Canada and the World: A History

1914 - 1921: The Crucible of War

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• Ready, aye, ready
• "Toy Automata"
• At the Centre
• A Nation Divided
• Waiting for the Yanks
• Making Peace
• League of Nations
• End of an Era

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Ready, aye, ready

On August 4, 1914, the British Empire went to war. The unparalleled violence that was to mark the 20th century began with the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. This crisis in the Balkans quickly spread, as the European system of alliances came into force. While the situation in Europe deteriorated and British statesmen sought in vain to preserve the peace, Prime Minister Robert Borden and his Conservative colleagues in the Canadian government went unconsulted and unadvised. Like ordinary Canadians, they learned about the growing crisis from the press. At the time no one thought this extraordinary.

Nor was there any question of the Canadian government choosing between war and peace. As a member of the Empire, Canada became a belligerent the moment Britain declared war. The leader of the opposition, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, immediately threw his support behind the government. This was no distant colonial skirmish but a threat to the mother country herself. The call had come, he told Parliament, and the only conceivable response was the historic "British answer to the call to duty: 'Ready, aye, ready'."

Even the nationalist leader in Quebec, Henri Bourassa, was on side, though French-Canadian support for the war rested on the government's promise of no conscription; the bond that tied English Canadians to Britain was not matched in intensity by that between French Canada and France.

Although the Canadian government had no choice about going to war, it did have the right to determine the nature and scale of Canada's involvement. But there was never any doubt that Canadian troops would hasten to Britain's aid. Before war was actually declared the Governor General informed London that the Cabinet was "confident that a considerable force would be available for service abroad," an offer the British accepted on August 6.

Volunteers, many of them recent British immigrants, flocked to the colours; on October 3, over 31,000 Canadian soldiers embarked for England, unprepared for and unaware of the ordeal they would face. Even before they had landed overseas, the government offered a second contingent, followed by promises of a third and a fourth. The government was determined to throw all of Canada's resources into a war effort that soon became much greater than anyone had anticipated.

 

"Toy Automata"

Canada was a major contributor to the war and Borden was determined that he should have a voice in its conduct appropriate to that contribution. As early as December 1914 he declared that the people of the dominions must have the same voice in questions of imperial diplomacy as "those who live within the British Isles." He was supported in this view by Loring Christie, his foreign policy adviser.

Christie favoured Canada's taking control of her foreign policy, not by opting for independence, but by becoming a full partner in the creation of an imperial foreign policy. He belonged to the Round Table, a group of intellectuals scattered throughout the Empire, who advocated a fully integrated Empire. The more pragmatic Borden was never inclined to go that far.

In July 1915 the Prime Minister made the first of many trips to England. He found it difficult to pry information about the war effort out of the British government. Borden returned to Canada frustrated, a feeling that was enhanced as the war settled into a stalemate along the trenches of the Western Front, where pitched battles resulted only in massive casualties for very little gain.

In October 1915, the authorized size of the Canadian force was raised to 250,000, and Borden informed the British that "we deem ourselves entitled to fuller information and to consultation respecting general policy in war operations." The Colonial Secretary immediately replied that he could not "see any way in which this could be practically done."

Borden was infuriated by this brush-off. Even so, on January 1, 1916, he announced that the Canadian force would be doubled to half a million men. Three days later he sent a scathing letter to Sir George Perley, a member of his Cabinet who was serving as acting high commissioner in London. He had received "just what information could be gleaned from the daily press and no more . . . steps of the most important and even vital character have been taken, postponed or rejected without the slightest consultation with the authorities of this Dominion. It can hardly be expected that we shall put 400,000 or 500,000 men in the field and willingly accept the position of having no more voice and receiving no more consideration than if we were toy automata."

Borden later instructed Perley not to act on this letter, and it is not known if the British were aware of the extent of the prime minister's anger. If they were, little was immediately done to soothe it. That would have to await further deterioration in the war situation and changes at the highest level of the British government.

