CANADIAN WAR MUSEUM - PART 2 - WW I - The Beginning



WHAT'S ON THE MUSEUM - PART 2

The Royal Canadian Legion Hall of Honour

This gallery explores Canada's long history of honouring individuals

Canada's rich history of honouring and remembranceThis gallery explores Canada's long history of honouring individuals; how Canadians have remembered and commemorated their military past. Through personal stories, photographs, art and artifacts, this gallery shares the earliest forms of honouring through burial, painting or dance, to the erection of national monuments, and the role of new technology in current commemorative practices.

Model for the National War Memorial

In 1926, this model by British Sculptor Vernon March won the competition for Canada's First War Memorial in Ottawa. Twenty-two uniformed figures passed through an arch bearing thed allegorical figures of Peace and Freedom.

The Vimy Memorial

Toronto sculptor Walter Allward designed Canada's most celebrated overseas war memorial, built on the site of the April 1917 Battle of Vimy Ridge in France. An estimated 100,000 people attended the unveilling of the memorial on 26 July 1936. Ten thousand of them were "Vimy Pilgrims"; Canadian veterans and their families and guests who had travelled to France from Canada for the event.

(Original sculptures from this memorial in the Regeneration Hall)

A Tale of Two Brothers

In the summer of 1918, Oliver of the 1oth Siege Battery (Infantary) was wounded by shell fire on  way to Vrely - During the ride through the night in the ambulance to the base hospital he tried to cheer his wounded companions and led them in singing Tipperary; but when they reached the hospital at dawn on August 22, he was dead. (Newspaper clipping 1918. Source unknown)

Berlin Wall fragment (real)

Berlin Wall (replica)-  A Wall of Shame

The government of East Germany constructed the Berlin Wall in 1961 to keep is own citizens from leaving the country. Thousands still tried. Border guards killed 246 of them, and wounded or arrested many hundreads of others.

Blucher Medal

The East German government minted this bravery medal for operations during a Third World War. Thankfully, it was never awarded.

Ferret Scout Car



 Nose Cone CF-105 Avro Arrow

The federal government cancellation of the innovative but controversial Arrow project in 1959 led to the destruction of all six existing airframes. Most of the material went to a scrap metal dealer. This nose cone is one of the few large pieces that survived, several others can be found at the Canadian Aviation Museum

Nuclear weapon

"...I am become death, the destroyer of worlds"

Japanese guns

Countrys that participated in the WWII

Patrolling the North

For Crown and Country

Canada's contributions in these overseas wars led to a growing autonomy and international recognition, but at great cost.

The South African and First World Wars, 1885-1931

Canada's contributions in these overseas wars led to a growing autonomy and international recognition, but at great cost.

Canada's sacrifices and contributions to the South African and First World Wars led to an increased sense of nationhood and to international recognition. However, the strain of war nearly tore the country apart. In this gallery, visitors enter an imperialistic setting marking the 1897 Diamond Jubilee. Canada was proud to be part of the British Empire and celebrated in its greatness. Despite intense debates over whether to support Britain's war in South Africa, Canada sent an overseas force. This decision marked an important change in Canadian military relations: Canada was now willing and able to support its allies by fighting in other countries.





For Cown and Country

How the War Started

The First World War started in August 1914. It would last for more than four years, and kill about nine million people in uniform. In the same time period the war and other violent conflicts would kill an estimated twenty million civilians. The world would never be the same.

Tensions in Europe

The major powers in Europe had been preparing for war for years. The situation was so tense before the war that many called Europe a powder keg waiting to explode. Key factors in the build-up to war included:

• Arms races to build bigger and more powerful armies and navies;
• Growing disputes over trade and land;
• Dissatisfaction with the balance of power in Europe;
• Resentment from the legacy of past grievances.

Alliances and Treaties Divided Europe

Complicated military alliances and treaties between the European powers divided much of Europe. The consequence of these alliances and treaties meant that if one country or power bloc went to war, the others would likely go to war too. The two opposing sides in Europe were:
The Central Powers:

• Germany
• Austria-Hungary
• The Ottoman Empire (Turkey)

The Triple Entente or Allies:

• France
• Russia
• Great Britain

Italy, initially allied to the Central Powers, refused to be drawn into what it viewed as their war of aggression. In May 1915, Italy joined the Entente hoping to acquire territory from Austria-Hungary and new colonial possessions, mainly in Africa.
Smaller European powers picked sides during the war, dominions and colonies contributed soldiers to their mother countries, and powerful non-European powers such as Japan and the United States would later enter the war on the Allied side.

