CANADA HISTORY - War-WWI

August 1914

In the golden summer of 1914, the world appeared to be at peace, brimming with prosperity, and marching forward with the boundless optimism of progress. Across the vast plains and farmlands of Canada, crops grew abundantly, reflecting a bountiful season. The industries of the young Dominion were expanding rapidly, with factories producing goods to meet the surging demand of domestic and international markets. Confidence in Canada’s future was high. The country, having replaced the long-serving Liberal leader Sir Wilfrid Laurier with Conservative Robert Borden in 1911, nevertheless retained its optimistic outlook. The change in leadership did little to alter the sense of security and national promise. Canadians believed they were part of a peaceful, progressive era, with the horrors of major European wars seemingly distant from their shores.

Yet, beneath this peaceful veneer, Europe was a continent on edge, divided into two great military and political alliances. On one side stood the Triple Entente, consisting of France, Russia, and, through secret understandings, Great Britain. On the other was the Triple Alliance, which included the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Germany, and Italy. While these alliances had been tested by a series of crises and diplomatic confrontations in recent years, none had escalated into full-scale war. Tensions were certainly present, but the belief persisted that they could be contained by diplomacy and the balancing act of power politics. The idea that such an intricate and deeply interwoven system of alliances could unravel into catastrophe seemed remote. For most, the system of alliances was seen as a means to preserve peace through deterrence.

That fragile peace was shattered in the Balkans, a region long known for its volatility. On June 28, 1914, in the city of Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, an event occurred that would set the world on a path toward catastrophe. Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was assassinated by a young Serbian nationalist, Gavrilo Princip, a member of the radical group known as the Black Hand. The assassination of the Archduke, an act of defiance against Austro-Hungarian rule, was a spark in the powder keg of Balkan tensions. Austria-Hungary, seeking to assert its dominance and avenge the murder of its heir, issued an ultimatum to Serbia, one that was designed to be impossible to accept. In reality, it was less an ultimatum and more an excuse to justify the annexation of Serbia into the empire. The fuse was lit.

The crisis quickly escalated as the great powers of Europe were drawn into the fray. Russia, seeing itself as the protector of Slavic peoples in the Balkans, including the Serbs, felt compelled to intervene. The Austro-Hungarian Empire’s demands on Serbia were seen as a direct challenge to Russian influence in the region. The alliances that had once been seen as a guarantee of peace now brought the two opposing camps to the brink of war. What had begun as a regional conflict between Austria-Hungary and Serbia now threatened to engulf all of Europe.

The response from the major powers was swift and unyielding. Austria-Hungary, emboldened by a blank cheque of support from Germany, was prepared to crush Serbia and, by extension, assert its authority in the Balkans. Germany, confident in its military strength and eager to support its ally, saw the crisis as an opportunity to challenge the dominance of France and Russia. Meanwhile, Russia, deeply committed to its Slavic kin, pledged unconditional support for Serbia, setting the stage for a larger confrontation. France, bound by its alliance with Russia, was drawn into the conflict as well, while Britain, although still reluctant to intervene directly, recognized the gravity of the situation.

As the crisis dragged on through July, diplomacy failed to rein in the escalating tensions. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28, 1914, marking the official start of hostilities. Russia, seeing the declaration as a threat to its interests, ordered a general mobilization of its forces, an act that directly threatened Germany's carefully laid war plans. Germany’s military strategy, known as the Schlieffen Plan, hinged on defeating France quickly before turning its full attention to Russia. The German high command feared that if Russia were allowed to fully mobilize, the empire would face a two-front war. On August 1, when Germany’s ultimatum to Russia went unanswered, Kaiser Wilhelm II’s government declared war on Russia, setting in motion the deadly chain of events that would bring the entire continent into conflict. By the first week of August, Europe was at war, with armies mobilizing, borders being violated, and plans for a short, decisive conflict beginning to unravel.

Canada, a dominion of the British Empire, was drawn into the conflict by virtue of its colonial ties. The country’s foreign policy was still under the control of Britain; the Statute of Westminster, which would grant Canada control over its own foreign affairs, was still seventeen years away. On the eve of war, Prime Minister Robert Borden, who had been vacationing in Muskoka, was urgently recalled to Ottawa as the storm clouds gathered over Europe. While Canada’s decision to go to war was formally made by the British government, there was little doubt where Canadian loyalties lay. Field Marshal H.R.H. the Duke of Connaught, Governor General of Canada and representative of the Crown, conveyed Canada’s position to the Secretary of State for Colonial Affairs in Britain, declaring that, should war break out, the Canadian people “will be united in a common resolve to put forth every effort and to make every sacrifice necessary to ensure the integrity and maintain the honour of our Empire.”

On August 4, 1914, Britain declared war on Germany, and with that declaration, Canada too was at war. Though the decision was made in London, Canada’s reaction was immediate and decisive. Within days, public support for the war effort surged across the country. Newspapers filled their pages with calls for action, and recruitment offices were overwhelmed by volunteers eager to enlist. There was no question in the minds of Canadians that they would stand by Britain in its hour of need.

By August 18, an emergency session of the Canadian Parliament convened in Ottawa to determine the next steps. The question was no longer whether Canada would participate, but how. Borden, speaking for the government, committed Canada to the war effort with the full support of the opposition. It was a moment of unity for the young nation. There was little foreboding of the horrors that lay ahead; few could have imagined the scale of the sacrifice that would be required. Most believed the war would be short, a few months of fighting before the might of the British Empire and its allies would overwhelm the Central Powers. But they were wrong. The world that Canada entered in August 1914 was not the world of peace and progress that had existed just weeks earlier. It was a new world, one of industrialized slaughter, trench warfare, and unprecedented destruction.

As Canadian soldiers began to mobilize and the first contingents prepared to sail for Europe, the country unknowingly stood on the brink of a transformation. What had begun as a war to defend the Empire would become a defining moment in Canadian history. By the time the war ended in 1918, Canada would have sacrificed over 60,000 of its young men. The country would emerge from the conflict with a stronger sense of national identity and a newfound recognition of its place on the world stage. But in those first days of August 1914, as Parliament debated the war, no one could have foreseen the terrible cost that would come, or the immense changes that would sweep over the world in the years that followed.