The majority of Canadians likely can’t name too many generals in Canadian history, at least post-Confederation. There are several famous ones, but few reach the level of fame that Sir Arthur Currie enjoys. In fact, it could be said that his fame and...
This episode is shorter than usual. The battle I am covering is often ignored as it is in the shadow of Vimy Ridge, and really, it was a relatively short battle but it still had many casualties and deserves to be covered. After the Battle of Vimy...
In making this episode, I thought a lot about how I could put it together. So much has been said about Vimy Ridge and its importance to Canada, and the growth of the legend around it, was there anything I could add to it? We all know the story, the...
For the season finale of season 2 of Canada’s Great War, I decided to do a bit of a different episode. I am going to cover letters home, that were printed in newspapers, from 1915 to 1916, so we can get an idea of what the soldiers were feeling...
Library and Archives Canada – 3404741 For two and a half months, the terrible Battle of the Somme had been fought on the Western Front but at this point, beyond the Newfoundlanders, there had been no Canadian troops taking part in the...
My original plan was to have an episode about the war effort and propaganda, but I realized that coming off the war effort at home, there would be a lot of similarities, so I decided to push that episode down a little, and instead focus on something...
After looking at the life of Canadians in the trenches, its time to get back to the battles. So far, Canada had seen some minor battles, at least in terms of what was to come, and by May of 1915, the Canadian Expeditionary Force was about to see its...
The past few episodes I have talked about the battles that Canadians were facing early in 1915, but today I am taking a pause and looking at what life was like for the Canadian soldiers in the trenches. We all know that it was not a great place to...
Around the same time that the Battle of Kitcheners’ Wood was ending for the Canadian troops, a new battle was just beginning. The Battle of St. Julien would begin on April 24, 1915. This battle would be notable for many reasons, not the least of...
Just over one month after Canada had its first taste of battle with the Battle of Neuve Chapelle, the soldiers in the Canadian divisions had gone through minor skirmishes, including at St. Eloi on March 14-15, just after the Battle of Neuve Chapelle...