Pre WWI

18-19,40-41, 42-43, 44- 45,46-47

 At first, although Canada was self governing, it had no say in its

foreign policy
 The Canadians who took pride in being part of the British Empire
were imperialists
 In 1899, when Britain went to war against the Boers in South
Africa, the imperialists were eager to go while the French weren’t
 PM Laurier, seeking a compromise, chose to send a force of
volunteers that would be British responsibility, but this satisfied
neither side
 In the Alaskan Boundary Dispute in 1903, a British judge sided
with the Americans, which caused uproar. From thereon, Canada
began negotiating its own treaties and creating its own navy
 The Navy was called a tin-pot navy by the Imperialists who
thought it would be better to send money to the British instead
 The French thought that the navy would be used to fight a war
that the Canadians had no reason to fight in
 The carrying capacity of land in Europe was strained, with high
infant mortality rates and low life expectancy in 1911
 In 1906, Britain launched a new class of battleship, with the
flagship called HMS Dreadnought
 Germany’s Kaiser, Wilhelm 2, ordered similar ships to be built,
starting an arms race
 In 1911, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy were linked in the
Triple Alliance, with the alliances negotiated by Bismarck 20
years ago
 In 1911, Russia, France and Great Britain were part of the Triple
Entente
 Russia needed modern weapons, France needed manpower, and
Britain wanted to deal with the German threat and needed allies
 The Ottoman Empire was in decline, creating a vacuum of power,
and every power wanted control of the strategic Balkan Peninsula
 Russia wanted access to the Mediterranean via the Dardanelles
 Austria-Hungary wanted to expand its empire to Balkans
 Great Britain supported the Ottomans, as they wanted to keep the
Russians bottled up in the Black Sea
 Germany was building a railway, and wanted to maintain stability
 Russians encouraged the Slavic to gain independence from the
Ottoman Empire
 The “Young Turk” Revolution gave the Ottomans new life
 Austria and Russia made a deal for Mediterranean access, but
Austria broke it by annexing Bosnia Herzegovina
 When Italy and Turkey went to war, the Balkan States seized this
opportunity to drive out the Ottoman Empire
 The Treaty of London forced Serbia to give up Albania and ended
the war
 A second Balkan war broke out between the Serbians + Greeks
and the Bulgarians. Romanians and the Ottomans helped
 Bulgaria lost extremely quickly, losing large amounts of territory
 Austria-Hungary had support from Germany in conflicts against
Serbia
 Russia pledged support to Serbia
 Canada was the first colony to be granted self government,
followed by Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa
 All four dominions had parliamentary representation and a
governor general that represented the monarch
 Under the governor general was the executive branch consisting
of the PM and Cabinet, which was responsible to a bicameral
legislature
 New Zealand is unicameral, and only has the House of
Representatives, which made them a very progressive nation
 With the South Africa Act, a dominion was created with four
colonies – Transvaal, Orange Free State, Cape Province, and Natal
 Australia rejected conscription twice, but sent in large amounts of
volunteers for WWI, which created a sense of identity
 Canada was booming in 1911 due to its new railway and
increasing export of natural resources
 Laurier was under attack for his handling of the British Navy issue
 Laurier wanted a more independent and sovereign nation, and
lost support from the imperialists
 Laurier agreed to a reciprocity agreement with US President
William Taft to boost economy and win votes from the farmers
 Borden used this as evidence for Laurier’s lack of loyalty to
Britain, and his conservative party won the next election