300 Years Later

Part II in a three-part series.

The Manitoba Museum is currently hosting “The Victoria Crosses of Valour Road”, a new exhibit in our foyer in which all three of the famous Victoria Crosses presented to WWI military servicemen Hall, Clark and Shankland are on display for the public. To put this exhibit of such important artifacts into a larger perspective I am providing three blog entries about the war’s beginnings, drastic developments, and the effects of the war after it ended in 1918. This entry, Part II, explores the effects of industrialization on the war, Canada’s role, and some of the massive geo-political and combat developments that took place during the war.

At the same time horses, swords, bayonets, and trench clubs were reminiscent of an earlier period of war. What most characterized the conflict, however, were the vast trench systems that became like cities to the men involved. Trenches were so important because defending was much more successful than attacking. Defending from a trench with machine guns was extremely effective against a group of men with rifles running across an open field and then trying to wade through barbed wire. While the forward “creeping barrage” of artillery was meant to dislodge trench defenders and protect advancing forces, it was even more effective at creating a landscape of mucky craters that slowed things down even more.

But casualties continued to grow. During the four-day battle for Vimy Ridge in 1917, Canadians experienced 10,000 casualties (including over 3,500 dead), with the Germans suffering perhaps 20,000 casualties as they defended and then retreated. It is difficult to imagine the sheer number of families back home that experienced profound loss during WWI.

Canada became involved on August 5, 1914, the day after the United Kingdom declared war, and eventually over 600,000 Canadians volunteered, of which 458,000 were sent abroad, with about 61,000 killed in the war. Among British Empire colonies, only India provided more volunteers (1,440,000).

Over 18,000 Manitobans volunteered for the war effort, spurred on by patriotism and in many cases lack of work in a province that was beginning to experience an economic downturn. Camp Hughes became a major training ground for Canada’s army, including the construction and use of trenches (which can still be seen today). Manitobans were involved in many of the major Canadian battles in Europe, including Ypres and Vimy Ridge.

The battle for Vimy Ridge was symbolic for Canadians because for the first time all four Canadian divisions fought together and were immensely successful. However, it should be remembered that this was one flank in a much larger operation at Arras that eventually cost the British 150,000 soldiers, compared to the defending German losses of 100,000.  Arras, in turn, was used to support the major attack by the Allies at Chemin des Dames, which stalled and ended in mutiny. In a recent 729-page history of WWI, Vimy Ridge receives mention in one sentence and doesn’t even show up in the index (David Stevenson 2012, “1914-1918”). As important as Canadian battles were to Canadians, their contributions were dwarfed by the giant scale of the war itself.

The war was particularly devastating for Czar Nicholas’ Russia, with the number of war dead reaching over 1,800,000, a staggering number, and twice that of the entire British Empire. By 1917 Russians had lost faith in their leadership, soldiers had lost faith in their commanders, and the economy was collapsing. The people of Russia wanted peace and bread. This opened the way for new leaders such as Lenin, who helped usher in the Communist Revolution. This event would affect world history to the present day, as the establishment of the Soviet Union, the Eastern Bloc, the Berlin Wall, and the Cold War led to a nuclear arms race and Communist movements all over the world (including in China). The collapse of the USSR continues to have consequences to this day.

What finally tipped the balance in favour of the French and British was the turmoil within Germany combined with the late involvement of the United States of America on the side of the Allies. The USA entered the war on April 6, 1917, almost 3 years after Canada. The new troops, supplies and funding were crucial to the Allies partially because they helped to replace an exhausted Russia. As American support continued to grow over the next year, Germany attempted one last massive offensive in the summer of 1918…which failed.

Even during the war it was obvious that the world would never be the same. Economies were collapsing and political uprisings surfaced in many nations. Too many husbands and brothers and sons were missing or forever maimed. And yet, when the war did end, the borders of Germany, France, and Great Britain survived in largely the same manner as before. Which would later raise the question: What did ten million soldiers die for?

Coming up in Part III: How the war ended and what it accomplished.

Part I in a three-part series.

On August 6, 1:30 pm, the public is welcome to attend the opening of the exhibit “The Victoria Crosses of Valour Road” in the foyer of The Manitoba Museum. Many know the story of the three men from the 700 block of humble Pine Street: Corporal Leo Beaumaurice Clarke, Sergeant-Major Frederick William Hall, and Lieutenant Robert Shankland were each awarded a Victoria Cross during World War I for acts of valour.

Pine Street was renamed Valour Road and has become one of those talismans of Canadian memory that reminds us of the men and women that took part in the Great War, in which nearly 10 million soldiers died and about 20 million were wounded world-wide.

The Great War, the “War to End All Wars”, began on July 28, 1914 with a declaration of war on Serbia by Austria-Hungary. This was 100 years ago, and to many folks the reasons for the war are hazy at best. The world of 1914 seems so remote from today’s realities and some of the countries that participated no longer even exist. Yet that war continues to reverberate in geo-politics and even in our daily lives.

With the arrival of the Victoria Cross medals from the Canadian War Museum, I felt it was important to outline what the war was about. In Part I I’ll talk about what started the war and which countries got involved and why. In Part II we’ll explore how WWI unfolded and what part Canada played. Finally, in Part III I’ll talk about how it ended and what the war actually accomplished.

There were two main powerful alliances in Europe in 1914. Austria-Hungary was allied with Germany, and France was allied with Russia (and loosely with Great Britain).

And speaking of countries that no longer exist, the first real belligerent in this series of events was the Austro-Hungarian Empire/Dual Monarchy (a strange bi-national combination). On June 28, 1914, 19-year-old Gavrilo Princip assassinated the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, which was part of Austria-Hungary. Princip was a Bosnian Serb and a citizen of the Empire, but he attacked Ferdinand as a terrorist in the name of Bosnian-Serbian independence. Austria-Hungary accused Serbia of assisting the killer (which in fact it did, with an organization called “The Black Hand”). Germany was Austria-Hungary’s main ally and with their backing war was declared on Serbia on July 28.

Why would Germany agree to this? The Germans felt they were threatened by various developments on the continent, something they called “encirclement”. They knew they were the most war-ready and powerful nation in Europe, but they were worried their advantage was slipping away. Basically they wanted a controlled zone of buffer states as protection against Russia and France. Austria-Hungary and Germany knew that an attack on Serbia might draw in the Russians. The Russians indeed mobilized, and Germany declared war on Russia and its ally France on August 1 and 3. The Germans then demanded that Belgium allow free transport of German troops, and this helped to draw in the British, who declared war on Germany on August 4. And of course Great Britain had a vast global colonial network from which to draw troops. Canada (which declared war on August 5), Australia, India, South Africa, and others all contributed to making the conflict a true world war. Meanwhile Italy joined the “Allies” and the Ottoman Empire joined the Germans.