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A. Prelude to War
From HCO Jr
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"In such fires as this are nations forged."
C.P. Stacey
The War to End All Wars?
Contents |
The war was fought between the Triple Entente (England, France, and Russia and later the United States), and the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy) between August 1914 and November 11, 1918. It was caused by a devil's brew of economic rivalries, imperial pride, petty nationalism, reckless diplomacy, collapsing empires and militaristic posturing. All the ingredients were there for a small spark to become a raging blaze.
World War I had a monumental impact on the future course of world history. It saw the end of great empires. It redrew the map of Europe. It sparked the Russian Revolution. It saw the first "total war", involving civilians. And it led to major advancements in military technology such as the fighter plane and the tank.
The extent of the casualties was beyond belief. Almost 15 million people, military and civilian, died. About 7 million were prisoners or listed as missing. More than 21 million were wounded. Financially, the costs were staggering - best estimates put the final figure at over $200 billion.
The Western Front
Britain and the Empire lost almost a million men during World War I. Most died along the Western Front, a line stretching 600 km from the Swiss border to the North Sea. This line of trenches, dug-outs and barbed-wire fences moved very little between 1914-1918, despite attempts on both sides to break through.
For Canada, as for the world, the Great War was a watershed event. The war witnessed major changes to Canada's landscape. Canada "came of age" during the conflict, with increasing autonomy and international recognition. The country experienced growing continental ties with the US. Women emerged in the labour force, and the first Canadian women won the vote. French Canada fought an intense battle over conscription.
World War One also marked the true emergence of Canadian nationalism and a growing sense of identity. On a per capita basis, the price exacted from Canadians was incredibly high. Of the slightly more than 600 000 who enlisted, more than 60 000 were killed. Almost three times that number, about 175 000 were wounded. The financial costs were once again staggeringly high. The final bill for the country was in excess of two billion dollars. And yet the Canadian army won perhaps the most important battle in the War, the capture of Vimy Ridge, which turned the tide of victory.
"A national spirit was born, and now to be British was not enough;
we were Canadian and could do a good job of paddling our own canoe."
Larry Worthington, Canadian General, on Vimy Ridge and World War I
Amid the Guns Below: The Story of the Canadian Corps, 1914-19
The true significance of World War One, both for Canada and for the world, cannot be found simply in the numbers. The war ended the romantic nineteenth century conception of war. It radically altered the geo-political reality of the World and totally altered the future of the twentieth century. Robert Graves, the noted British author, captured the sense of that 'end-of-an-era' spirit in his brilliant autobiography, "Goodbye To All That."
Canada, like the rest of the world, was irrevocably changed by the war years of 1914 to 1918. It was wracked by a divisive conflict between English and French over conscription that had lasting social and political effects. Because so many Canadian men were overseas fighting, women took over their jobs in factories and offices as well as taking over the running of family farms. Not surprisingly, women began demanding, and quickly received, greater recognition and rights, most notably with the granting of the right to vote.
The Canadian heroes that emerged from the War, coupled with the tremendous bravery shown by thousands of anonymous soldiers on the battlefields of the Western Front, resulted in a tremendous strengthening, if not, as some such Pierre Berton, have suggested, the birth, of Canadian nationalism.
Quite simply, World War One, what American President Woodrow Wilson idealistically called in his war declaration to Congress, "the war to end all wars" was a defining event for both Canada and the world.
The First Global War
On Sunday, June 28, 1914, a young Serbian nationalist shot and killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, during a visit to Sarajevo in Bosnia. The assassination went almost unnoticed in Canada, and few suspected that it would lead to war.
The Austro-Hungarians were convinced that the Serbian government was involved in the murder. Backed by Germany, they sent a harsh ultimatum to Serbia, then declared war and invaded the slavic country. Russia, self-proclaimed protector of the Slav peoples, mobilized its troops. Germany declared war on Russia on August 1, and on France two days later. Although Britain was not bound by a formal treaty, Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Gray had made an informal agreement to join the French.
On August 3, Germany asked Belgium's permission to march their forces through their country to quell a disturbance in France. Germany promised that there would be no damage to Belgium property and if, in the unlikely event such damage did occur, the German government would compensate them. However, the Belgians refused and on August 4, faced the full force of the German army.
Britain sent an ultimatum to the Kaiser demanding withdrawal of German troops and reminding Germany of the 1839 treaty with Prussia that guaranteed Belgian neutrality. The ultimatum was ignored. It expired at midnight on August 4, plunging Britain into war.
Both sides turned to their allies for help. Britain's Dominions heeded the call, and the Allies (the Entente) were joined by Japan, in 1914, and Italy, in 1915, while Turkey lined up with Germany and Austria. Other countries were drawn into the conflict, until by 1917 all the countries of the world were involved.
First Blood at the Marne & Ypres
The Germans, French and Russians quickly put their elaborate war plans into effect. German General Alfred von Schliefflen's "Schlieffen Plan placed a premium on speed. He knew Germany could not fight a two-front war, so the Plan called for a lightning strike to capture Paris in the West before the Russians could mobilize in the East. Von Schlieffen warned his countrymen to "keep the left flank strong" as German forces marched over Belgium and attempted to take Paris from the north. His plan also called for the blocking of all ports to prevent French escape or reinforcements. As well, Schlieffen correctly believed that France would attack in the south in order to recapture the lost provinces of Alsace and Lorraine.
