Browse "Military Engagements"

To celebrate its 30th anniversary, The Canadian Encyclopedia created 30 lists of 30 things that have helped define our identity, from famous people and historic events, to iconic foods and influential artists.

Acadia was from its beginnings a centre of conflict and competing ambitions.

Lord Cardigan took up his position at the front of the Light Brigade. He sat tall in the saddle, his eyes flashing sapphire blue, his bearing proud. This would be his day for, although all who met him found him unusually stupid, no-one doubted his dauntless courage.

The capture of Hill 70 in France was an important Canadian victory during the First World War, and the first major action fought by the Canadian Corps under a Canadian commander. The battle, in August 1917, gave the Allied forces a crucial strategic position overlooking the occupied city of Lens.

By November 1813, the Americans were in control of the Detroit River frontier while the British had established small outposts at Port Talbot and the village of Delaware.

Canadian and Allied troops won a major victory against Germany at the Battle of Amiens between 8 and 11 August 1918. Amiens was the first in a string of offensive successes, known as the Hundred Days Offensive, that led to the end of the First World War and the 11 November 1918 armistice.

The Battle of Baltimore, from 12 to 15 September 1814, was a British defeat against American forces in the War of 1812.

The Battle of Batoche, 9–12 May 1885, was the last major action of the North-West Resistance. Under the leadership of Louis Riel, Métis and their First Nations allies were defeated by government troops.

One of the more controversial battles of the War of 1812, the Battle of Beaver Dams established the importance of the guile, professional soldiering, Aboriginal warfare and luck involved in British victory.

In 1976, the cairn was moved to the newly created Battle of Beaverdams Park in Thorold. Also moved to the park was a stone monument, erected in 1874, marking the grave of 16 American soldiers found during the construction of the third Welland Canal.

The Battle of Britain (10 July to 31 October 1940) was the first battle of the Second World War fought mainly in the air. After nearly four months of anxious combat, the Royal Air Force’s (RAF) Fighter Command stopped the German air force's attempt, in advance of a planned invasion, to dominate the skies over southern and eastern England. Hundreds of Canadian air and ground crew participated in the battle, most as members of the RAF.

​The Battle of Cambrai in northern France took place from 27 September to 11 October 1918, during the First World War.

From the outset, Hampton's cause was fraught with challenges. Approximately 1000 of the New York militia who were a part of his army refused to cross the border, and during the battle itself, several of his officers were seen abandoning their men and positions for safer ground.

Brown's division crossed the Niagara River into Upper Canada on 3 July 1814 and within hours took possession of Fort Erie.

The battleground was designated as a national historic site in 1920, but is owned and administered by the Niagara Parks Commission. Called Chippawa Battlefield Park, it lies on the west side of the Niagara River Parkway.

The Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada designated the battleground at Cook's Mills as a national historic site in 1921. Two years later, a plaque summarizing the story of the skirmish was mounted on a stone cairn on the field of action.

The Battle of Courcelette, or the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, was part of the Somme offensive during the First World War. The Battle of Courcelette was fought from 15 to 22 September 1916. It resulted in thousands of battlefield casualties, but also signalled the start of new thinking in military tactics that would eventually solve the riddle of the trenches and help turn the tide of the war. Tanks were used in battle for the first time during the Battle of Courcelette as well as the creeping artillery barrage.

Boyd's troops were doggedly pursued by a significantly smaller British force led by Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Wanton Morrison. After constant pressure from Canadian Voltigeurs and Tyendinaga Mohawks under Morrison's command, Boyd finally turned his army to confront them.

Before a national program of designating historic places was developed, the Government of Canada erected a monument commemorating the Battle of Crysler's Farm on the battlefield in 1895.

The Battle of Cut Knife is a significant battle that took place during the North-West Resistance of 1885. The Cut Knife battlefield is located on the Poundmaker Reserve, about 40 km west of Battleford, Saskatchewan, just north of Cut Knife Hill, a feature named for a Sarcee warrior who died near there. A cairn sits near the middle of the battlefield, near the grave of Pitikwahanapiwiyin (Poundmaker).