Land
Prior to the First World War, Canada’s defence relied on the British Army and the Canadian militia. A small permanent force was created in the 1870s and by 1914 numbered about 3,000 all ranks. At the declaration of war in 1914, men rushed to join the newly constituted Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF). In total, over 620,000 men and women served in the CEF, including over 100,000 conscripts. The CEF formed part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), but most Canadians served within recognizable Canadian units, be it at the battalion, brigade, division, or within the Canadian Corps. While the CEF was effectively disbanded in 1919, a small core of experienced officers and men remained in the army during the interwar years, and later formed the basis for the Canadian Army in the next war. At the outbreak of war in 1939, Canada’s army was initially known as the Canadian Active Service Force, and from the Fall of 1940, as the Canadian Army. Over the course of the war the Army grew to a force of 730,000 men and women, fought in multiple theatres of war, and made significant contributions to the success of the Allied cause.