| 1914
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| June 28
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Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife assassinated in Sarajevo
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| July 23
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Komagata Maru escorted out of Vancouver Harbour by HMCS Rainbow
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| Aug. 4
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Great Britain declares war on Germany after its invasion of neutral Belgium. As a former colony and now self-governing dominion, Canada automatically involved
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| Aug. 4
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Agents for Premier Richard McBride inspect and purchase Seattle-built submarines for over one million dollars
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| Aug. 5
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Canada commits to send infantry division of twenty-five thousand men
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| August
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Troops entrain for basic training at Valcartier, Quebec
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| Sept. 18
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Vernon Internment Camp opens for Germans, Austro-Hungarians and Ukrainians
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| October
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First contingent arrives in Britain/Salisbury Plain
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| Oct. – Nov.
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The first Battle of Ypres, Belgium. Trench warfare begins on the Western Front
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| Nov. 1914
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Colonel Henry Seymour Tobin organizes and commands the 29th (Vancouver) Battalion, known as “Tobin’s Tigers.” One of their members, Bob Hanna, earns the Victoria Cross for exceptional bravery
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| Dec. 25
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The Christmas Truce—British, German and French troops celebrate together
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| 1915
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| 1915
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Aboriginal Canadians enlist—four thousand serve (one in three able-bodied Native men)
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| February
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Canadians are deemed ready to proceed to France
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| March 26
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Cyclone Taylor leads the Vancouver Millionaires to the Stanley Cup at the Denman Arena
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| April
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British Pacifi c Construction and Engineering, a Seattle company, builds submarines for the Russians at secret plants in Burnaby and Vancouver to avoid violating American neutrality
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| April 22
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Ypres gas attack
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| April 24
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Edward Bellew of Kamloops sees action at Ypres, later earns VC
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| July
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Ukrainian Canadian Filip Konowal enlists, later earns VC
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| Dec 8
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“In Flanders Fields” appears anonymously in Punch
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| Dec 15
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BC premier McBride resigns and moves to London
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| 1916
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| Jan. 21
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Victoria’s John Sinton earns VC in Mesopotamia
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| March
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Battle of St. Eloi
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| June 16
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Battle of Mount Sorrel
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| July 1
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The Somme—Newfoundland Regiment slaughtered
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| Sept. 1
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Japanese Canadian Masumi Mitsui travels to Calgary to enlist after being turned away by BC regiments
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| Sept. 14
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Provincial election—Conservatives defeated, Liberals elected
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| Sept. 15
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Canadians attack at Courcelette
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| Sept. 15 – 16
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Nursing Sisters Elsie Collis and Ethel Morrison join Canadian Army Medical Corp
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| Sept. – Oct.
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Battle of Regina Trench
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| Oct. 9
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Chilliwack Piper James Richardson (VC) killed in action
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| 1917
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| April 6
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United States joins the war effort
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| April 9 – 12
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Battle of Vimy Ridge—a defining moment for the Canadian Corps
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| April
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George McLean, BC Native soldier, awarded DCM for bravery at Vimy
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| August
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Billy Bishop receives VC
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| Aug. 6
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Premier Richard McBride dies in London, England, of Bright’s disease
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| Aug. 15 – 17
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Vancouver’s Michael O’Rourke earns VC at Hill 70
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| Aug. 21
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Abbotsford’s Robert Hanna earns VC at Battle of Hill 70
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| Aug. 29
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Conscription introduced by the Military Service Act
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| Oct. – Nov.
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Battle of Passchendaele
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| Nov.
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Strange fl u symptoms reported in China, later identified as “Spanish flu”
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| Dec. 6
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Halifax explosion
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| Dec. 17
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Nursing sisters and women with relatives in the military vote in the federal election
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| 1918
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| Jan. 24
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First woman to run (and be elected)—Mary Ellen Smith—in a Vancouver byelection. First time women vote in a BC provincial election
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| Feb. 20
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Wee Tan Louie of Kamloops rides a horse across the Rockies to enlist in Calgary
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| March 31
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Walhachin VC recipient Gordon Flowerdew dies of wounds received in the last great cavalry charge of the war
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| April 21
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Red Baron shot down
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| May 9 – 10
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Victoria’s Rowland Bourke earns VC for action in Royal Navy Reserve
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| Aug. 8 – 18
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Battle of Amiens (Last Hundred Days campaign)
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| Sept. 27 – Oct. 11
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Canal du Nord and Cambrai
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| Sept. 29 – Oct. 3
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Powell River’s John MacGregor earns VC at Cambrai
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| Nov. 11
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Armistice
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