Canadian Military History Trivia Quiz

Answer: revenge

Iroquois went to war to avenge a death (eye-for-an-eye). Slaves were often taken to replace the lost members of the group. Once Europeans arrived on the scene, the patterns of, and reasons for, native wars changed. Native groups were recruited by the French and English to fight in European battles, guns and horses changed inter-native wars, and there were many Native and European wars (although more prevalent in the US than Canada).

Answer: Algonkians and Iroquois

Champlain was interested in trade, so he formed an alliance with the Algonkian speakers on the north side of the St. Lawrence. The Algonkians, in return, asked for French assistance in their war with the Iroquois on the south side of the river.

Answer: la petite guerre

La petite guerre, or guerilla warfare, involved the use of small raiding parties rather than large-scale armies. The French adopted these strategies themselves, finding them extremely effective in the dense forest surrounding the settlements in New France.

Answer: Canada

Fighting occured in the northern US, and even New Orleans. However, the majority of fighting was on Canadian soil, and plenty of action occurred on the Great Lakes. Of course ... the winner was Great Britain.

Answer: 1885

The Riel Rebellion in 1885 is both politically and militarily important to Canada's history because it was the first Canadian military engagement with no British help.

Answer: Political ties to Great Britain demanded Canadian involvement.

At the time of the Boer War, Canada did not control her own foreign policy. Canadian troops were sent to South Africa in 1899 upon orders from the mother country, Britain. Here they fought under British command and proved to be an effective fighting force.

Answer: Ross rifle

The Ross rifle was very accurate, however it was extremely fragile and poorly made. The straight-pull bolt was delicate, and any grime or dust that got into it caused jamming. Dirt and dust were impossible to avoid in the trenches. Eventually the Ross rifle was pulled and replaced with British Lee-Enfield rifles, the same ones issued to the British troops.

Answer: Ypres

The 1st Canadian Division was assigned a sector at Ypres. The battle began on April 22, 1915. Coinciding with Canada's first battle in the war was Germany's first use of gas. The chlorine gas set off by German troops wiped out most of the French portion of the line. Canadian troops pushed in and closed the gap of almost 6 km left by the fleeing French troops, thereby saving the Ypres salient.

Answer: Arthur Currie

Arthur Currie introduced new fighting methods, which involved careful rehearsal of all troops before attacks, platoon-sized forces rather than companies, training on both British and German weapons, and the organization of teams of specialists. Currie's resistance to traditional fighting methods in a 'modern' war enabled Canadian forces to be extremely effective while minimizing casualties.

Answer: Military Service Act

The Military Service Act caused riots in Montreal. Draft exemptions included married men, religious objectors, and those involved in essential economic activities. By the end of WWI 100,000 men were drafted but only 24,000 made it to the trenches (draft-dodging was rampant).

Answer: Dieppe

Dieppe, August 1942, was no less than a disaster. Tanks couldn't get off the beach due to the slope and consistency of gravel, and the naval artillery support was useless (only 4 destroyers with 4 guns each). What was learned?? Next time have overwhelming air support, functional tanks, organization between army, navy, and airforce, and have massive gunfire support. Lessons learned were adopted for D-day
although, contrary to popular belief, Dieppe was never intended to be a dress rehearsal.

Answer: Operation Sealion

The invasion of Britain by Germany could only have occurred if the English Channel could be commanded by Germans. However, the British Navy was too strong, so Germany decided to attack Britain from the air. The Battle of Britain was won by Britain through the use of radar, 30,000 civilian observers, and an extremely sophisticated, well co-ordinated British airforce response system.

Answer: Juno

All landings on D-day were highly successful, except the US landing at Omaha beach. 3000 casualties were expected for Canadians on Juno beach, but only 1500 resulted (still plenty). Within 3 hours of the landing at Normandy, Canadians managed to get off the beach and into the countryside.

By the end of the day the Regina Rifle Regiment and the Queen's Own Rifles were further inland than any other Allies.

Answer: Proxy war

The Korean war involved the United States directly (with Canadian help) and the USSR indirectly (they funded and armed the North Koreans). This "proxy war" set up Cold War ground rules: only one superpower involved directly in a war at one time. Other proxy wars included Afghanistan and Vietnam.

Answer: Pearson

The UNEF was first used in Egypt in 1956-1967. Canadian military has been used extensively for UN Peacekeeping purposes since the end of World War II.