The Canadian Encyclopedia

Showing All of 290 results for "Military"

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Vancouver Asahi

Kaye Kaminishi — A Proud Benchwarmer

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The Korean War

When is a war not a war? For the Korean War, the answer is not always clear.

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Stories of Remembrance

From Alex Colville, Mike Myers, John Ralston Saul and more . . .

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The final 100 days of the First World War — from 8 August to 11 November 1918 — came to be known as the Hundred Days Offensive. But the Canadian Corps' significant contributions along the Western Front generated the name "Canada's Hundred Days." During this time, Canadian and allied forces pushed the German Army from Amiens, France, west to Mons, Belgium, in a series of battles — a drive that ended in German surrender and the end of the war.

				
					Rape in the Military InvestigatedTracey Constable was understandably skeptical when, last May, Canadas top soldier, chief of defence staff Gen. Maurice Baril, called on women who had been sexually assaulted in the Canadian Forces to come forward and tell their stories. Constable, a native of Grand Falls, Nfld.

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					Vimy RidgeAmong Canada’s defining events, the Battle of Vimy Ridge in the First World War ranks high. It was a triumph — a major victory for the Allied side after a long, bloody stalemate — and a tragedy. In the four-day battle, 3,598 Canadians died and another 7,004 were wounded. In the century since it ended, on 12 April 1917, it has become something else: an event bordering on myth. “In those few minutes,” said Canadian Brigadier-General A.E. Ross of the victory, “I witnessed the birth of a nation.”

					Battle of Seven OaksThe struggles between the North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company were capped by a violent encounter on 19 June 1816 at Seven Oaks.

					Treaty of BredaBreda, Treaty of, agreements signed 21 July 1667 at Breda, the Netherlands, between England and the Netherlands and between England and France, ending the second Anglo-Dutch War. The former treaty recognized the English conquest of Amsterdam (New York) in 1664.

					Battle of KapyongThe Battle of Kapyong is one of Canada’s greatest, yet least-known, military achievements. For two days in April, 1951, a battalion of roughly 700 Canadian troops helped defend a crucial hill in the front lines of the Korean War against a force of about 5,000 Chinese soldiers. Besieged by waves of attackers, the Canadians held their position amid the horror of close-combat until the assaulting force had been halted and the Canadians could be relieved. Their determined stand contributed significantly to the defeat of the Communist offensive in South Korea that year.

					North-West RebellionThe North-West Rebellion (or North-West Resistance) was a violent, five-month insurgency against the Canadian government, fought mainly by Métis militants and their Aboriginal allies in what is now Saskatchewan and Alberta.

					Treaty of GhentTreaty of Ghent, signed in Ghent, Belgium, on Christmas Eve 1814 by Great Britain and the US to end the War of 1812. Negotiations for peace had begun the previous year, with both parties agreeing to meet in Europe to work out the details.

					TecumsehTecumseh, Shawnee chief, leader of a First Nations confederacy, military leader in the War of 1812 (born c 1768 in south-central Ohio; died 5 October 1813 near Moraviantown [Thamesville, ON]).

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					War of 1812The War of 1812 (which lasted from 1812 to 1814) was a military conflict between the United States and Great Britain.

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					Pontiac's WarPontiac's War was the most successful First Nations resistance to the European invasion in our history.

					Seven Years WarThe Seven Years War (1756–63) was the first global war, fought in Europe, India, and America, and at sea. In North America, imperial rivals Britain and France struggled for supremacy. Early in the war, the French (aided by Canadian militia and Aboriginal allies) defeated several British attacks and captured a number of British forts.

					Francis PegahmagabowFrancis “Peggy” Pegahmagabow, Anishnaabe (Ojibwa) chief, Aboriginal rights advocate, war hero (born on 9 March 1889 on the Parry Island reserve, ON; died 5 August 1952 at Parry Island, ON). One of the most highly decorated Indigenous people in Canada during the First World War, Pegahmagabow became a vocal advocate for Indigenous rights and self-determination.

