Battle of Vimy Ridge

The Battle of Vimy Ridge, during the First World War, is Canada's most celebrated military victory — an often mythologized symbol of the birth of Canadian national pride and awareness. The four divisions of the Canadian Corps, fighting together for the first time, attacked the ridge from 9 to 12 April, 1917 and captured it from the German army. It was the largest territorial advance of any Allied force to that point in the war – but it would mean little to the outcome of the conflict. More than 10,500 Canadians were killed and wounded in the assault. Today an iconic white memorial atop the ridge honours the 11,285 Canadians killed in France throughout the war who have no known graves.

Japanese Internment: Banished and Beyond Tears

Beginning in early 1942, the Canadian government detained and dispossessed the vast majority of people of Japanese descent living in British Columbia. They were interned for the rest of the Second World War, during which time their homes and businesses were sold by the government in order to pay for their detention.

War of 1812

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

Ottawa Treaty

The Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction — better known as the Ottawa Treaty or the Mine Ban Treaty — resulted from Canada’s leadership and its cooperation with the International Campaign To Ban Landmines (ICBL). In 1992, six non-governmental organizations launched an awareness campaign with the goal of banning landmines worldwide. In October 1996, at the first Ottawa Conference, Canadian minister of Foreign Affairs Lloyd Axworthy launched the Ottawa Process, which led to the ratification of the Mine Ban Treaty, signed by 122 countries at the Second Ottawa Conference in December 1997. The Ottawa Process was an innovative, unprecedented initiative that required a strategic partnership among countries, non-governmental organizations, international groups and the United Nations.

The First World War in Canadian Literature

The First World War generated an abundance of writing, which in its entirety presents a complex and varied picture of the war. The popular point of view within Canadian literature, however, generally depicts an overtly patriotic and unified perspective of Canada’s involvement in the war.

First World War (WWI)

The First World War of 1914–1918 was the bloodiest conflict in Canadian history, taking the lives of more than 60,000 Canadians.

The Royal 22e Régiment

The Royal 22e Régiment (R22eR), whose headquarters are at the Citadelle de Québec, is one of the three infantry regiments of the Canadian Regular Force. It is a francophone regiment made up of five battalions, of which three belong to the Regular Force and two to the Reserve Force.

Art and the Great War

​Landscape painting in North America in the 19th century tended toward the pastoral, depicting idyllic scenes of rural life and representing the continent as a wondrous Eden.

Conscription

Conscription is the compulsory enlistment or "call up" of citizens for military service. The federal government enacted forms of conscription in both world wars, creating sharp divisions between anglophones, who tended to support the practice, and francophones, who generally did not.

Royal Canadian Navy

​Canada's navy has defended Canadian interests in home waters and overseas since the early 20th century — despite often struggling for ships and resources under sometimes neglectful governments.

Military Service Act

​The Military Service Act of 1917 was a controversial law allowing the conscription of Canadian men for service in the final years of the First World War.

Second World War (WWII)

The Second World War was a defining event in Canadian history, transforming a quiet country on the fringes of global affairs into a critical player in the 20th century's most important struggle. Canada carried out a vital role in the Battle of the Atlantic and the air war over Germany, and contributed forces to the campaigns of western Europe beyond what might be expected of a small nation of then only 11 million people.

Battle of Passchendaele

The Battle of Passchendaele is a vivid symbol of the mud, madness and the senseless slaughter of the First World War. In the late summer of 1917, the British launched a series of failed assaults against German forces holding the plateau overlooking the city of Ypres, Belgium.

Canadian Expeditionary Force

The Canadian Expeditionary Force was the army raised by Canada for service overseas in the First World War.

Canadian Army

​The history of the Canadian Army parallels that of Canada itself. What started as a small Confederation-era militia was built into a respected force of mostly citizen soldiers for the First and Second World Wars.

The “Van Doos” and the Great War

​As the only combatant unit in the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) whose official language was French, the 22nd (French Canadian) Infantry Battalion, commonly referred to as the “Van Doos” (from vingt-deux, meaning twenty-two in French), was subject to more scrutiny than most Canadian units in the First World War.

Royal Canadian Regiment

​The Royal Canadian Regiment (RCR) is one of three permanent, regular army infantry regiments of the Canadian Forces.

Battle of the Somme

Few words conjure the futility and the staggering losses of the First World War like the Somme. In the summer of 1916 the British launched a major offensive against German lines. The battle lasted five months, killed or wounded approximately 1.2 million men, and produced little gains.

Monuments of the First and Second World Wars

Since the end of the First World War, monuments commemorating the lives of Canadians who died in conflicts overseas have occupied a prominent place in our urban cultural landscape.

Passchendaele: Remembrance of Things Past

How does memory speak to us? Each November, over 13 million poppies blossom on the jackets, dresses and hats of Canadians.

Vimy Ridge: Bloody Easter

"When death reigned, and the agony of pain.

War Brides: They Came For Love

Bob 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.

Merchant Navy of Canada

A merchant navy (or merchant marine) is a fleet of commercial vessels that carries troops and supplies in wartime. The history of Canada’s merchant fleet is one of up and downs. From the heady days of the late 19th century to its virtual disappearance a few years later, through a rapid build-up as a key Allied component during the Second World War, to its final demise in mid-20th century, Canada’s Merchant Navy has not been treated well.

RCAF (Women's Division)

Members of the Women’s Division (WD) of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) were wartime pioneers. Thousands of young Canadian women volunteered to serve at home and abroad during the Second World War as part of the air force.

Remember the Caroline: The Temptations of Unilateralism