Canada and the First World War to Contemporary Era Flashcards

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering major military, political, and social developments in Canadian history from the start of the First World War through the Cold War era.

Militarism

A cause of WWI involving a massive arms race and military build-up, where nations glorified military power and prepared for large-scale conflict.

Triple Entente

The pre-WWI alliance consisting of Britain, France, and Russia, which Canada automatically joined as part of the British Empire.

June 28, 1914

The date of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip, serving as the direct trigger for WWI.

Armistice

An agreement to stop fighting; the WWI ceasefire was signed on November 11, 1918, at 11:00 a.m.

Schlieffen Plan

Germany's strategy to avoid a two-front war by quickly defeating France through neutral Belgium before turning to fight Russia.

Trench Warfare

A form of combat defined by stalemate and horrific conditions where opposing armies fought from elaborate systems of fortifications across 'No Man's Land.'

Second Ypres

An April 1915 battle in Belgium where Canadian troops were the first Allied forces to face a poison gas attack and held the line.

Vimy Ridge

A battle fought from April 9–12, 1917, where all four Canadian divisions fought together for the first time, often called the birth of Canadian national identity.

Arthur Currie

The first Canadian-born Commander of the Canadian Corps and a brilliant strategist who planned the victory at Vimy Ridge.

Treaty of Versailles

The 1919 peace treaty that ended WWI, forced Germany to accept the 'War Guilt Clause,' and imposed heavy reparations.

Winnipeg General Strike

A massive 1919 labour protest involving 35,000 workers demanding better wages and collective bargaining, which ended with the 'Bloody Saturday' arrests.

Balfour Declaration (1926)

A document defining British Dominions as autonomous and equal in status to Britain, marking a major step toward Canadian independence.

CCF (Co-operative Commonwealth Federation)

A left-wing political party founded in 1932 by farmers and socialists that advocated for a planned economy; the precursor to the NDP.

Tommy Douglas

The Premier of Saskatchewan and leader of the CCF known as the 'Father of Medicare' for introducing universal public hospital insurance.

Agnes Macphail

The first woman elected to the Canadian House of Commons in 1921.

Anti-Semitism

Prejudice and hostility against Jewish people which served as the core of Nazi ideology and led to the Holocaust.

Nazi-Soviet Pact

A 1939 non-aggression agreement between Germany and the USSR that included secret clauses to divide Eastern Europe.

D-Day

The June 6, 1944, Allied invasion of Normandy where Canadian forces successfully attacked Juno Beach.

Final Solution

The Nazi plan for the systematic genocide of approximately six million Jewish people in concentration and death camps.

Dieppe Raid

A 1942 Allied assault on a German-held port in France that was a devastating failure for Canadian troops but provided lessons for D-Day.

Ortona

A month-long 1943 battle in Italy nicknamed 'Little Stalingrad' where Canadian troops engaged in fierce house-to-house fighting.

BCATP (British Commonwealth Air Training Plan)

A massive 1939-1945 program that trained over 130,000 Allied aircrew at bases across Canada.

Japanese Canadian Internment

The forced removal of 22,000 Japanese Canadians from the BC coast to interior camps following the attack on Pearl Harbour.

NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)

A military alliance formed in 1949 by Western democracies for collective defence, of which Canada was a founding member.

NORAD

A joint 1958 Canadian-American military command responsible for the air defence of North America.

Suez Canal Crisis (1956)

A conflict resolved by Lester B. Pearson's proposal for a UN Emergency Force, earning him the Nobel Peace Prize and establishing modern peacekeeping.

Igor Gouzenko

A Soviet cipher clerk who defected in Ottawa in 1945, revealing a large Soviet spy ring and marking the beginning of the Cold War in Canada.

Quiet Revolution

A period of rapid secularization and modernization in 1960s Quebec that saw the provincial government take control of education and health care.

FLQ Crisis

The 1970 domestic security crisis involving the kidnapping of officials by Quebec separatists and Pierre Trudeau's invocation of the War Measures Act.

Avro Arrow (CF-105)

An advanced Canadian supersonic jet interceptor cancelled by the Diefenbaker government in 1959, leading to controversy and a 'brain drain' to the U.S.

Charter of Rights and Freedoms

A central part of the 1982 Constitution, championed by Pierre Trudeau, which established individual and collective rights for Canadians.