Timeline of key Canadian events before and during First World War

A First World War timeline, with key Canadian dates:

June 28, 1914: Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie are assassinated in Sarajevo.

Aug. 4, 1914: Britain goes to war against Germany, Canada is automatically included.

Aug. 22, 1914: Canada passes the War Measures Act, giving the federal government the power to do anything deemed necessary “for the security, defence, peace, order and welfare of Canada.” It allows for the internment of enemy aliens. About 8,500 people were interned over the next four years.

Oct. 1, 1914: First Canadian Division sails for Britain.

Nov. 1, 1914: HMS Good Hope is sunk at the Battle of Coronel off the coast of Chile, taking four Canadian midshipmen down with her. They are the first Canadians killed in action.

Feb. 16, 1915: First Canadian Division arrives in France.

April 22-28, 1915: Second Battle of Ypres. Canadians hit by chlorine gas attack. First Canadian Division suffers over 6,000 casualties.

Sept. 17, 1915: Second Canadian Division arrives in France.

June 1, 1915: Prohibition starts to go into effect, province by province. By 1921, every province except Quebec and B.C. adopted prohibition.

June 2-13, 1916: Battle of Mount Sorrel. Some 8,000 Canadian casualties.

July 1, 1916: Opening day of the Battle of the Somme. The Newfoundland Regiment sent about 780 men into the attack and 684 were killed or wounded. The battle dragged out until mid-November, with the Canadian Corps joining the fighting in September. Canadian casualties: 24,029.

April 9-12, 1917: Canadians storm and capture Vimy Ridge. Casualties: 10,602.

Aug. 29, 1917: Canada’s conscription bill becomes law.

Sept. 20, 1917: The War-time Elections Act becomes law, giving the vote in federal elections to women who were British subjects otherwise qualified as to age, race and residence; and the wife, widow, mother, sister or daughter of any person in the naval forces inside or outside Canada or any person in the military forces outside Canada who was serving or served with Canada or Great Britain.

Oct. 26, 1917: Canadian Corps opens the Battle of Passchendaele.

Nov. 14, 1917: Canadian Corps winds up Passchendaele battle. Casualties: 15,654.

Nov. 20, 1917: Canada’s first Income Tax Act becomes law.

Dec. 6, 1917: Accident involving munitions ship in Halifax harbour triggers explosion that kills 1,630 people.

Dec. 17, 1917: Borden’s Unionist government wins federal election. Union: 150, Liberal 83, three others.

March 28, 1918: Anti-conscription riots rock Quebec City.

May 24, 1918: An Act to confer the Electoral Franchise upon Women extends the vote to women who were British subjects, 21 years of age, and otherwise meet the qualifications entitling a man to vote. It becomes effective Jan. 1, 1919.

Aug. 8-11, 1918: The Battle of Amiens. The Canadian Corps spearheads the attack. German general calls Aug. 8 “the black day of the German Army.” Casualties: 9,074

Aug. 8-Nov. 11, 1918: The Hundred Days, a series of hard-fought battles, Allied advances and German retreats, brings Canadians to Mons, Belgium on final day of the war.

Nov. 11, 1918: An armistice goes into effect at 11 a.m. and the shooting and shelling stops.

Note to readers: This timeline has been corrected. A previous version had an incorrect year for the Battle of Mount Sorrel