Saint John's College
Did World War One have a positive effect on Canada?
Keith Wilson
History
CHC2D1
Mr. Chisholm
Due: 2023-03-09
World War One had a positive effect on Canada because of the Contributions and Achievements of Women, and Canadians in the war at the sea. During World War One there was a debate in Canada, to ban alcohol or to keep it legal. Nellie McClung, who was a major women’s rights activist at the time, argued that it should be illegal as it led to higher rates of domestic abuse, the Prime Minister at the time, Robert Borden, agreed and made it illegal in 1916. This showed the women of the time, who did noy have many freedoms or rights, that if they petitioned for something
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Women’s achievements during World War One is not the only reason why it was beneficial for Canada, the second reason was Canadians in the war at the sea. At the start of World War One, Canada had a major problem, its navy, the Royal Canadian Navy, was established only three years before World War One in 1911, so they only had 3 warships and 350 sailors, this weakness meant a weak country, meaning Canadians could not take pride in their country and its strength. The Canadian Navy was so pitiful that at the start of World War One, Canadians were donating their own personal boats to help with the war effort. By the end of World War One, this had changed, Canada’s navy had expanded considerably to over 112 warships and 5500 sailors, making it the fourth largest navy in the world, this meant Canadians could now take pride in their country and its strength, leading to a growing sense of nationalism and the idea that we should be fully independent from Britain, as we did not need them to protect us any more. Germany’s strategy during World War One was to starve Britain by using its new strategy, Unrestricted Submarine Warfare, where they used a large number of submarines to sink merchant ships coming from Canada to Britain, Canada was able to reduce the amount of