Three crucial factors brought down the German plan. One factor was the unexpected resistance offered by Belgium, and quick action by the Allies. The second was the surprisingly strong fight put up by the French. The French troops, recognizing the weakness in the German lines, especially 'the left flank", struck hard with all their remaining troops, which pulled German troops from the main assault force aimed at Paris. The third factor that spelt the end of the Plan was that Russian forces mobilized much quicker than expected and began to invade German on the east. The German response was to pull sizable number of troops from the main force targeting Paris in order to protect its eastern front.
Von Schlieffen's plan almost succeeded, His massive armies marched through Belgium, battering the fortified cities of Liège and Namur, and wheeled southward into France. A small British Expeditionary Force made a determined stand at Mons, but the "Old Contemptibles" were forced to retreat in face of superior manpower. Some German units advanced almost as far as the suburbs of the French capital. But Belgian resistance had weakened the German advance, and the French and British counter-attacked, at the First Battle of the Marne, driving the Germans back to a line along the Aisne River.
The Schlieffen Plan failed, but so too did France's "Plan XVII", as German troops in Alsace and Lorraine repelled the French invasion. On the eastern front, the Russians moved more rapidly than expected, forcing the Austro-Hungarians to retreat, and advancing into Eastern Prussia. But the Germans under von Hindenburg inflicted a crushing defeat on the Czar's armies at Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes.
Back in the west, German and Allied armies tried to outflank each other in a desperate bid to gain the Channel ports. On October 29 the German army made one final dash to reach the ports but the British Expeditionary Force and their French allies held out at Ypres in Flanders against overwhelming odds. Britain lost a large part of her regular army at Ypres.
The war of rapid movement ground to a halt, and the two great enemy armies became completely deadlocked along a six-hundred mile front of impregnable trenches. For the next four years there was little change. As attack after attack failed to penetrate the enemy lines the toll in human lives grew rapidly, and the Western Front became an area of bloody stalemate.
Canada & Newfoundland Enter the War
Britain's declaration of war automatically brought Canada and Newfoundland (which won dominion status in 1907) into war. There was no discussion, no debate, and no vote in Parliament. Prime Minister Robert Borden simply rose in the House of Commons to confirm Canada's willingness, if not eagerness, to come to the defense of Britain and the Empire. As he put it, Canada's duty was to stand "shoulder to shoulder with Britain.
Wilfrid Laurier, the leader of the opposition Liberal Party, followed the Prime Minister. He also spoke in favour of joining the war effort, proclaiming: "It is our duty to let Great Britain know and to let the friends and foes of Great Britain know that there is in Canada but one mind and one heart and that all Canadians are behind the Mother Country." He promised French Canada's support in the coming campaign. When asked to respond to the call, Laurier believed that Canadians must answer: "Ready, aye, ready!"
Laurier's sentiment matched the mood of the nation. There was a fairly universal and unquestioned belief across the Canada that in the face of this great international disaster, Canada should come immediately to the aid of the Britain, Belgium and France.
Borden formally offered Canadian assistance to Great Britain. The offer was accepted, and immediately orders were given for the mobilization of a Canadian expeditionary force.
There was a tremendous rush to the colours in the opening weeks of the war declaration. Posters, rallies, and flyers all encouraged men to join up. Patriotic young Canadians from Victoria to Charlottetown (Newfoundland was not yet a part of the Dominion) marched down to recruiting offices. More than 30 000 men volunteered, two-thirds of them recent British immigrants. Later in the war, Canadian women mounted a 'white feather campaign.' They would pin a white feather to the lapel of men in Canada who they believed were shirking their duty by failing to enlist.
Managing & Financing the War
The feeling among many was that the war would be short, glorious, and victorious, with many believing that the troops would be home by Christmas. Many also saw the coming war as a way to revitalize the economy and create jobs in the middle of an economic downturn. They could not know that they were facing four long years of death and destruction in a war revolutionized by technology - with rapid-fire machine guns, high explosive shells, poisonous chlorine and mustard gas attacks, with huge new battleships and stealthy submarines, and with new motorized weapons never seen before - armoured tanks and airplanes.
The sad reality was that the Great War quickly became a long drawn out stalemate, a war of attrition, with trench warfare a long and costly strategy that wasted thousands of lives with scant little result. The other reality at the outset of the war was that Canada, despite the initial enthusiasm and optimism, was woefully unprepared to enter a world conflict. Its entire regular army consisted of only 3,110 men and a militia of 50 000. Its fledgling navy was made up of two ships, ancient ones at that, the 'Rainbow' and the "Niobe' purchased from Britain. There was no such thing as a Canadian air force.
Prime Minister Borden intended to put the country on a total wartime footing, and Parliament quickly passed the War Measures Act. Under the Act, the Cabinet put through a number of Orders-in-Council to take control over military and militia affairs, trade and the economy, transportation and communication. The government could arrest, detain, and deport suspected enemies without having to meet previous legal protections, and imposed more rigid censorship requirements.
The government also realized that the families of soldiers had to be supported since often they were the sole breadwinners. The government passed a law entitling all families of soldiers to an allowance of $30 per month.
Citizens began to be encouraged to embark on conservation drives. Shortly, they would be asked to defray the cost of the way by buying Victory Bonds. In short, Canadians scrambled to put their nation on an immediate war footing.
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