Assassination Sparks War

The assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand on 28 June 1914 set off a chain of events that led to war in early August 1914.

• The assassination was traced to a Serbian extremist group that wanted to increase Serbian power in the Balkans by breaking up the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
• The Austro-Hungarian Empire attacked Serbia in response.
• Germany supported Austria-Hungary, while Russia sided with its traditional ally, Serbia.
• When Russia mobilized its military forces at the end of July, Germany sought to avoid a two-front war by a quick invasion of France, Russia's main ally.
• German troops moved on France by invading Belgium, a country that had been neutral for nearly one hundred years, on 3 August. Britain, fulfilling its obligations to support Belgian neutrality, declared war the next day.
• On 4 August 1914, Canada, as a member of the British Empire, was at war.

The Second Battle of Ypres, 22 April to 25 May 1915

There are no photographic images of the Ypres battle since soldiers were not allowed to caeey cameras into the trenches. To document the war, a wealthy Canadian, Lord Beaverbrock, created an official war art program in 1916. He was also responsible  for establishing a program of official photographers and cinematographers. Their work helped to provide a visual record of Canada's role in the First Wold War.

The First German Gas Attack at Ypres

Caught within the German chlorine death-cloud, French colonial troops dressed in red and blue and Canadian troops dressed in khaki gasp for breath. The clash of colours and the looks of anguish add to the intensity of the work.

(REFERENCE to the PAINTING above)

News hits home

 RMS Lusitania was a British ocean liner designed by Leonard Peskett^[4] and built by John Brown and Company of Clydebank, Scotland. The ship entered passenger service with the Cunard Line on 26 August 1907. The ship was named after the ancient Roman province of Lusitania, which is part of present day Portugal. During the First World War, as Germany waged submarine warfare against Britain, the ship was identified and torpedoed by the German U-boat U-20 on 7 May 1915 and sank in eighteen minutes. The vessel went down eleven miles (18 km) off the Old Head of Kinsale,^[5] Ireland, killing 1,198 of the 1,959 people aboard, leaving 761 survivors. The sinking turned public opinion in many countries against Germany, contributed to the American entry into World War I and became an iconic symbol in military recruiting campaigns of why the war was being fought (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Lusitania)

"Lusitania" Port Hole and medal

 A German medal maker produced a satirical medal following the sinking of the Lusitania in May 1915. The British government, learning of the medal, stamped its own medallion, insinuating that the attack had been premeditated. The Germans, it appeared, were celebrating the killing of women and children. The British medals, sold for pennies, were a propaganda coup for the Allies.

In the Trenches

The trench system became more elaborated as the war progressed. By day, soldiers prepared or improved their defences and tried to sleep; by night, they attacked in trench raids, or defended against them. Artillery, snipers, disease, and accidents threatened life relentlessly.

Origins and Early Phases

Europe's Great Powers had been preparing for war for years. When the First World War began in August 1914, it quickly grew from a regional conflict to an almost global one. Learn about the opponents, the causes, and the early stages of fighting.

Trench weapons

A Storm of steel: Inside a shell

Steel through flesh

Ukrainian-Canadian Filip Konowal (1888-1959), Victoria Cross recipient 

Home-cooked Meals

To escape corned beef, tasteless jam, and hard biscuits, soldiers visited restaurants run bt French and Belgian civilians just behind the front lines. Fried eggs and chips were washed down by watery beer.

Sports relieved the stress of war and the monotony. The army saw sports as a good moral, fitness, and out of trouble.

A War Bride and Her Soldier: Louisa and Harold Peat

There were many love stories in the tragedy of war. Private Peat enlisted in 1914, and at Second Battle of Ypres he was shot through the chest. While convalescing in hospital, he met Louisa, a patriotic journalist, who was searching for information about her missing soldier-cousin. When Harold was repatriated home, Louisa joined him shortly thereafter and they started a new life together.

"Who is to pay... the awful loss,

who will heal the wounds of the broken-hearted mothers and wives,

who will take care of the thousand of orphaned children?"

(William Cosby)

What is enough: "The only solution to the problem of Canadian recruiting is conscription" (Sir Arthur Carrie)

THE FIRST WORLD WAR AND YOU:

Many aspects of Canadian life today are legacies of the First World War

- Votes for Women - The right to vote was an important early step towards full and equal rights for women in Canadian Society.

- Daylight Saving Time - The government proposed Daylight Savings Time to increase productivity. An extra hour of their light in the summer meant more time for war work. Through city dwellers generaly supported the idea, many farmers opposed the change, and Saskatchewan never adopted the practice. Most part of Canada still "spring forward" and "fall back"

(NEXT:  WW I  to Victory)