At the Centre

In December 1916 David Lloyd George, who had long been critical of the British war effort, replaced H.H. Asquith as Britain's prime minister. In his previous role as minister of munitions, Lloyd George had shown a dynamism and originality lacking in his colleagues. He was not afraid to experiment, especially when the old ways of doing things had proved futile.

The "Welsh Wizard" possessed a flair that the stolid Borden lacked, but the two would work effectively together.

Lloyd George knew that the desperateness of the war situation would require even greater reliance on the dominions. He understood, as other British politicians had not, that "it is important that they should feel that they have a share in our councils as well as in our burdens." As one of his aides commented, the dominions "were fighting not for us but with us." That recognition made all the difference.

The Welshman immediately called the dominion prime ministers to London to form an Imperial War Cabinet. "I want to say that we feel the time has come," he told Parliament, "when the Dominions ought to be more formally consulted as to the progress and course of the War, as to the steps that ought to be taken to secure victory, and as to the best methods of garnering in the fruits of their efforts as well as of our own." This was precisely what Borden had long demanded.

Borden spent several weeks in London wading through documents he had not previously been permitted to see, "covering every conceivable question and extending to almost every country in the world." For the first time a Canadian prime minister was ushered into the inner sanctum of imperial diplomacy. The new body first met on March 2, 1917. It met concurrently, but on alternate days, with an Imperial War Conference, which considered matters of imperial interest that were not directly linked with the conduct of the war.

In opening the first meeting, Lloyd George characterized the Imperial War Cabinet as "a Cabinet in the real sense of the term, with power to take decisions and to give effect to them." The ever-cautious Borden saw it as the answer to his demands for consultation, but it was certainly not the centralized body so fervently sought by the advocates of imperial federation. He made this plain in an address to the Empire Parliamentary Association. "Each nation has its voice upon questions of common concern and highest importance as the deliberations proceed," Borden stated. "Each preserves unimpaired its perfect autonomy, its self-government, and the responsibility of its Ministers to their own electorate."

Borden was largely responsible, along with the South African leader General J.C. Smuts, for a resolution passed by the Imperial War Conference calling for a special Imperial Conference after the war to consider "the readjustment of the constitutional relations of the component parts of the Empire." Resolution IX went on to assert that the dominions must be recognized as "autonomous nations of an Imperial Commonwealth" with a right to "an adequate voice in policy and in foreign relations," and that arrangements must be made "for continuous consultation in all important matters of common Imperial concern, and for such necessary concerted action, founded on consultation, as the several Governments may determine." There could be no going back to the old days when dominion prime ministers knew only what they read in the press.

A Nation Divided

It was a grim and determined Borden who returned to Canada in the summer of 1917. The British had impressed upon him the urgent need for more men. He had visited Canadian wounded in hospitals and seen first-hand the conditions at the front. Borden was more than ever convinced of the necessity of achieving complete victory over the German enemy. As he saw it, he could not let the Canadian troops down, thereby rendering the sacrifices made by so many young Canadians meaningless.

Knowing that voluntary enlistments were not keeping pace with the rate of casualties, Borden was prepared to introduce compulsory military service, or conscription, in Canada regardless of the consequences. He attempted to do so on a non-partisan basis by seeking a coalition government with Laurier, but the old leader would not agree. Other Liberals from English Canada did not hesitate to join. Borden got his Union government and split the Liberal party in the process.

Conscription became law on August 29, 1917; in the election that followed, the Union government swept the country except for Quebec, which remained solidly behind Laurier. Anti-conscription sentiment was not unique to French Canada; it was shared to some extent in labour and rural circles. But that could not obscure the fact that Canada was now obviously and bitterly divided along linguistic lines.

Waiting for the Yanks

When Canada went to war in August 1914, the United States did not. American neutrality angered Canadians, particularly as the war dragged on and casualties mounted. As the war increasingly came to be seen as a crusade for democracy, Canadians could not understand why the United States, which had trumpeted itself as the champion of democracy since the American Revolution, held itself aloof.

