Overview

The citizen soldier is a central figure in Canada’s social memory of the First World War. But is the ideal of being a citizen first and a soldier only by necessity an unchanging feature of the Canadian identity? This compelling history traces the evolution of the Canadian amateur military tradition in the turbulent years from 1896 to 1921. Before the Great War, Canada’s military culture was in transition as Canada navigated an uncertain relationship with the United States and fought an imperial war in South Africa. Gradually, the untrained civilian replaced the long-serving volunteer militiaman as the archetypal amateur soldier, setting the country down a path leading directly to the battlefields of Flanders and northern France. Militia Myths reveals the history of a military culture that consistently employed the citizen soldier as its foremost symbol, but was otherwise in a state of profound change.

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9780774817660

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This is a must-have book in Canadian military and social history, representing both fields at their very best. Wood sets the record straight on one of the most discussed but nonetheless little known concepts in our history: the militia myth. For the first time, we have a real and compelling understanding of what was once demonized in our history - the idea of being a citizen first and a soldier if necessary.<br>- Roch Legault, co-editor of Loyal Service: Perspectives on French-Canadian Military Leaders <br> Militia Myths is an engaging and important book. It revises our understanding of military professionalism in the early twentieth century. Wood shows the distinction between amateur and professional soldiers in modern warfare to be more complex than we have come to believe. His work is sure to stimulate further study of the pre-1914 period and the impact of the Great War on Canada's armed forces.<br>- Andrew Iarocci, author of Shoestring Soldiers: The 1st Canadian Division at War

This is a must-have book in Canadian military and social history, representing both fields at their very best. Wood sets the record straight on one of the most discussed but nonetheless little known concepts in our history: the militia myth. For the first time, we have a real and compelling understanding of what was once demonized in our history - the idea of being a citizen first and a soldier if necessary.<br>- Roch Legault, co-editor of Loyal Service: Perspectives on French-Canadian Military Leaders<br><br> Militia Myths is an engaging and important book. It revises our understanding of military professionalism in the early twentieth century. Wood shows the distinction between amateur and professional soldiers in modern warfare to be more complex than we have come to believe. His work is sure to stimulate further study of the pre-1914 period and the impact of the Great War on Canada's armed forces.<br>- Andrew Iarocci, author of Shoestring Soldiers: The 1st Canadian Division at War, 1914-15

This is a must-have book in Canadian military and social history, representing both fields at their very best. Wood sets the record straight on one of the most discussed but nonetheless little known concepts in our history: the militia myth. For the first time, we have a real and compelling understanding of what was once demonized in our history - the idea of being a citizen first and a soldier if necessary.<br>- Roch Legault, co-editor of Loyal Service: Perspectives on French-Canadian Military Leaders <br> Militia Myths is an engaging and important book. It revises our understanding of military professionalism in the early twentieth century. Wood shows the distinction between amateur and professional soldiers in modern warfare to be more complex than we have come to believe. His work is sure to stimulate further study of the pre-1914 period and the impact of the Great War on Canada's armed forces.<br>- Andrew Iarocci, author of Shoestring Soldiers: The 1st Canadian Division at War, 1914-15

Wood's work expands our knowledge of the Canadian militia beyond the elite imperialists and general officers commanding. By a close study of the Canadian Military Gazette and the speeches of militia officers and advocates, he shows the complex varieties of thought regarding the role of the citizen soldier in Canadian defense. By doing so he muddies the waters of the traditional historiography surrounding imperialism and the militia in Canada. More a history of military thought than a discursive study of popular conceptions, the work will appeal to academic military historians, while leaving gendered analysis and discourse and identity studies to the social historians. -- Jack L. Granatstein H-War This is a very good study of the development of the Canadian citizen soldier ... that makes a significant contribution to the scholarly literature in the field of Canadian military history. -- Matthew Tudgen Canadian Military Journal, vol. 12, no. 2, Spring 2012 In the superb analysis of Militia Myths ...Canadian historian James Wood recaptures the ideological origins and evolution of the conceptual foundations that shaped Canada's Army during its most formative years ... he has in a single effort replaced many outdated and erroneous myths about Canada's Army with solid evidence-based research and analysis, effectively delivering what will undoubtedly become a must-have book in every Canadian military library. Militia Myths is one of the best books in Canadian military - history I've read this year, and it is highly recommended to all. -- Major Andrew Godefroy Canadian Army Journal, V. 14.1

In the superb analysis of Militia Myths ...Canadian historian James Wood recaptures the ideological origins and evolution of the conceptual foundations that shaped Canada's Army during its most formative years ... he has in a single effort replaced many outdated and erroneous myths about Canada's Army with solid evidence-based research and analysis, effectively delivering what will undoubtedly become a must-have book in every Canadian military library. Militia Myths is one of the best books in Canadian military - history I've read this year, and it is highly recommended to all. -- Major Andrew Godefroy Canadian Army Journal, V. 14.1 Wood's work expands our knowledge of the Canadian militia beyond the elite imperialists and general officers commanding. By a close study of the Canadian Military Gazette and the speeches of militia officers and advocates, he shows the complex varieties of thought regarding the role of the citizen soldier in Canadian defense. By doing so he muddies the waters of the traditional historiography surrounding imperialism and the militia in Canada. More a history of military thought than a discursive study of popular conceptions, the work will appeal to academic military historians, while leaving gendered analysis and discourse and identity studies to the social historians. -- Jack L. Granatstein H-War This is a very good study of the development of the Canadian citizen soldier ... that makes a significant contribution to the scholarly literature in the field of Canadian military history. -- Matthew Tudgen Canadian Military Journal, vol. 12, no. 2, Spring 2012

Author Information

James Wood teaches history at the University of Victoria and is the author of We Move Only Forward: Canada, the United States, and the First Special Service Force, 1942-44 and Army of the West: The Weekly Reports of German Army Group B from Normandy to the West Wall.

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