Influenza has been one of the great mass killers in human history and its most lethal version was the Spanish flu epidemic in the fall of 1918.
At least 21 million people died worldwide, more than were killed in the fighting in the First World War. (Some historians say that large numbers of flu deaths went unreported in less developed countries. Recent research has shown that as many as 20 million people could have died in India, raising the death toll to between 40 million and 50 million.)
Soldiers returning home from the trenches at war's end didn't come back alone. They brought with them the flu virus. By the time it had run its course, 50,000 Canadians were dead. Some smaller villages in Quebec and Labrador were almost wiped out.
When the Cold War intensified in the 1950s, Canada became increasingly concerned with the possibility of a Soviet attack. The Avro Arrow was a twin engine, supersonic interceptor developed in the late 1950's by the Avro Aircraft company of Malton, Ontario, Canada. The Arrow was the follow on to Avro's first military design, the highly succesful CF-100 Canuck, a twin engine all weather interceptor sold to the Royal Canadian Air Force (600+) and to Belgium. To guard against an attack, Canada needed modern supersonic aircraft. The planes in use then were slow and outdated. Since 1949, the government backed the A.V. Roe Company in its project to develop one of the world’s fastest supersonic jets: the Avro Arrow. Canada was also forced to develop the Arrow's engine and fire-control and missile systems, and estimated costs rose to $12.5 million per aircraft. After export efforts again failed, the project was cancelled on 20 February 1959. A.V. Roe bitterly fired 14 000 employees; the government ordered all plans and prototypes destroyed; and many Canadians bemoaned the devastation of Canada's aircraft industry, the resulting flight of scientists and engineers to the US, and Canada's renewed dependence on the US for interceptor aircraft. The huge cost of the Avro Arrow made the government buy an American fighter plane.
In the initial attack, Britain's Royal Air Force dropped about 1,360 tonnes of high-explosive bombs, followed by 1,090 tonnes of incendiary missiles. A second wave of RAF planes and a thud by U.S. bombers quickly followed. The one-two combination of explosive and incendiary bombs was enormously deadly. The explosives blew the roofs off buildings and the exposed timbers were set alight by the incendiary devices. This eventually created a self-sustaining firestorm with temperatures peaking at more than 1,500 C. The air above the bombed area became extremely hot, and thus rose quickly. Cold air from beyond the bombed zone then rushed in on ground level, sucking people into the fire "like leaves into an autumn bonfire," as one writer put it. Many who took shelter in cellars died of suffocation.
On D-Day, June 6, 1944, “Operation Overlord”, the long-awaited invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe, began with Allied armies from the U.S., Britain and Canada landing on the coast of Normandy. On D-Day, the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division landed on Juno Beach. The Canadian assault troops stormed ashore in the face of fierce opposition from German strongholds and mined beach obstacles. The soldiers raced across the wide-open beaches swept with machine gun fire, and stormed the gun positions. In fierce hand-to-hand fighting, they fought their way into the towns and then advanced inland, securing a critical bridgehead for the allied invasion. The victory was a turning point in World War II and led to the liberation of Europe and the defeat of Nazi Germany.
The prosperity of the 1920's, industries had expanded during the Great War, making weapons, uniforms, equipment etc. This expansion continued after the war, helped by massive reserves of raw materials and by high tariffs (import duties on foreign goods). Tariffs made foreign goods dearer, so Canada's goods were bought. Some industries were also given subsidies (cash support), which increased their profits. So there was a boom(economic expansion).
The greatest boom was in consumer goods, e.g. cars, refrigerators, radios, cookers, telephones etc. Ordinary people were encouraged through advertising to buy these goods and many could now afford what had been luxuries before the war. One reason was that they earned slightly higher wages because of the boom. Another reason was that the growth of hire purchase meant that people could spread the cost over months and even years.
But the main reason was that goods had become cheaper, e.g. 1908 the average cost of a car was $850 1925 the average cost of a car was $290. This was because of "mass production" methods used to produce many consumer goods. Assembly lines were built in factories and each worker concentrated on one small job only. The most famous example of this method was Henry Ford's factory which was fully automated (many of the jobs done by machines). Because of mass production and automation one Model T car was produced every ten seconds
When war erupted in 1914, it caused a patriotic fervor in English Canada. Volunteers flocked to recruiting stations and everyone got into the war effort at home, determined to contribute to the British Empire's battle in Europe.
By 1917 after almost three years of fighting the numbers of dead and wounded mounted overseas. In addition, voluntary enlistment by Canadians dropped drastically as jobs became plentiful at home. On May 18, 1917, Prime Minister Borden retreated from his earlier promise and introduced a conscription bill, the Military Services Act.
On August 28, conscription became law and was followed by two days of violence in Montreal. Store windows were smashed and tramway rails ripped up. One hundred and fifty policemen were called in to disperse the crowd, and four were wounded, along with two demonstrators. The following evening, a demonstrator was killed in Philips Square.
On August 6, 1945, the USA used an atomic bomb against Hiroshima, Japan. This atomic bomb,was the equivalent of 20,000 tons of TNT the bomb flattened the city and killing tens of thousands of civilians.
At 2:45 a.m. on Monday, August 6, 1945, a B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay took off. The twelve-man crew were on board to make sure this secret mission went smoothly. Colonel Paul Tibbets the pilot of the plane nicknamed the B-29 the "Enola Gay" after his mother. Just before take-off, the plane's nickname was painted on its side. The plane was a B-29 Super-fortress In order to carry such a heavy load as an atomic bomb, the plane was modified: new propellers, stronger engines, and faster opening bomb bay doors. (Only fifteen B-29s underwent this modification.) On August 6, 1945, the first choice target, Hiroshima, was having clear weather. At 8:15 a.m. the Enola Gay's dropped "Little Boy." The bomb exploded 1,900 feet above the city and only missed the target, the Aioi Bridge, by approximately 800 feet.
