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Start of WWI
The Canadian Parliament didn't choose to go to war in 1914. The country's foreign affairs were guided in London. So when Belgium was invaded by Germany the British Empire, including Canada, was at war, allied with Serbia, Russia, and France against the German and Austro-Hungarian empires. -
Battle of Vimy Ridge
Canadians stormed the seven-kilometre ridge in the early morning of April 9, 1917, overrunning German troops along the front. They kept moving forward under heavy fire and captured the ridge in four days. The victory at Vimy came at a devastating cost. More than 10,600 Canadian soldiers were killed and wounded. -
Conscription
Prime Minister Borden retreated from his earlier promise and introduced a conscription bill, the Military Services Act. While some English Canadians opposed conscription, nowhere was the outcry greater than in French Canada. -
End of WWI
The armistice of November 11, 1918, brought relief to the whole world. The horrible struggle with its death, destruction and misery was at last halted. It has truly been a world war. Sixty-five million men from 30 nations were involved in it; at least ten million men were killed; twenty-nine million more were wounded, captured or missing. Never before had there been such a conflict. -
Treaty of Versailles
After many victories on the front lines and at home Canada reached a new status in the world. No more was Canada just a country under the British Crown but a nation. Due to this, the current Prime Minister of Canada, Sir Robert Borden believed that Canada deserved an independent seat at the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. He insisted upon this at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 and succeeded. -
The Spanish Flu in Canada
This international pandemic killed approximately 55,000 people in Canada, most of whom were young adults between the ages of 20 and 40. These deaths compounded the impact of the more than 60,000 Canadians killed in service during the First World War (1914-18). -
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The Roaring 20s
Fifteen percent unemployment left many Canadians out of work in the early twenties. By the mid-twenties, though, things were looking up. Foreign demand for Canadian raw materials increased after 1926. There was a better market for the traditional resources, like wheat and timber, and increasing demand, especially from the United States, for new resources like pulp and paper and base metals. -
Discovery of Insulin
In the spring of 1922, medical student, Charles Best and Dr. Frederick Banting of University of Toronto announced the discovery of insulin. Insulin would be the cure to preventing diabetes and controlling normal metabolism They received the Nobel Prize for one of the most important discoveries in modern medical history -
Chanak Affair
In the early 1920's, Britain was occupying large portions of Western Turkey under the Treaty of Sevres, which was placed on Turkey after losing World War One. In 1992 fall, Turkey threatned to declare war on Britain because they wanted control of Chanak ports. Britain asked Canada for assistance by sending Canadian troops to fight. Prime Minister Mackenzie King refused, saying only the Parliament could decide on sending troops. By the time the issue was debated in parliament, the war was over. -
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The great Depression
Fifteen percent unemployment left many Canadians out of work in the early twenties. By the mid-twenties, though, things were looking up. Foreign demand for Canadian raw materials increased after 1926. There was a better market for the traditional resources, like wheat and timber, and increasing demand, especially from the United States, for new resources like pulp and paper and base metals.
