Marching to Armageddon: Canadians and the Great War 1914-1919

by Desmond Morton, J.L. Granatstein

Book by Morton, Desmond, Granatstein, J. L.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Canada

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1989

Reviews

[John Matthew IV · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book on Canada in the First World War. It covers the war in Europe and on the Homefront. There are great photos and paintings and an index. No bibliography.

p. 13: "Von Schlieffen's plan had discounted French resistance, an expectation the French fulfilled. Their strategy, Plan XVII, seemed designed to help the Germans."
p. 26: "Weeks passed before 'enemy aliens' were ordered to register and it was October before interment of Germans and Austrians of military age began."
p. 51: 10-15 men = Section - Corporal or Lance Corporal
p. 51: 4 Sections = Platoon - Lieutenant
p. 51: 4 Platoons = Company - Major or Captain
p. 51: 4 Companies = Battalion - Lieutenant-Colonel
p. 51: 4 Battalions = Brigade - Brigadier-General > A soldier's family
p. 51: 3 Brigades = Division - Major-General
p. 51: 2 Divisions = Corp - Lieutenant-General
p. 81: "The War Office, to add to its problems, had its own version of an inch, 0.010 smaller than anyone else's."
p. 136: "Hughes's reputation will live as long as mountebanks are admired. That guarantees his historical longevity." Mountebank = Charlatan
p. 141: "Currie insisted that objectives should be obvious natural features men could easily find, not a map reference or trench that might be obliterated or confused. And, above all, attacking units should be rested, fed, and happy."
p. 144: The Conquerors by Eric Kennington
p. 193: "On April 1, soldiers from Toronto, trapped by an angry crowd, opened fire. Four civilians were killed."
p. 219: "Generals could draw objectives on maps and historians later would draw arrows to show how troops attacked, but the reality was tiny clumps of exhausted, frightened men going forward amid bursting shells and machine-gun bullets."
p. 235: "Alberta made gauze masks compulsory."

[Maxwell Thornton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great writing, but features a little touch of inaccuracy.

'Marching to Armaggedon: Canadians and the Great War, 1914–1919' by Desmond Morton and J.L Granatstein covers Canada in World War I and (to an extent) the Russian Civil War, featuring politics, the war at home, economics, and more while talking about the Canadians in the trenches.

Personally, I admit that I learned a lot from this book about Canada at the time. I received a better understanding of Canadian actions at Ypres (February 1915) and Mons (Fall 1918), the politics of PM Borden, the good and bad economy of Canada over the course of the war, and issues at home. For someone who likes military history, this was valuable.

However, there are two things I disliked. For the former, I disliked that generals like Haig were—at times—written off as unsympathetic or uncharitable, seemingly not far from 'The Lions Led by Donkeys' myth. The latter was that I found the maps of the battles hard to understand.

In conclusion, this is a good book for beginners learning about Canada in the war, whether at home or in the trenches. I recommend it to fans of Canadian military history and Canadian history in general.

[Steven W Oatway · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written so easy to follow but more a general history of Canada's War effort than anything very detailed. It is an excellent early book in researching Canada in WWI because it covers a wide variety of areas, not just the action at the Front. (this is the second time I've read it)

[Dominic Amann · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent in depth overview of Canadian involvement in WWI.