1918: A Tale of Two Nations, #5

By Melina Druga

Drawing on contemporaneous accounts of the First World War from Canada and the United States, freelance journalist Melina Druga offers readers an insightful exploration of early-20th-century attitudes toward the conflict, in A Tale of Two Nations: Canada, U.S. and WWI.

 

The war ended on November 11, 1918. By the time of the Allies' armistice with Germany, Canada had been at war for more than four years, and the U.S. for nineteen months. All in all, World War I had lasted for 1,576 days. Civilians in both nations celebrated the close of hostilities abroad.

 

No one could have predicted that a bigger, deadlier shadow was just over the horizon. The Spanish influenza pandemic was brewing for months before the ceasefire. In the final months of 1918 alone, the illness would claim nearly 300,000 American lives. By the time the pandemic ended in 1920, Spanish flu had killed more people than the war itself.

 

This final volume in Druga's history series finds both countries wrestling with whiplash. Thrown out of the frying pan of combat, Canadians and U.S. citizens alike fell directly into the fire of a global health crisis.

 

1918 is the fifth installment of the A Tale of Two Nations series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sun Up Press
• Release date: Jun 10, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393821045

Melina Druga

Melina Druga is a freelance journalist, history enthusiast and author.  Her focus is on the period 1890-1920 with a particular interest in WWI and how the war changed the lives of ordinary people.   Based in the Midwest, Melina lives with her husband, daughter and cat. Follow Melina on social media @MelinaDruga. For more information, visit www.melinadruga.com. 

Book preview

Introduction

World War I, like most wars, was started by politicians and fought by ordinary men who generally had no stake in the conflict.  They fought because of patriotic fervor or a sense of adventure, and millions lost their lives as a consequence.

Between 1914 and 1918, nearly 5 million Americans and Canadians served in the war.  While today the two neighboring nations share a sense of common heritage, language, history and cooperation, in the 1910s there was a lingering sense of animosity.

The Canada of 1914 was much different from the Canada of today.  It was less than 50 years old, founded primarily by English and French decedents, and had been the refuge of Loyalists during and after the American Revolution.  It was a dominion of the British Empire, autonomous when it came to everything but foreign affairs.  Its population during the 1911 census was 7.2 million, not much larger than the population of Greater Toronto 100 years later.

The United States had a population 13 times larger, at 92.2 million strong, and played a greater role on the world stage.  Many in the U.S. felt Canada should be part of the union, as a natural extension of Manifest Destiny, and countless Canadians feared annexation.  Immediately following the American Civil War, the Fenian Brotherhood, Irishmen who had served in the Union Army, conducted raids into