World War I
In 1914, when Britain went to war, Canada was forced to participate in the war as did Australia, New Zealand and other British Colonies or anyone who's head of State was the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
The First World War started when a Serbian Nationalist shot Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Austro-Hungarian Empire, using this as an excuse, declared war on Serbia. Of course, each country has allies and so did these two. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was allied to the German Empire. Russia was allied to the Serbs. But France and Great Britain (and Allies including Canada) were allied to Russia. So they all went to war.
When the Canadians got into Europe Britain was considered a Colonial army and to be controlled by the British but that changed as the war progressed. The First Major Battle Canadians took part in was the Battle of Ypres. The Battle of Ypres started in October of 1914 but Canadians only took part in the Battle as of April 1915. The Germans used gasses to destroy the allied lines. Canadian Defence stopped the Germans from Breaking through the allied lines. The Conflict at Ypres ended in May of 1915. 6,000 Canadians were killed.
The next Battle was the Battle at La Somme. The Battle commenced in June 1916. The Allies tried to destroy defence lines. The British bombarded the German Artillery but the British failed to break German Lines. In September the Canadians finally took part of the Action at La Somme. Two months later, the battle was over. Even though Canadians took important German positions, the German lines remained intact. 25 000 Canadians were killed.
The Canadian biggest military victory happened at Vimy Ridge in April of 1917. Vimy Ridge was an Important German Position that couldn't be won by French or the British. All four Canadian Divisions of the Canadian Corps were sent to Vimy. Lots of Planing was needed. Maps and models were done of the battlefield by Canadians. On April 9th, they started their attack. Four days latter, Canadian Corps were controlling the German Position. They took 4000 prisoners. Canadian Corps lost almost 11, 000 men.
The Canadian Corps were, in fall of 1917, attacking Passchendaele. If the Canadians could capture the Belgian village, then a German Submarine base would be unprotected. The Canadians did a lot of planing once again. The Canadians captured the village by November.
