World War I
July 28, 1914 - November 11, 1918Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia, Pacific, Atlantic, Mediterranean
Canadian soldiers practice going over the top of training trenches behind the front lines.
World War I (often abbreviated to WWI or WW1), also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilized in one of the largest wars in history. Over nine million combatants and seven million civilians died as a result of the war (including the victims of a number of genocides), a casualty rate exacerbated by the belligerents’ technological and industrial sophistication, and the tactical stalemate caused by gruelling trench warfare. It was one of the deadliest conflicts in history and precipitated major political change, including the Revolutions of 1917–1923 in many of the nations involved. Unresolved rivalries at the end of the conflict contributed to the start of the Second World War twenty-one years later.
- Canadian Casualties: 619,636
- Allied Casualties: 5,700,000
- Opposition Casualties: 4,020,000
Engagements
- 1915Second Battle of Ypres
- 1916Battle of the Somme
- 1917Battle of Arras
- Battle of Passchendaele
- 1918Hundred Days Offensive
Resources
War Diaries- War Diaries of the First World War Library and Archives Canada
- WWI Trench Maps & Aerial Photographs McMaster University
- 21st Infantry Battalion, Nominal Rolls 1915 and 1918 CEF Study Group
- Pictou Casualties: The Second Battle of Ypres Pictou-Antigonish Regional Library
- Report of the Ministry Overseas Military Forces of Canada, 1918 National Defence and the Canadian Forces
- The C.A.M.C. with the Canadian Corps during the Last Hundred Days of the Great War National Defence and the Canadian Forces
- The Canadians in the Ypres Salient Canadian Battlefields Foundation
- The Second Battle of Ypres and 100 Years of Remembrance Scholars Commons @ Laurier
- Passchendaele Canadian War Museum
- Passchendaele Canada's Great War Album
- Regiments at the Battle of the Somme Veterans Affairs Canada
- The 2nd Battle of Arras Library and Archives Canada
- The Battle of Passchendaele Historica Canada
- The Battle of Passchendaele Veterans Affairs Canada
- The Battle of Vimy Ridge Canadian War Museum
- The Canadian Corps and the Battle of the Somme Veterans Affairs Canada
- The Second Battle of Ypres, 1915 The Great War 1914 - 1918
- The Somme Canadian War Museum
