Gallery 2 For Crown and Country

The South African and First World Wars, 1885-1931

As you move into Gallery 2, you discover a young Canada struggling with the obligations of empire and the costs of war. Does Canada come of age on the bloody battlefields of the First World War? Or is the price of autonomy in dead and injured too high for a small, divided country? Canadians in this period debate the meaning of independence and national identity while serving overseas by the hundreds of thousands. A small, untried, unprofessional military grows into an elite force, ably commanded, one that plays a critical role in the Allied victory of 1918. The war affects every Canadian town, every parish, every community. This gallery is one of heroism and sacrifice, leadership and tragedy.