Why Was Conscription Necessary During Ww1

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Why conscription was necessary during WW1

The Conscription law being put in place was a huge event in Canadian history and had a large impact to ww1 and on many Canadian families. There were many controversies to whether Canada needed a conscription law or not “The 1917 conscription debate was one of the fiercest and most divisive in Canadian political history” warmeauseum .com .Many of the French Canadians and others Were against the idea of being enlisted to war and felt “it was an oppressive act passed dishonestly by a government more British than Canadian.”. Many of the English Canadians and their families were for conscription for the reason that “These groups tended to favour conscription because it supported their men in the field.” …show more content…
Not only was conscription a fierce debate and “had lasting political effects on the country as a whole.” it was also very much necessary to the war and it is a huge factor to why Borden was elected as prime minister. Despite the differing opinions Conscription was Necessary for political reasons for Borden because Borden took advantage with what was happening and convinced many of the English Canadians that he would make a conscription law and many of the English Canadians where for conscription there fore Borden eventually got elected. Also many of the English Canadians wanted more French men to participate because many men where against the idea of sending troops over to Europe and to fight “Britain’s war”. During ww1 there was a lot of propaganda going on in hope to bring more men to war and many of the English Canadians where exited for war and many where for going to war for the experience. Well Borden took advantage of this and proposed the idea of conscription and if he was voted into parliament that he would make it happen and majority of the …show more content…
One of the main reasons for conscription was because Canada was short in troops from many dying or being released so they needed more Canadians to replace the lost soldiers. On top of many soldiers being lost in battles such as vim ridge there was a lack of volunteers so many of these spots overseas that needed to be filled were not getting filled and They needed men to fill these spots so conscription was necessary. This connects to Canada wanting to be loyal to Great Britain not only for protection but being loyal to Britain ultimately helped Canada’s growing autonomy and showed their strength as a nation. Canada was short in troops for many reasons. Battles like vimy ridge and the battle of Ypres where high casualties for Canada “They were heavy losses for Canada's little force whose men had been civilians only several months before” This shows that there were many men lost in the war and because of the lack of volunteers Conscription was necessary to fill the spots of these men. The battle of vimy ridge is a prime example of why conscription was necessary to fill the spots of the men lost at war. In April 1917 four Canadian forces pushed to capture a very difficult point against the Germans because the Canadians showed “Incredible bravery and discipline it allowed the infantry to continue moving forward under heavy fire, even when their officers were
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