MARCH 1, 1917: Fourth Canadian Division launches a poison gas raid against German positions on Vimy Ridge. It ends in disaster as many of the Canadians are overcome by gas when the wind changes direction and when German artillery fire ruptures some of the gas cylinders.

Feb. 1, 1944: First Canadian Corps Headquarters takes over the front in Italy north of Ortona under command of Lieutenant-General H.D.G. Crerar. For the first time since the First World War, a Canadian Corps was operating in the front line.

Feb. 2, 1943: Following a long and bloody siege, the Germans surrender at Stalingrad.

Feb. 3, 1916: A spectacular fire destroys much of the Parliament Buildings. Only the library is left standing.

1 JANUARY 1916
Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden promises to field an army of half a million men, and decides to commit two more army divisions to
the Western Front.

2 JANUARY 1908
The Royal Mint of Ottawa opens, later known as the Royal Canadian Mint.

. 1 DECEMBER 1996 A recovery team locates the remains of crew members killed when Royal Canadian Air Force Dakota KN-563 crashed during a monsoon

1 OCTOBER 1990 Two months after Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait, Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship Athabaskan (3rd) and HMCS Terra Nova sail out of Bahrain