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					Canadian Women and WarCanada has been involved in various wars from the beginning of its colonial history. Just as the nature of these wars has changed over time, so too has their effect on Canadian women. Women have actively participated in war, from nursing and munitions manufacturing during the First and Second World Wars to the increasing involvement of Canadian women in the military.

					Women in the MilitaryCanadian women first answered the call to military service in 1885 during the North-West Rebellion when 12 women served in military hospitals. The first - Loretta Miller - arrived at the Saskatoon Field Hospital on May 12, 1885. Their participation, according to Major-General John W.

					Battle of Mons​On 11 November 1918, the last day of the First World War, Canadian forces captured the Belgian town of Mons — liberating a place that had been under German occupation since 1914.

					Aroostook WarThe Aroostook War was a confrontation between British and Maine authorities in disputed territory known as Madawaska. During the Napoleonic Wars, Britain was in dire need of wood and the region’s pine forests became an important commodity. Claimed by both Maine and New Brunswick, Madawaska became fertile ground for confrontations between the two. The war peaked in 1838‒39 when the governor of Maine, John Fairfield, sent a group, led by Rufus McIntyre, to stop “provincials” from entering territory that Fairfield believed was Maine’s. McIntyre was captured and accused of invading the colony. The conflict ended in 1842 with the Webster-Ashburton Treaty, which divided the territory along the Saint John River.

					NORADThe North American Defence Agreement was a 1957 pact that placed under joint command the air forces of Canada and the United States. Its name was later changed to the North American Aerospace Defence Command.

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					War Brides: They Came For LoveBob Jones was one of nearly 48,000 Canadian servicemen who married overseas during World War II. Between 1942 and 1947, the government brought 47 783 war brides and their 21 950 children to Canada. Relatively few came before the wars end.

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					American Revolution – Invasion of CanadaIn 1775 at the start of the American Revolution, rebel forces invaded Canada, occupying Montréal and attacking the town of Québec.

					Richard PierpointRichard Pierpoint (also Pawpine, Parepoint; Captain Pierpoint, Captain Dick; Black Dick), loyalist, soldier, community leader, storyteller (born c. 1744 in Bondu [now Senegal]; died c. 1838, near present-day Fergus, ON). Pierpoint was an early leader in Canada’s Black community. Taken from West Africa as a teenager and sold into slavery, Pierpoint regained his freedom during the American Revolution. He settled in Niagara, Upper Canada, and attempted to live communally with other Black Canadians. In the War of 1812, he petitioned for an all-Black unit to fight for the British and fought with the Coloured Corps.

					Bomarc Missile CrisisThe Bomarc Missile Crisis was a Cold War-era dispute over whether Canada should house nuclear missiles as part of its NORAD air defence agreement with the United States.

					John McCraeJohn McCrae, soldier, physician, poet (born 30 November 1872 in Guelph, ON; died 28 January 1918 in Wimereux, France). A noted pathologist and army physician, Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae was also a poet; he wrote “In Flanders Fields” — one of the most famous poems of the First World War.

					La Maison des Canadiens“Within sight of this house over 100 men of the Queen’s Own Rifles were killed or wounded, in the first few minutes of the landings.”

					Buckam Singh and Sikh Canadians in the First World WarBuckam Singh, labourer, soldier (born 5 December 1893 in Mahilpur, Punjab, India; died 27 August 1919 in Kitchener, ON). There is little information published about the role of Sikhs in Canadian military service during the First World War. The discovery of Buckam Singh’s Victory Medal led to his reclamation by his community, which commemorates him with an annual Remembrance Day service

					Fenian Raids​The Fenians were a secret society of Irish patriots who had emigrated from Ireland to the United States. Some North American members of this movement were intent on taking Canada by force and exchanging it with Britain for Irish independence. From 1866 to 1871 the Fenians launched a series of small, armed incursions of Canada, each of which was put down by government forces — at the cost of dozens killed and wounded on both sides.