1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910779357103321

Autore

Wood James A. <1978->

Titolo

Militia myths : ideas of the Canadian citizen soldier, 1896-1921 / / James Wood

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Vancouver : , : UBC Press, , [2010]

©2010

ISBN

1-280-77779-6

9786613688187

0-7748-1767-4

Descrizione fisica

1 electronic text (xii, 350 p.) : ill., ports., digital file

Collana

Studies in Canadian Military History

Studies in Canadian military history, , 1499-6251

Disciplina

355.00971

Soggetti

Sociology, Military - Canada

Canada History, Military

Canada Militia History

Canada Armed Forces History

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Canadian ideas of the citizen soldier -- A military spirit in Canada, 1896-98 -- An army for empire, 1898-1901 -- "Don't call me Tommy," 1901-04 -- "Who are you going to fight?" 1905-1908 -- Continental commitments, 1909-11 -- Involuntary action, 1911-1914 -- War and citizenship, 1914-17 -- Victory and vindication, 1918-21 -- A citizen's duty in "Canada's Century" -- Appendices. Total Canadian militia expenditures, 1894-1922 ; Canadian militia establishment and numbers trained, 1895-1914 ; Membership in military and civilian rifle associations, 1903-1914 ; Membership in school cadet corps, 1908-14 ; Compulsory vs. voluntary service : costs and results.

Sommario/riassunto

The citizen soldier is a central figure in Canada's social memory of the First World War. But is the ideal of being a citizen first and a soldier only by necessity an unchanging feature of the Canadian identity? This compelling history traces the evolution of the Canadian amateur military tradition in the turbulent years from 1896 to 1921. Before the Great War, Canada's military culture was in transition as Canada



navigated an uncertain relationship with the United States and fought an imperial war in South Africa. Gradually, the untrained civilian replaced the long-serving volunteer militiaman as the archetypal amateur soldier, setting the country down a path leading directly to the battlefields of Flanders and northern France.Militia Myths reveals the history of a military culture that consistently employed the citizen soldier as its foremost symbol, but was otherwise in a state of profound change.