As soon as war was declared in 1914, thousands of volunteers descended on a tent city for some very basic training Britain declared war on the Kaiser’s Germany on Aug. 4, 1914, and Canada immediately began readying for the inevitable. Westminster had asked for 25,000 troops in the first contingent. Canada gave 30,617, rallied to the cause by the minister of militia and defence, Sam Hughes. Outside of Quebec, it didn’t take much persuasion. Canada was still a young dominion at the time. Ties to the “mother country” ran deep. Almost half the Canadians who served had been born in Britain. Many had a romanticized idea of war. They flooded recruiting stations and church and community halls in towns and cities across the country. Many belonged to local militias. Some had fought in the Sout...

The unveiling of the Canadian National Vimy Memorial in France on July 26, 1936, was witnessed by 3,000 veterans of the battle On July 26, 1936, 11 years and $1.5 million after construction began, 100,000 people gathered on the slopes of Vimy Ridge in France for the unveiling of one of the most striking war memorials in all of Europe. The Canadian National Vimy Memorial, designed by Toronto’s Walter Allward, stands at the crest of the ridge where some say the nation was born—an imposing memorial to more than 11,285 Canadians who died with no known grave in France during the Great War. A monument to peace, it is the centrepiece of a 91-hectare battlefield park at the site where all four divisions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force fought together for the first time—and won where other...