Grade 10 Canadian History Identifications and Definitions

Chapter Two: Trial by Fire: Canada Enters World War One

Conflagration – World War One

1. War Measures Act: the Act that gives the federal government emergency powers
during wartime, including the right to detain people without laying charges; therefore,
suspends habeas corpus which is the right of a detained person to be brought before a
judge or other official to decide whether the detention is lawful; sweeping powers are
to ensure the security, defence, peace order and welfare of Canada; those detained are
suspected of sympathizing with the enemy; during the war censorship was introduced
banning the publication and distribution of books and magazines in enemy languages;
would be invoked again in WW2 and during the FLQ crisis in 1970

2. Emergencies Act: in 1988 replaced the War Measures Act; it is meant to ensure safety
and security during national emergencies; differs from the War Measures Act in two
ways – a declaration of an emergency by Cabinet must be reviewed by Parliament and
any temporary laws made under the Act are subject to the Charter of Rights and
Freedoms; therefore any attempt by the government to suspend civil rights will be
subject to the “reasonable and justified” test under the Charter. Invoked by Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau in February, 2022 in order to bring an end to trucker convoy
protests and blockades.

3. enemy alien: a national living in a country that is at war with his/her homeland; under
the War Measures Act, anyone suspected of being an enemy alien or a threat to the
government could be imprisoned, or deported or both; at first government urged that
they be treated fairly, but as war fever turned to hysteria, they were viewed with
suspicion and even hatred; many were sent to internment camps, others were forced
to register with local police and had to report on a regular basis; some had their homes
or businesses vandalized; though there were rumours of spies and sabotage, an official
investigation by the North-West Mounted Police found that, “there was not the slightest
trace of organization or concerted movement amongst enemy aliens” that could be
considered a threat to Canada

4. internment camps: a government-run camp where people who are considered a threat
are detained; set up in remote areas; over 8597 enemy aliens were held in camps the
majority of which were Ukrainians
5. Schlieffen Plan: German war plan which involved defeating France in the West and then
turning and defeating Russia in the east; based on strict timing that left little room for
error

6. trench warfare: parallel lines of trenches protected by machine guns and barbed wire;
“a soldier could wait month after month in wet fetid ground, in heat and cold, staring at
the enemy across a no-man’s-land, knowing that incoming shellfire or poison gas, or a
sniper’s bullet could take him or a buddy out at any time. Lice, filth, boredom, and the
noxious stench of rotting flesh, sweat, cordite, and human waste plagued the men as
much as disease and death.” National Geographic History, January 2016 “This isn’t war, it’s
mutual suicide.” Lord Kitchener, British Minister of War

7. Western Front: the area of fighting/line of battle in western Europe from the English
Channel to the border of Switzerland; characterized by trench warfare and inconclusive
battles with heavy casualties on both sides

8. “no-mans land”: corridor between the enemy trenches; area between the trenches of
the two opposing sides

9. saps: small trenches that probed out into no-mans’ land and served as lookout posts

10. duckboards: wooden floorboards placed in the bottom of the trenches to avoid water

11. trench foot: rotting of the flesh between and around the toes due to the inability of
soldiers to keep their feet dry in the cold, wet, muddy conditions

12. trench mouth: painful infection of the gums due to poor oral hygiene and nutrition,
stress and heavy smoking; characterized by bleeding of the gums and bad breath

13. artillery: large military weapons built to fire munitions far beyond the rand and power
of infantry’s small arms; extreme example was the Paris Gun which could fire a 234
pound shell over 100km
14. shell-shock: named by the men themselves, a nervous breakdown caused by the
immense stress of battle; “a strange bundle of symptoms that left soldiers incapacitated
with confusion, fatigue, tremors, nightmares, and impaired sight and hearing.” National
Geographic History, January 2016. A study from Veterans Affairs Canada confirms that
Canadians who have served in uniform are at greater risk of taking their own lives than
members of the general public. Risk of suicide among male veterans of all ages was 36%
higher; among veterans under 25 the number rises to 242%. The risk among female
veterans is 81% greater. The Toronto Sun, December 8, 2017.