Particularly galling was the determined American attempt to act even-handedly, leading to such events as the feting of a German submarine crew shortly before they returned to sea and sank several Allied ships. President Woodrow Wilson steadfastly refused to lend any moral support to the Allies, with whom he personally sympathized, asking Americans to remain "impartial in thought as well as in action."

American neutrality also intensified concerns about possible sabotage in Canada. Fear that the large German and Irish populations in the United States would join forces with enemy aliens in Canada to wreak havoc was exaggerated, though not entirely without foundation. The most serious plot was fomented by the German military attaché in Washington and would have involved attempts to blow up bridges in Canada. The incompetence of the plotters led to the attack being called off with no damage done, except for a small dynamite blast at a bridge along the New Brunswick-Maine border. When the Centre Block of the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa was destroyed by fire in 1916, rumours about German responsibility abounded, but there was no evidence that the fire was anything but accidental.

The war complicated official Canadian dealings with the United States. Much of the leg work was handled by Joseph Pope of the Department of External Affairs, who worked closely with the British ambassador in Washington, making frequent visits there. Pope was held in high esteem by the U.S. State Department. As the British Embassy became overwhelmed by the amount of war-related business, other Canadian government departments and agencies began to work directly with their American counterparts, conducting business outside the official channels.

Borden proposed the appointment of a Canadian representative in Washington who would be independent of the embassy. The British did not like the idea, because of its implications for imperial diplomatic unity. In any case, Borden could not find a suitable candidate, and no appointment was made.

When the United States finally entered the war in April 1917, cross-border relations were further complicated by the profusion of new agencies, particularly in the area of supplies. In November 1917 Lloyd Harris, an Ontario businessman experienced in handling munitions contracts, went to Washington as a lobbyist for Canadian manufacturers. Finding his activities hampered by his lack of status, he urged Borden to create an official war mission. The ever-conservative Pope was not happy, fearing that "this office might be a weapon in the future in the hands of men not so loyal to England as I am convinced Sir Robert Borden is." In the context of the war, however, there was no choice. The Canadian War Mission was appointed in February 1918 under the chairmanship of Harris.

Militarily, there was little co-ordination between the two countries. The Americans did provide some antiquated "submarine chasers" to help the Royal Canadian Navy defend the east coast and the vital supply lines to Britain. Later an old gunboat was added to patrol the Grand Banks. But there was nothing approaching the level of co-operation that would develop during the Second World War.

Making Peace

When the Imperial War Cabinet resumed its meetings in June 1918, Borden was harshly critical of the British high command for its conduct of the war. Lloyd George, who had his own differences with the generals, suggested a committee of prime ministers to examine the war effort. Potentially, this placed the dominion politicians in a position of great influence. But the committee quickly became irrelevant when an Allied breakthrough, with Canadian and Australian troops in the vanguard, brought the war to an end much more quickly than expected. Borden also took the opportunity to reiterate his demand for a voice in foreign affairs. "Unless [Canada] could have that voice in the foreign relations of the Empire as a whole," he warned, "she would before long have an independent voice in her own foreign affairs outside the Empire."

Following the Armistice of November 11, 1918, Borden returned to London determined to have Canada play a role in the peace negotiations commensurate with her role in the war and the casualties she had suffered. He had already told Lloyd George that "the press and people of this country take it for granted that Canada will be represented at the Peace Conference" and that "the national spirit of the Canadian people" would have to be satisfied. Canada's soldiers had proved at least as capable as any other; in the final push to victory, the battle-hardened Canadians had functioned as elite shock troops under the leadership of a Canadian general, Arthur Currie.

Canadian victories, particularly the capture of Vimy Ridge in April 1917, gave Canadians a new sense of pride and confidence. The Canadians had done what the French and British had failed to do. "Vimy Ridge," as one participant commented, "was the first battle in which Canadian divisions fought as a whole, and it was purely a Canadian effort." Canadian nationalism was given a boost, but it was an English-Canadian nationalism that French Canada did not share.

Lloyd George at first resisted separate representation for the dominions, but quickly backed down in the face of Canadian and Australian determination to accept nothing less than the status granted small nations such as Belgium, whose contribution to the Allied war effort was smaller than theirs. He offered the dominions their own delegations to the peace conference combined with representation on the British Empire delegation. Lloyd George had to convince the Americans, who were reluctant to accept what they considered to be extra British votes, but his persistence was rewarded.

While the dominions got their delegations, they had little real influence. All major decisions were taken by the big powers -- Britain, France, Italy and the United States. The most important Canadian achievement was the recognition of her status as an independent country in her own right; or, as the more cautious Loring Christie phrased it, that Canada was "in some degree an international person." This was underlined when the dominions all independently signed the resulting Treaty of Versailles, even though the British signature covered the entire Empire. Borden even insisted that the Canadian Parliament approve the treaty before the British could say that it had been accepted by the Empire.

League of Nations

In an ultimately unsuccessful effort to avoid a repetition of the war, the peace treaty signed at Versailles provided for the establishment of the League of Nations. Again, Canada's ambiguous position as a member of the British Empire became a complicating factor, particularly for the Americans. The British seat was formally an Empire seat, and the British persisted for some years in asserting that they spoke for the Empire as a whole.

While Canada did attain its own seat, as well as one in the International Labour Organization (ILO), the United States argued that Canada should not be eligible for election to the ILO's governing body. They asserted that American public opinion would not tolerate the extra British votes that the dominions represented; indeed, this proved to be a factor in the eventual American rejection of League membership. Borden stood firm, threatening to withdraw from both the ILO and the League of Nations if Canada were treated as a second-class member. With the support of Lloyd George he won his case.

Ironically, Canada sought from the beginning to weaken the League she fought so hard to enter. The heart of the League covenant was Article X, which obliged members to "respect and preserve as against external aggression the territorial integrity and existing political independence" of all League members. Canadian delegates at the peace conference argued against this clause, which they feared would involve Canada in all future European wars, no matter who the aggressor was. Since Canada was hardly likely to be invaded, it was unfair to expect her to go to war for others. These arguments reflected Canadian war-weariness, but also demonstrated a certain lack of maturity in international affairs. Future Canadian governments would continue to chip away at Article X.

End of an Era

A worn-out Robert Borden retired in July 1920 and was replaced by Arthur Meighen. Meighen was clearly the most intelligent of Borden's Cabinet colleagues but he had his shortcomings. He was arrogant, not prone to compromise and was despised in French Canada as one of the architects of conscription. Meighen had little experience in foreign affairs, and he relied even more heavily on Christie's advice than had Borden.

One of Christie's main objectives was to foster British-American friendship, which he believed would be severely damaged by the renewal of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, a mutual assistance treaty that the Americans feared could lead to two of the world's greatest naval powers becoming allied against the United States.

At the 1921 Imperial Conference Meighen spoke strongly against the Alliance, demanding that Canada, as the closest part of the Empire, should by right have the ultimate say in imperial policies which affected relations with the United States. His view was strongly resented by Australia, which saw the Alliance as a form of protection. The British, dismayed at this breakdown in imperial unity and concerned about American opinion, sought a compromise. In the end the issue was successfully put off to be dealt with in a multilateral context at a conference in Washington later that year, where a four-power treaty replaced the Alliance.

The Imperial Conference also saw the end of the attempt to forge an imperial foreign policy by consensus. In the end Canada's national interest won out over Australia's with no "imperial" compromise possible. Perhaps inevitably, each dominion viewed its own interests as paramount. As well, with the war won, the British were less inclined to continue close consultation. To do so would have required the constant presence of the dominion prime ministers in London, which was politically impossible outside the context of the war.

The imperial constitutional conference heralded by Resolution IX of the Imperial War Conference in 1917 never occurred. In any case, the Canadian political world was changing. Meighen went down to defeat in the 1921 election, and the Liberals, under William Lyon Mackenzie King, returned to power. A disciple of Laurier, and dependent upon support from Quebec, King would take a very different approach to imperial relations.