Unit 1: 1870-1914 Immigration

Unit 1: 1870-1914 - Immigration

• Who Came? European settlers (Britain, Ireland, Eastern Europe) were encouraged to populate the West.
• