The service of a true Canadian soldier was fulfilled by Corporal Nathan Hornburg in the Canadian Army for a span of 6 years (2001-2007) and joined in the King’s Own Calgary Regiment unit. His contribution in the Canadian Army was a series of many duties such as national defence, regional defence, internal stability, peacekeeping, search and rescue, natural disasters, and criminal interdiction. Therefore, it was his responsibility to serve in any one of these duties if he is appointed for the purpose of any one of these important functions of the army. The Afghanistan War was the most crucial task in his military career, which had a major contribution of Canadian troops in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Kandahar, Afghanistan was the city…
Acquiring new status as scouts, officers, instructors and snipes. A very famous member was Corporal Francis Pegahmagabow, an Ojibwa from the Parry Island Band near Parry Sound, Ontario. He received the Military Medal and two bars for his bravery and effectiveness as a sniper. First Nation women were also known to have made contributions on the homefront and battlefront. As women were not permitted to join the Canadian military as soldiers during the war, most joined to serve as nurses both overseas and on the homefront. The number of Aboriginal nurses from Canada is unknowable but as it is possible that Aboriginal women's service as nurses went unrecorded. There exists a record of one Canadian First Nations nurse, Charlotte Edith Anderson Monture, she was the first First Nations woman to work as a trained nurse in Canada.,She joined the American Expeditionary Force, Army Nurse Corp, and served in France from 1917-1919 before returning to Six Nations in Canada.…
Sir Julian Byng was the 12th Governor General of Canada and was the Commander of all the Canadian Corps during the Battle of Vimy Ridge, which meant that he was in charge of all Canadian Corps that fought in the battle. Sir Arthur Currie was the commanding officer of the first Canadian division during the war and was mostly responsible for the winning of the ridge. Currie was the first Canadian General, he got promoted after Julian Byng was promoted and was moved up to a different part of the force. Currie was in the right place at the right time because with Byng moving up, Currie had the chance to command all of the first Canadian corps. Currie was born and raised to fight and command so it wasn’t a difficulty when he was asked to Command the First Canadian Corps.…
* Jeffry Amherst – He is best known as one of the victors of the French and Indian War, when he conquered Louisbourg, Quebec City and Montreal. He was also the first British Governor General in the territories that became Canada. Many places and streets are named after him, in Canada and the United States.…
The Battle of Vimy Ridge, the expansion of women's rights and freedom, and conscription are three times in history that shaped Canada's identity as an independent nation during WW1. Canada was automatically sent to go to war on August 4, 1914, when Britain declared war. However, Canada was not prepared for war. During the war, Canada’s priorities shifted from defending their mother country Britain to defending their own country. When the war started Canada had 33,000 volunteers (enough to form one division) and by 1916 they had four divisions which, was just the start of Canada as an independent nation.…
Before the war had begun, Canada’s main focus was not on becoming stronger by building the military, but on developing the country in other ways such as promoting immigration. Almost all of Canadian soldiers were volunteers, which illustrates how Canada did not have a real army before the war began. Canada had a regular army of just over 3000 people out of over 600 000 Canadians that served in the war (Swettenham, 1). Canada’s small military power is also demonstrated when compared to other countries. By 1914, Britain had a regular army of almost 245,000 troops (“British...” par. 2); France had an army of 777,000 regular troops in 1914 (“French...” par. 1); Russia, the largest of them all, had 1,400,000 soldiers when they entered the war (“Glossary...” par. 1). Taking a look at these numbers shows just how small Canada’s army of 3000 was. The most significant country to compare to Canada was Germany, as the North German Confederation and the Canadian confederation were both created n 1867 (Swettenham, 1). Compared with Canada’s regular army of just over 3000 soldiers, Germany had a huge 856 000 soldiers only in their regular army (Swettenham, VIII). Germany was much more devoted to building a large army that challenged Britain’s great army, while Canada was not committed to…
Another huge contribution to Allied victory would be the British Air Commonwealth Training Program, otherwise known as the BCATP. Some may argue that this was the most significant and successful Canadian involvement in the war effort. The BCATP was under the control of the Royal Canadian Air Force and was designed to train pilots, navigators, and other air personnel. Training bases could be found all over Canada and were used to successfully produce 50 000 pilots, 25 000 navigators, and 57 000 other air crew members. Out of the 132 000 trained, 55 percent, or 72 600 graduates were Canadians. Thanks to Canada's involvement with the BCATP we were able to win many battles including the Battle of Britain, which was fought in…
References: Barris, Ted (2007). Victory at Vimy: Canada Comes of Age, April 9-12 1917. Toronto: Thomas Allen Publishers.…
On August 4th 1914, England went to war with Germany. As part of the great English empire, our country of Canada was dragged into the war as well. As soon as England declared war, we threw our full-fledged support England’s way. Primarily this meant we provided troops and resources to the war effort. Before World war one began, our army was miniscule and held little power. After war was declared on England however, our army grew by the thousands, as many of our citizens felt obligated to help the motherland. By 1919 a total of six hundred thousand Canadian men and woman participated in the war effort as nurses, soldiers and chaplains, this number does not include the people on the home front who contributed to the war effort. 3…
Canadian General Arthur Carrie planned a new strategy which led to a significant victory for the Allies. The preparation was taken very seriously. Every day Canadian soldiers practiced “ Every stage of attack to the last detail” (Eaton and Newman 170) until the day they attack. Since the soldiers practiced every day when it was time for them to attack, they knew what to do without hesitation. The preparations for this battle was very detailed. Currie had planes take photos of German trenches and artillery to pinpoint exact locations to build a full scale mock-up of Vimy ridge so they can mark key positions for soldiers to practice.(Eaton and Newman 170) This gave Canadians an upper hand in this battle as they knew exact locations of German trenches and battery. This shows that the preparations for Vimy Ridge’s Battle were very cunning and…
One nurse who served with the Canadian military during the First World War is Laura Gamble. She was born in Wakefield, Quebec and worked for the Toronto General Hospital before she joined the Canadian Army Medical Corps. She served as a nurse in military hospitals in France, Greece and England and earned a citation and a medal that she was presented during a special ceremony at Buckingham Palace for her work. In one entry into her diary she talks about risking her life by going to the front. Laura Gamble was one of the brave nurses who served in the Canadian military during World War One.…
There is a common saying:” Nations are made in war.” According to many, Vimy Ridge was the first time when Canadians really felt a sense of national identity. Just like the famous comment made by Brigadier General Alex Cross "It was Canada from the Atlantic to the Pacific on parade. I thought …that in those few minutes I witnessed the birth of a nation." The Ridge was a key position of the German defence system in northern France. Here the four divisions of the Canadian advanced side by side for the first time. Here the young volunteers from across the nation trained and fought as “Canadians”, not just a part of the Empire. Here the commanders invented the “rolling barrage”. Here a full-scale replica of the battlefield was built and the soldiers trained day and night. At Vimy Ridge, the Canadians captured more ground and prisoners than any previous British attack. However, the battle at Vimy came at a high cost: the 16,000 casualties brought devastation to home while victory was celebrated and the conscription debate shook the fragile unity in the country. Anyway, Vimy Ridge showed that although Canada has never had a huge army or talked about patriotism all the time, her people can fight, and fight well when they need to.…
William Mackenzie King was the grandson of William Lyon Mackenzie, was born in Kitchener (then they called it berlin) on Dec. 17, 1874 he went to school and Studied hard and got his B.A. in law and also got a degree from the University of Toronto, and also studied at the University of Chicago and Harvard University. William Also became a served as a deputy minister of labour from 1900 to 1908 then he was first Elected to the house of commons in 1908, and succeeded Laurier as a leader of the liberal Party in 1919. King also became a Prime Minister when the liberals won the general Election on Dec. 6, 1921. Even though the Meighen’s won the most sets in the general Election of Oct. 29, 1925, King stayed in the office with the help of progressive and Labor members who supported his proposed tariff reductions and an old-age pension Legislation. William had lost his York North seat in the 1925 election but returned to the House of Commons as the member for Prince Albert, following a by- Election on Feb.15, 1926. William’s government was shaken in 1926 by the Revelation that the Customs Department was tainted with corruption and incompetence. King William was also interested in labour coincided with an expansion in manufacturing and a concern elations. King also acted as a conciliator in a number of strikes, his major legislative Achievement being the industrial dispute investigation in the Act of 1907, which delayed Strikes, or lockouts in public utilities or mines until a conciliation board achieved a settlement or published a report. King was defeated in the 1911 for the federal election and in 1917 the Conscription election, but he still maintained his connections with the Liberal party, but during the…
For the sake of national unity, Prime Minister of Canada Mackenzie King of 1935- 1948 did not want to repeat mistakes that had occurred in the past (Quinlan, 50). As World War 1 unfolded Mackenzie King was forced to change his views on conscription (Quinlan, 50). Canada’s military had let in new troops and prepared them for war, during this time they believed conscription would not be necessary (Nelson, 42). The first military conscription divided the country (The diary of William Lyon Mackenzie King). On September 3rd, 1939, Britain and France declared war on Germany following the invasion of Poland by German troops. Mackenzie King held a special seating of Parliament with a vote directly following the debate in the House of Commons; a referendum was the elite alternative to his dilemma. “Are you in favour of releasing the government from any obligations raising men for military service?” this was what Mackenzie King had come up with. After the vote, 82.3 percent of voters, voted yes in Ontario, In British Columbia 79.49 percent vote yes. In Quebec 72.4 voters said “Non” (Quinlan, 50). This was when Mackenzie King found himself in the same position as Borden during the World War 1. Mackenzie was forced to decide between French and English voters. Firstly, for the first time being, Mackenzie King did not enforce conscription, “Not necessarily conscription, but conscription if necessary.” (Quinlan, 51). Furthermore, Mackenzie King had just made his first general tough decision that did not initialize conscription just yet but had to send men to war under the NRMA draft. Lastly, there was an election and Mackenzie made promises that he could not keep. This tells us a lot about Mackenzie and his contribution to the war.…
Dear Mother, It’s been a long time since I had the opportunity to sit down and write you a letter. I miss you and father a lot. I am overjoyed to be writing this letter to you. The mood here is one of jubilation. Our assault on Vimy Ridge began at 5:30 am on Easter Monday, eight days ago. We lost a lot of good boys but I am so very pleased to inform you that the Canucks got the job done! What the French couldn’t do for two years and the Brits too we, Byng’s Boys did in three days. I was assigned to the front line in the trenches as part of the 7th Canadian Infantry Brigade attached to the 4th Canadian Division. This is actually the first time all four divisions got to work together as a unified Canadian Corps. They practiced us to death. The Captain kept going over and over and over every detail of our attack. It got to a point that we could have attacked those Germans in our sleep and you know how much I love my sleep Mother. The morning arrived. The weather was vile. A sleet storm fell on the plains of Douai making the already treacherous ground a quagmire of mud and puddles. Then we unleashed heaven’s fury on the Germans. I cannot describe adequately the sound of the artillery barrage we put upon the Huns. I can only compare it to what an ant might experience sitting on the muzzle end of a machine gun. The unbearable thunder of the shells and the rattle of the machine guns made it unable to hear my own thoughts let alone the chap next to me in the trench. If you looked up Mother, the sky was a carpet of red hot metal. Consistent firing of bullets and shells created an area above the ground where nothing could survive. As a matter of fact I believe I heard that four of our own airplanes were shot down because they flew too low into the onslaught.…