The Benefits of WWI
The Benefits of WWI
By:
Jeff Wood
Many things have been said about war. Usually people see it as soldiers on a battlefield, men dieing, and battalions marching through ruined cities, bodies littering the streets. This is a warped perception of the reality. War may cause death and destruction, but other things, far more positive things, also happen when war is declared. In WWI it helped boost Canada’s industrial production and economic growth, also it allowed women to be emancipated from the home and placed in the workforce. Another positive affect was the reputation Canada got from its contributions, both on the battlefield and on the home front.
Increased economic activity is one of the greatest things WWI did for Canada. At the beginning of the war central Canada’s economic and industrial growth was coming along fine, but the west was still being explored and settled. Overall the country was doing well, but needed a boost to join all Canadians together for a common goal, that boost came in the form of WWI. Because before the war Canada’s industry was growing at an average rate, but it would never have increased so rapidly if not for the sudden need for munitions and weaponry overseas. In 1914 only one small munitions factory existed in Canada turning out a mere 75 shells per day, by 1917 Canada had over 600 munitions factories, millions of dollars worth of shells had already been sent overseas and the production level was amazingly high. Within the munitions factories there were over 250 000 Canadians hard at work. The younger children, and farmers also had a major role in the war, the food grown on farms was donated to the government to be sent overseas to feed the men, Borden even set up a campaign asking boys 15-19 to help out on farms across Canada, they were called Soldiers Of The Soil, incentives such as national badges of honor were awarded to those who volunteered. Another thing that the government did to help the war effort was the introduction of the Canadian Patriotic Fund, it was created to help Canadian families, whose male supporters had gone to war, and had to live off the privates salary of $1.10 a day. Also, to help pay for the cost of war, Victory Bonds were introduced by the government, these bonds were a huge success, originally planned to make about $200 million dollars they raised nearly $600 million. Throughout the war all Canadians came together and “did there bit” for the war effort, whether it was munitions manufacturing or farming food for our soldiers, it was a time where Canada was united together for the common goal of defeating Germany and winning the war.
