Significant date in history: Aug. 4, 1914
By Mark Schadenberg
With conflicts always
existing around the globe – sometimes worse than others, it's still
not easy to forget that 100 years ago this week the First World War
was truly ignited as Britain declared war on Germany on Aug. 4, 1914.
The
war escalated quickly as it was just on June 28 of 1914 when Archduke
Franz Ferdinand (pictured), heir to the Austrian throne, was assassinated by Gravilo
Princip, a member of a Serbian nationalist group. The assassination took place in Sarajevo.
The timetable moved quickly.
Germany would soon invade France and
Belgium, and on Aug. 4, 1914, England (With all countries part of its
dominion included such as Canada) would declare war after Germany
didn't heed a deadline to withdraw its presence.
Canada's prime minister throughout the war was Robert Borden (pictured below).
The war continued until Nov. 11, 1918
with as many as 16 million deaths – both military and civilian in
total. It is estimated that 66,000 Canadians were killed.
Canadian
history is accumulated with stories about bravery and loss of life in
locations such as Passchendaele, which is a small
city in Belgium. Canadian actor/director Paul Gross would bring
Passchendaele (Third Battle of Ypres) to vivid life in 2008 with a movie by
the same name, written to specifically chronicle the battle there,
which also included many other forces especially those from New
Zealand. Since these historical moments were in 1917 it will be
interesting (in my opinion) to note how Canada will mark 2017 for both is 150 years
since Confederation and its 100 years since its most significant
contributions to the First World War efforts.
By the way, as a crow flies,
Passchendaele is actually quite close to England's east coast and
today would be a very short air flight to London, England.
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