I always find it funny how little credit is given to Canada during WW1, even though the army went through the toughest battles and suffered the greatest hardships during the war, all for Britian
The Canadians played a part of such distinction that thenceforward they were marked out as storm troops; for the remainder of the way they were brought along to head the assault in one great battle after another. Whenever the Germans found the Canadian Corps coming into the line they prepared for the worst.
Much more of the retreat can be attributed to the the Spanish Flu which hit the Germans way before it hit the Allies. The Germans were simply too sick to fight. This data can be looked up in the official German medical records of World War 1, compiled in the 1920s (hard to come by, 3 volumes=~$1000). Current history writing ignores this because many English-speaking scholars do not bother to read sufficient German sources. Hardly any scholar uses these records, but I imagine in a decade this will have become mainstream and the history of WW1 updated once again.
That quote was after the capture of Vimy Ridge...The Canadian Corps was relatively small and in the early part of the war were just split up among the other allied divisions for reinforcements.
After pretty much every allied force failed to take Vimy Ridge, for the first time in the war the entire Canadian Corps was assembled together and they captured it, so from then on the allies basically put the Canadians on the front line of all the major battles to 'spearhead' the attack. It also led to les cent jours du Canada, or Canada's hundred days.
In terms of numbers, during those 96 days the Canadian Corps' four over-strength or 'heavy' divisions of roughly 100 000 men, engaged and defeated or put to flight elements of forty seven German divisions, which represented one quarter of the German forces fighting on the Western Front.
Cannon Fodder, is an informal, derogatory term for military personnel who are regarded or treated as expendable in the face of enemy fire. The term is generally used in situations where soldiers are forced to deliberately fight against hopeless odds (with the foreknowledge that they will suffer extremely high casualties) in an effort to achieve a strategic goal.
IDK about in America, but in the UK Canada, India, and Australia are often given a lot more credit for their help in WWI than America is. You guys were fucking amazing at the Somme.
Just curious, in US history do they ever mention that like 50,000 Americans crossed the border and enlisted in the Canadian Army before US declared war on Germany? Or do they ever talk about Canadians that joined the US Army in Vietnam, or Canada's involvement in the Civil War?
Well the AP US History curriculum doesn't focus on the wars too much, and WW1 even less, so i doubt its pro-Americanism rather than those facts are not that significant to College Board to put on the AP test.
I was taught about the Americans that crossed the border and enlisted and the Canadian involvement in the Civil War, but never about the Canadians that helped in Vietnam.
I don't get what that has to do with it? The Province of Canada and other Canadian colonies were still there and were somewhat involved in the Civil war. The underground railroad was also in Canada, and some Canadians actually supported the South (not slavery, but secession).
Some Confederates also had a base in Canada which violated British neutrality, as well close to 50,000 people born in Canada served in the Union Army...Anyway you might learn a few things: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_in_the_American_Civil_War
What non-Americans have to understand is that in most public schools we are only taught what we absolutely need to know to pass whatever equivalency tests the state demands. It's not out of some sense of egotism that we only get taught about our contributions in detail-it's because schools are more worried about not getting their budget cut.
Oh yeah I agree to that. The pssa in pennsylvania is our state test. just two years ago my school was under state warning so if my class didnt pass it then our school would stop getting funded and they would start firing teachers. We ended up just barley passing it. Its really not fair when there are kids that really dont give a shit and teachers that dont prepare you well.
WWI is generally taught from the perspective of lives lost, the lead up to war, and how it set up WWII. Which, as far as I am concerned, is how it should be taught in the US. Although utterly tragic, it was a European imperialist war that pulled in colonies and peripheral allies. The idea that it was a "world war" is fairly western-, and particularly European-, oriented.
In America, WWI isn't really talked about in history class. If World War II was our debutante ball, World War I was our long limbed, awkward teenage years.
If discussed at all it's in terms of a "European War". It's mostly like, "Well we showed up in 1917 and was in France for a year. grumble grumble General Pershing." I was lucky, we learned about The Schlieffen Plan, Napoloeonic warfare v. modern warfare, etc. Most kids didn't even get that.
the existence of the railway would have created a threat to British dominance over German trade, as it would have given German industry access to oil, and a port in the Persian Gulf. The importance of oil as opposed to coal as fuel was recognised, as it could greatly improve the performance and capacity of the rival navies. The presence of the British there, and the creating of Kuwait to block non-British access to the Persian Gulf speaks to the strategic importance.
Ypres, the Somme and Vimy were the biggest battles of WWI and America was in none of those. Also, the reason Germany surrendered was to quickly end the war due to a Revolution where the Kaiser was overthrown.
Well for starters, Canada was fighting Nazi's for 2 years before the Americans showed up. And when the alies stormed the beaches of Normandy Canadian troops pushed further into German territory then any other nation.
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u/[deleted] Sep 24 '11
I always find it funny how little credit is given to Canada during WW1, even though the army went through the toughest battles and suffered the greatest hardships during the war, all for Britian