Canada Declares War!! (Actually, Britain declares war and Canada just does what it’s told)

Remember: MANIA What does M.A.N.I.A. stand for? M: Militarism A: Alliances/treaties N: Nationalism I: Imperialism A: Assassination (Franz Ferdinand and his wife)

Canada Mobilizes for War When Britain declared war on Aug. 4, 1914, Canada was automatically committed to fight on her side As part of the British Empire, Canada could not conduct its own foreign affairs The only decision that Canada could make was how far they would go in supporting the war effort.

The “Mother Country” More than ½ of Canadians were of British descent Britain – the “Mother Country” The United States saw WWI as a European conflict and didn’t enter until April 1917 The U.S., however, provided supplies

Recruitment Response Canada was in a depression at the start of the war (unemployment, closing of businesses, drought) Liberal leader (until 1911) Wilfrid Laurier: “It is our duty… to let Great Britain know… that there is in Canada but one mind and one heard, and that all Canadians stand behind the Mother Country… engaged in war” (Colyer, Cecillion, Draper, & Hoogeveen, 2010).

Prime Minister Robert Borden promised Britain that Canada would provide all the help she could Initial plans called for 25,000 troops – over 30,000 volunteers signed up in the first two months In the beginning, support for the war was high throughout Canada Both English and French Canadians were largely in favour of joining the fight

Sir Sam Hughes Sir Sam Hughes was the Canadian Minister of Militia A stalwart supporter of Borden, he was put in charge of Canada’s war effort Hughes was a controversial figure and his management of Canada’s armed forces was plagued by controversy and divisiveness

Sir Sam: His Successes Reorganized the military to fight in battalions o A batallion: a large body of troops who are ready for battle Built Valcartier training camp o Primary training base in Quebec (1914) Had the first 32,000 troops ready to depart in 6 weeks Supported Canadian manufacturers *Demanded that Canadians be allowed to fight in their own units

Sir Sam: His Failures Alienated French-Canadians (made bigoted remarks, insisted they train in English) Supplied shoddy trench equipment The Ross Rifle affair

The Ross Rifle Hughes had supported the development of the Ross Rifle prior to WWI It was a good rifle for marksmanship but tended to jam and/or backfire when it was fired repeatedly or was exposed to mud. WWI required soldiers to fire a lot, quickly from the cover of muddy trenches – how successful do you think it was? The Ross Rifle was unreliable and despised by Canadian soldiers

Hughes ignored or criticized any claims that the rifle wasn’t an exemplary weapon. When the political pressure required an investigation into the matter, he put the rifle’s inventor in charge of it. The inventor blamed “a batch of bad ammunition” for the troubles Finally, in 1916, the Ross Rifle was retired and Canadian troops received the much superior British- made Lee Enfield Rifle

Scandal! Hughes insisted on using only Canadian- made products to outfit troops A patriotic sentiment, unfortunately much of the equipment was sub-standard Hughes gave war contracts to friends and business associates, often not taking quality or practicality into account Boots had cardboard soles, vehicles lacked spare parts and trenching equipment (shovel/shield) was useless

The MacAdam shovel (promoted by Hughes) was entirely useless and had to be scrapped Hughes also alienated French-Canadians by insisting that they train in English and made sure all army documents were also in English Hughes also often publicly insulted and demeaned Quebec and French-Canadians

Sir Sam… more controversy! Hughes also exceeded his authority when he created a council (in England) to oversee the Canadian military. PM Borden reprimanded Hughes and Hughes responded by publicly disagreeing with Borden Borden forced Hughes’ resignation in November, 1916.