Von Schlieffen's strategy was successful in the initial weeks of the war. By the end of August 1914, however, Germans troops had outrun their supply columns and encountered stiff resistance from French and British troops. In September and October, the Allied armies counterattacked the Germans. German setbacks in the field were worsened because Germany had to recall several divisions from the west to serve on the Eastern Front, where Russia had mobilized more rapidly than anticipated.

By 11 November, after almost three weeks of fighting between the Germans and the British near the railroad centre of Ypres, Belgium, the active phase of the war had come to an end. The lightning attack of Germany had failed. Both sides dug in along the Western Front, which extended 500 miles from the English Channel to France's border with Switzerland. By early 1915, the war that some thought would be over by Christmas settled into the stalemate of trench warfare.

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At the beginning of the First World War, the Canadian army consisted of only 3,000 permanent force soldiers and the 57,000 or so citizen-soldiers of the militia. The considerable resources of rifle associations (48,000) and school cadets (44,000) were also available to the military. (1) The government put out a call to the militia and authorized sending 25,000 men to Europe. In response, more than 31,000 volunteers came forward. Most volunteered out of a sense of duty and patriotism, although others joined seeking adventure. Many of these volunteers were recent immigrants from Britain -- their patriotism was largely for the mother country, rather than for Canada.

Deliberate steps were taken to put a Canadian stamp on the nation's overseas contingents. Legally they were imperial troops, but Borden's government ensured that all volunteers, if not coming from the militia, were enrolled in the militia and all officers were granted Canadian militia as well as imperial commissions. British attempts to have the Canadian army used simply as a source of individual reinforcements for British divisions were quickly dismissed.

Canada's volunteer soldiers were, at first, poorly equipped and poorly organized. (2) Many of the officers had little military experience, and the men were undisciplined. They had to be trained in England before being sent to France in the spring of 1915, under the leadership of a British general. Over 5,000 Canadians were killed or wounded during the first week in which they saw action. The Canadians proved to be tough and effective fighting men, however, often engaging in hand-to-hand combat against the Germans. As the war continued for months and then years, Canada's military would become more and more professional, paralleling Canada's transformation from a colony of Great Britain to an autonomous dominion.

The Fortyniner, No. 1, 1915 (cartoon by George Brown).

"Artistes of the 49th."

[From left to right]

"THIS IS A HELLUVA A JOB FOR A MAN LIKE ME"

"HOLD IN THE BUTT OF THAT RIFLE, ALEC"

"SMILE, DAM IT, SMILE!"