Canada's Role in Ww1

It goes without doubt that Canada played a key role in World War One, but just how important were they? Well, while they may not have had the largest army, they had the most dedicated, as they had the largest percentage of their population, with 650,000 citizens of the 7.5 million people population enlisting in the Royal Canadian Army by the end of the War.

At the beginning of the War, when Britain declared war on Germany, Canada was pulled into the conflict as it was still in the dominion of Great Britain. However, their army and navy consisted of just 3,100 men and two warships. However, as military training was required to graduate in Canada at the time, the nation was well prepared and equipped with men who had strong minds and could do well in battle. On the Western Front, the Canadians were a force to be reckoned with. They were mostly an offensive juggernaut, but that cost their army heavily. At the Battle of Ypres in 1917, when the Germans launched the first gas attack, the French retreated, but the Canadians refused to let up their ground, and stayed put. At the end of the three days when the British relieved them, the battalion had lost 6,000 men, or half the troops.

At Vimy Ridge, the Germans had set up concrete trenches, and the French and British could not secure the ridge. So, Commander Arthur Currie, being the genius he was, came up with the “creeping barrage”, which was a shield of shelling behind which the Canadian Royal Army would advance. This forced the opposition into the trench bunkers, so that the Canadians could make headway between the trenches. This ended up being a major turning point in the War and for Canada, as Canada was given the freedom of no longer being under the control of a British Commander, and could now place a Canadian born at the helm of the Royal Army.

The effect of Canada’s motility was them being an unexpected threat to the Germans. The Germans would have much preferred