15. “bully” beef: tinned corned beef the soldiers ate

16. Victoria Cross: most prestigious military award/medal given by Britain; four Canadians
won this at Vimy; 70 Canadians would win this in WW1, compared to only 16 in WW2;
no Canadian soldier has won one since

17. Second Battle of Ypres: Canada’s first major battle of WW1; battle where poison gas
was used for the first time

18. Ross Rifle: Canadian-made sharpshooting rifle; promoted by Hughes; jammed easily in
the trenches

19. Battle of the Some: typified WW1 battles and strategy; first day was the most
disastrous the British army had every faced; after 141 days of fighting there were 1.25
million casualties on both sides, including 24,000 Canadians

20. casualties: those who are killed, wounded, captured, or missing in action during war

21. war of attrition: military strategy based on exhausting the enemy’s manpower and
resources before yours are exhausted, usually involving great losses on both sides;
prime example of this is the Battle of Verdun, the largest and longest battle of WW1
from February – December 1916 where there were 750,000 casualties on both sides

22. General Douglas Haig: British commander of the Allied forces who was responsible for
the Somme and Passchendaele; about the first hours at the Somme stated, “The news
was not altogether good”; debate surrounding his competence as a military
commander
23. Vimy Ridge: place where Canada won its most celebrated (not necessarily its greatest
or most important) battle; first time all four Canadian divisions fought together; the
battle where Canada “became a nation”; only significant victory for the Allies in 1917

24. Julian Byng: commander of the Canadian Corps at Vimy

25. Arthur Currie: Canadian general who took part in planning the assault at Vimy; largely
responsible for the preparation, training and execution of the assault; commanded the
First Division at Vimy; respected strategist who was eventually knighted and given
command of the Canadian Corps; “What the Canadian Corps and Currie did after Vimy
that made a difference to the outcome of the war.” Donald Macleod, The Globe and
Mail

26. Battle of Passchendaele: one of the bitterest battles for Canadians with 16,000 lives
lost; characterised by mud; 7 km of land gained but the Germans soon won it back;
500,000 casualties on both sides; “If the Somme was a tragedy, Passchendaele was a
crime;” “Good God! Did we really send men to fight in that?” Sir Launcelot Kigell senior
staff officer British HQ

27. “Hundred Days”: Germany launched a mighty offensive on the Western Front before
U.S. soldiers could arrive in great numbers; this was the last final great sweep against
Germany’s last gasp offensive to win the war; the final Allied offensive against the
Central Powers; broke the back of the German military; more Canadian casualties at
this time than in any other battle

28. Royal Flying Corps: British air force; Canadians flew in this due to there being no
Canadian air force at the time

29. Fokker: superior German fighter at the beginning of the war; invention of Antoni
Fokker

30. Dirigible: lighter than air airship that can navigate under its own power; most famous
was the Zeppelin, a rigid dirigible that was manufactured by Count Ferdinand von
Zeppelin; was filled with flammable hydrogen gas and was therefore susceptible to
incendiary ammunition introduced in 1916; used for observation missions or bombing
raids
31. Sopwith Camel: premier fighter plane developed by the Allies; pilots in Camels shot
down more enemy planes than pilots in any other aircraft

32. reconnaissance: military search or exploration; a search mad to gather useful military
information in the field, especially by examining the ground; military observation of a
region to locate an enemy or ascertain strategic features; scouting

33. dogfight: aerial duel/fight between fighter planes

34. ace: fighter pilot who shot down at least five aircraft

35. Manfred von Richthofen: the Red Baron; top fighter ace of the war with 80 kills

36. Roy Brown: Canadian air ace who shot down the Red Baron; did this while Red Baron
had another Canadian pilot, Wop May, in his sights

37. Billy Bishop: top Canadian air ace of the war with 72 kills, fourth overall; winner of the
Victoria Cross

38. Jutland: after the arms race and spending so much on ships, this was the only major
naval battle of WW1 between the British and German navies, specifically their
battleships

39. U-boat: unterseeboot/submarine; Germany’s most deadly weapon; German’s

depended on these as they knew their surface navy was no match for the British Royal
Navy

40. unrestricted submarine warfare: German policy under which their submarines would
sink any Allied or neutral ship approaching Britain; put in place in 1915, taken off, then
put back in place in 1917

41. Lusitania: British luxury liner that was sunk at sea by a German submarine in 1915;
1,193 were killed, including 128 Americans; swayed public opinion in the U.S. in favour
of the Allies;

42. convoy system: method Canada used to ship huge quantities of food, munitions and
other war supplies to Britain, mostly from Halifax; cargo ships did not sail alone, but
travelled together, in fleets, escorted by armed destroyers
43. merchant marine: civilian ships and sailors that transported food, weapons, and
munitions; not officially members of the armed forces, but vital to the war effort

44. November 11, 1918: at 11:00 o’clock, on the 11th day of the 11th month, the war ended
with the signing of the armistice in a railroad car just outside of Compiegne

45. armistice: temporary suspension of hostilities by agreement of the warring parties;

cessation of hostilities as a prelude to peace negotiations; a truce

46. George Price: last Canadian and member of the British Empire to die in WW1; died at
10:58 a.m., two minutes before the armistice

47. John McCrae: writer of In Flanders Fields