOR NATIONS THAT DID NOT
JOIN
• United States because of the isolationists in the
US Senate who were afraid we would be involved in
another war. Even though the League was proposed
by President Woodrow Wilson in his Fourteen Points
the United States never ratified the Treaty of
Versailles and therefore never joined the League.
• USSR joined later because they were not initially
invited because of their separate peace treaty with
Germany. (Treaty of Brest-Litov)
• Germany was not invited at first because of their
war guilt but joined later.(United States, Germany,
Russia as well as others)