HIS263Y5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Some Cities, Trench Foot, Chemical Warfare
Document Summary
Canada automatically entered into ww1 after britain went to war with germany. Extremely heavy casualties for canada"s small population of 8m. Sense of national/imperial pride because going to war for britain. Activist state intervening in almost all aspects of canadian society. Introduced war measures act-suspending some civil liberties and gave the government broad powers to intervene in society. Formed into canadian divisions (4) due to large force and quickness of their deployment. At first canadian arms not up to snuff for trench warfare. New tech like chemical warfare, machine guns, tanks, barbed wire, large artillery increases casualties exponentially. Technology really benefitted defensive positions, especially the machine gun. No standardization of rotation and often long deployments. British and canadians stuck in wet and muddy trenches. Not prepared for gas attacks had to use handkerchiefs soaked in urine. Suffered from heat in summer and cold in winter. English canadians resented french canadians resistance to the war.
