WW1 IMPACTONCANADA’S….

SOCIAL IMPACTS:

  • Roles of females – women got more jobs = nurses, staff officers, 2000 women worked as nurses, 6000 worked in the civil army, when men came back most women lost job- soon after this famous 5 were fighting for their rights, women helped by sending food, pyjamas and clothes for the soldiers at war
  • Minorities, ethnic – aboriginals were still being discriminated but made contributions in the war… gov’t didn’t expect them to be part of the war – were seen as ‘savages’ – 4000 volunteered for service in 1913 – gov’t slowly stopped their racist attitudes towards them – borden put the ‘wartime selection act’…
  • French and English Canadians separated – different thoughts, French had problems with them because Manitoba’s school act 1890 restricted French instructions in school, French didn’t follow instructions for the war because they were against the British
  • Government did nothing for the soldiers who returned

ECONOMY:

  • Canadians in early 1900’s didn’t think war in Europe would affect their rights
  • ^ more focused on unemployment, economic depression, threat of crop failure
  • war hurt the troubled economy cause the unemployment rate grew cause soldiers left, and some people were not allowed to work = Germans, etc. 20% of world’s prewar employees left ….
  • Dept ridden railway systems became a national disgrace – because of dept ..no credit – and 50000 workers were out of job from 1914 -1915
  • 1913 – gov’t spent = the same amount they spent on the military alone in 1915
  • not a good time for Canada to enter war but pressured by Britain
  • 1915 – british ministry of munitions created the imperial munitions board (started to flourish) – and produced a millions shells per day and 1/3 of it used in the war each day – Joseph flavellle–1917 = the largest business in Canada > employed 150 000 workers
  • 1917 – Britain could no longer afford Canadian goods – Canada gained money through taxes = tobacco, asked citizens and got 100 million from them- introduced victory bonds = 2 billion! – bonds in general covered 80% of the war’s cost
  • Thomas white was the finance minister in Canada at the time
  • December 1917 – Halifax relief commission formed – 30 million
  • After the ear ended – a lot of steel making and chemical making factories – after war – no demand of these things and these factories just shut down = unemployment

POLITICS:

  • Canada had a new and stronger relationship with Britain – Canada was now being heard by other countries – Borden had to deal with Canada’s dept
  • Maritimes – building ships/ transporting – so their manufacturing levels went down of corporate take over reduced the number of companies = unemployment
  • 1917 – 1921 = maritime production stopped by 40% - over 1000 people left Maritimes
  • social problems --- 600 000 men went over seas – and the rest of the soldiers who survived had trouble getting back to Canada
  • most of the country divided after the conscription act and the war times measure act
  • Winnipeg general strike 1919– when soldiers returned they had no job and the had a strike
  • Spanish flu – 100 000 approx soldiers stuck in Europe – end of war – and this flu caused devastating effect to the people in Europe and the soldiers brought it back to their countries – and there was nothing to fight it with – that was the last bigpandemic – about the same number people that died in the ww1 died from this flu all over the world

AMERICAN’S

SOCIAL:

  • National War Labour Board – started at the beginning of the war
  • Mediated labour disputes
  • Resulting in improved wages, 8-hour work days and organized unions
  • Women started working in factories in jobs that were normally male-oriented
  • Police officers
  • Factory workers

-Southern blacks also were allowed to hold jobs, and were not forced out at the end of the war

-Mexicans had lots of political turmoil.

-Since there was a labour shortage in the States they immigrated to the USA to take the jobs

AFTER THE WAR

  • even though women were put out of their jobs, returning soldiers still had trouble finding work
  • Government was no longer controlling prices and rationed goods
  • Huge spike in prices of goods -> inflation
  • Many worker strikes
  • Strikes were considered a “European Communist” behaviour, and scared many people
  • Lots of racial movement. Returning soldiers were not allowed their jobs which had been taken over by people of a different colour
  • People felt that foreigners moving from Europe were bringing communist studies with them
  • Led to the American idea of associating foreigners with unrest and violence and things that were generally unacceptable
  • A lot of bombing and terrorism happening against these European countries
  • FBI was formed to control terrorism
  • Huge amounts of Russian and other immigrants were deported
  • Immigration was severely limited and restricted after that