When thinking about the First World War, many people think of Germany or England, but what about Canada? Many people tend to forget about Canada, this is most probably because they weren't really seen as the main central powers, allowing Canada to be easily overlooked, yet they had a lot of significance and had a major part in, not just the war, but our remembrance for the soldiers too.
For some context, during the war, Canada would fight alongside the Triple Entente (Britain, France and Russia). However, they weren't necessarily one of the big three countries on the team. In fact, Canada was one of the most feared countries during the war, Canadian troops were ruthless users of poisonous gas, didn't think twice about shooting and torturing their prisoners and were more than enthusiastic about using gruesome and merciless forms of warfare.
Now, many Canadian soldiers are very overlooked, and many pieces produced for Remembrance Day by Canadian soldiers aren't really well known despite being extremely notorious. A clear example of this is “In Flanders Fields” made by the Canadian soldier, John McCrae who fought in the Second Battle of Ypres in Belgium. He made the poem to signify the remembrance of his fallen comrade who died in War and was simply buried with just a small wooden cross as a sign of honour to him. In general, the poem's story highlights how, what was a pretty poppy field, has now turned to a designated place for the unfortunate souls who have succumbed to the Great War to be buried.
Next time you think of the soldiers of any war, remember more than the bigger powers. Think of everyone, the commemorated, the forgotten, the big, the small. Everyone.
