by Megan Hamilton The historiography of Canadians in the Second World War was largely shaped by the work of official historian Charles P. Stacey. However, Stacey’s ability to produce the early histories of the war was inhibited by a lack of access to important...
by Alexander Maavara In the popular memory, First World War news correspondents are often portrayed as either unjustly shackled by edicts handed down by propaganda bureaus or as willfully complicit in the manipulation of facts to trumpet victories while concealing the...
by Bill Stewart In the Hundred Days campaign of 1918, the Canadian Corps had significant advantages over comparable British formations. One advantage less noted was its tramway organization that was instrumental in sustaining its high operational tempo. Tramways were...
by Marianne Grenier This article is part of the Canadian Military History Colloquium Web Series, created to provide an online space for papers which otherwise would have been presented at the 31st Canadian Military History Colloquium, if not for last year's...
by Bruce Oliver Newsome This is the third and final article in a three-part series on the deployment of German Tiger tanks in 1942, while Canadian forces were still staging in Britain for campaigns in Europe. Nevertheless, thanks to opportunities for a few Canadian...
by Bruce Oliver Newsome This is the second article in a three-part series on the deployment of German Tiger tanks in 1942, while Canadian forces were still staging in Britain for campaigns in Europe. Nevertheless, thanks to opportunities for a few Canadian personnel...
by Bruce Oliver Newsome This is the first article in a three-part series on the deployment of German Tiger tanks in 1942, while Canadian forces were still staging in Britain for campaigns in Europe. Thanks to opportunities for a few Canadian personnel to volunteer for...
by Corporal Ret. Frank Reid This article is part of the Canadian Military History Colloquium Web Series, created to provide an online space for papers which otherwise would have been presented at the 31st Canadian Military History Colloquium, if not for this year's...
by Kathleen Taggart I would like to thank the student researchers and volunteers who made this work possible through the digitization of First World War soldiers pension files, along with Georgia Gingrich, Emily Oakes, Matt Baker, and Dr. Mark Humphries at the LCMSDS....
by Kyle Falcon Every October ghost tours spring up around various historical sites. Sometimes these are harmless ways for heritage sites to share local history, but other times, they exploit the past for commercial gain. The ugly side of our fascination with dark...
by Cameron Bartlett This article is part of the Canadian Military History Colloquium Web Series, created to provide an online space for papers which otherwise would have been presented at the 31st Canadian Military History Colloquium, if not for this year's...
by Colonel Ret. Chris Weicker This article is part of the Canadian Military History Colloquium Web Series, created to provide an online space for papers which otherwise would have been presented at the 31st Canadian Military History Colloquium, if not for this year's...
by Sarah Hart This article is part of the Canadian Military History Colloquium Web Series, created to provide an online space for papers which otherwise would have been presented at the 31st Canadian Military History Colloquium, if not for this year's cancellation due...
by Paul Esau Earlier this year I wrote an essay on how the rise of cyber warfare should change NATO’s nuclear deterrence policies. I was supposed to describe practical and easy steps the alliance could take to advance nuclear disarmament, but instead I got seduced by...
by Kyle Pritchard Alongside reuniting with their families and receiving medical treatment, employment was pivotal to First World War veterans’ return to normalcy and financial stability after the traumas of the trenches. With about half of Canadian soldiers engaged in...
by Kyle Falcon Serviceman James Doody was stationed at the Shorncliffe Army Camp in June of 1915 when he began reading the popular spiritualist journal, The Two Worlds. In those pages, he would have read about angelic intervention during the British retreat from Mons...
by Eric Brown This is the third and final article in a three-part series on the life of Second World War veteran Peter Biddlecombe. Was Peter now a better pilot? Reading the comments of his trainers at the various schools he attended...
by Georgia Gingrich During the First World War, Canadians were divided over the consumption of alcohol, with prohibition efforts succeeding in many provinces between 1916 and 1918. I was introduced to this tension while meticulously combing through the mortality...
by Paul Esau The arms trade is a tricky business for a self-proclaimed “middle power” like Canada. Export too little and you’ll be accused of undercutting the domestic military producers needed to maintain a Defence Industrial Base (DIB), and consequently outsourcing...
by Eric Brown This is the second article in a three-part series on the life of Second World War veteran Peter Biddlecombe. Throughout the training program, aircrew candidates were constantly being evaluated. At any stage of the...
by Eric Brown This is the first article in a three-part series on the life of Second World War veteran Peter Biddlecombe. At the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, men from all corners of Canada rushed to join the...
