100 years ago today the Armistice that ended the Great War was signed on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918.
The Great War lasted 1,568 days and claimed nearly 37 million civilian and military lives. The Great War, or World War I as it is known today, was one of the darkest times in human history; but, it also contained miraculous triumph in the face of atrocious death. It is also during the Great War that Canada is credited with becoming a nation.
Beginning first in 1915, 18,000 Canadians withstood the first German chlorine gas attack on the 22-24 April 1915. The Canadians held their ranks through the chlorine gas at the cost of 2,000 Canadian lives. The Second Battle of Ypres, as it is formally known, became known as the Forging of Canada. The battle also went on to inspire Doctor John McCrae to write the infamous poem In Flanders Fields.
We are the dead. Short days ago
We live, felt dawn, saw sunsets glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
The Great War also contained the Battle of the Somme. The Battle of the Somme began on 1 July 1916, Canada Day, and it became known as the Bloodiest Single Day in English history and the Bloodiest Battle of World War I. The Battle of the Somme lasted for 141 days and resulted in over 1 million casualties.
The first day of the Battle of the Somme saw the Battle of Beaumont-Hamel and the explosion of the Lochnagar Mine. The men of the Newfoundland Regiment suffered one of the worst casualty rates on Canada Day 1916 when only 68 of the 801 men who had gone into battle answered roll call on 2 July 1916. The Royal Newfoundland Regiment was the only regiment to receive the prestigious title of Royal during the Great War. The explosion of the Lochnagar Mine was the largest explosion ever made by man in anger. Its detonation measured 4,000 feet high, four times the height of the Eiffel Tower.
April 1917 saw what would become the single most important battle in Canadian history: the Battle of Vimy Ridge. It was on the French ridge that Canada became a nation when the four divisions of the Canadian Corps came together for the first time. Together, the Canadian soldiers were able capture the previously unattainable ridge at Vimy. After the four day battle, the Canadians earned respect from their allies, and four outstanding soldiers earned Victoria Crosses for their endeavours. But this victory was not without loss; 3,598 Canadians lost their lives, another 7,000 were injured.
100 years ago today the Armistice that ended the Great War was signed. 37 million lives were lost and people proclaimed that another war as horrific as the Great War would never come to pass. However, just two decades later in September 1939 a declaration of war would become World War II, a war which would take nearly twice as many lives as the Great War.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.
Please take time today to remember the sacrifice they made and the terror they endured.
We do not owe them something.
We owe them everything.