By Eric Story In the immediate aftermath of the Great War, Canadians began the process of coming to terms with the death and destruction the past conflict had wreaked on the young Dominion. According to historian Jonathan Vance, the public constructed a memory of the...
The Life of Gordon E.G. Brown After the War by Michael Saad This is the third and final article in a series on the life of Korean War veteran Gordon EG Brown. See also Part I and Part II. The Korean War weighed heavily on Gordon’s psyche upon his return home in the...
The Life of Gordon E.G. Brown Part II: Service This is the second in a series of articles on the life of Korean War veteran Gordon EG Brown. In the summer of 1951, Gordon and the members of the 1PPCLI were sent to the Jamestown Line, just south of the 38th Parallel,...
The Life of Gordon E.G. Brown Part I: Introduction and Early Life This is the first in a series of articles on the life of Korean War veteran Gordon EG Brown. Each Spring, for the past 12 years at Coalhurst High School, Canadian Veteran Gordon Brown has spoken to...
So Long Bonnie: The Decommissioning of HMCS Bonaventure and Canada’s role in Anti-Submarine Warfare By Hugh A. Gordon, Keyano College Part IV: Decommissioning This is the fourth and final part in a series of articles about the decommissioning of the HMCS...
So Long Bonnie: The Decommissioning of HMCS Bonaventure and Canada’s role in Anti-Submarine Warfare By Hugh A. Gordon, Keyano College Part III: Debating the Bonnie's Future This is the second in a series of articles about the decommissioning of the...
So Long Bonnie: The Decommissioning of HMCS Bonaventure and Canada’s role in Anti-Submarine Warfare, Part II By Hugh A. Gordon, Keyano College Part II: Scandal and a Changing Strategic Situation This is the second in a series of articles about the decommissioning of...
So Long Bonnie: The Decommissioning of HMCS Bonaventure and Canada’s role in Anti-Submarine Warfare By Hugh A. Gordon, Keyano College Part I: Origins and a Missed Opportunity This is the first in a series of articles about the decommissioning of the HMCS...
The McKay Fallen, Part IV: Andrew Douglas Stalker by Dr. Alan Bowker This is the fourth and final article in a series that explores how the Great War impacted the lives of a single family belonging to the MacKay United Church in New Edinburgh. See also Part I, Part...
Lessons Learned: The Military Family By Alex Purcell and Kyle Pritchard In 2017, the Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies received a grant from the Department of National Defence to host a forum on the past and present experiences of veterans...
Lessons Learned: Veteran Mental Health and Trauma by Alex Purcell and Alexander Maavara In 2017, the Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies received a grant from the Department of National Defence to host a forum on the past and present...
The McKay Fallen, Part III: George Frederick Stalker by Dr. Alan Bowker This is the third in a series of articles exploring how the Great War impacted the lives of a single family belonging to the MacKay United Church in New Edinburgh. See also Part I and Part II of...
The MacKay Fallen, Part II: Robert Alexander Stalker by Dr. Alan Bowker This is the first in a series of articles exploring how the Great War impacted the lives of a single family belonging to the MacKay United Church in New Edinburgh. Click here for Part I of the...
The MacKay Fallen, Part I: Introduction by Dr. Alan Bowker This is the first in a series of articles exploring how the Great War impacted the lives of a single family belonging to the MacKay United Church in New Edinburgh. After the Remembrance Day service at MacKay...
Dyer’s Battalion: the Untold Story of the Russian Revolution (Part II) by Trevor Ford This is the conclusion in a two-part article. See also Part I. In 1918, the British led North Russian Expeditionary Force realized that they needed local support to defeat the...
The Curious Case of Wilfred Beckett Birt by Carla-Jean Stokes Martin Gilbert describes the Great War battles of 1915 as “the continuing failure of the Entente.” John Keegan examines that same year in a chapter entitled, “stalemate,” and Stuart Robson—mincing no...
Louisbourg: A Psychological Turning Point in the Seven Years' War by Sam Derksen On 1 June 1758, a massive British flotilla consisting of over 150 ships and thirteen thousand soldiers waited in Gabarus Bay. Louisbourg loomed in the distance. Stirred up by gale force...
"An Exemplary, Fine Gentleman" Defying the Odds: Arthur Roy Baxter, Veteran of World War I Part III: Injury and Life After the War by Michael Saad This is the conclusion in a series of posts exploring the life of Great War veteran, Arthur Roy Baxter. See also...
Music on Canada’s Home Front, 1914-1918 by Sara Karn “[T]he history of Canadian music can help to deepen our understanding of Canada itself.” – Governor General Vincent Massey, Music in Canada (1955)[1] For as long as I can remember, I have enjoyed playing and...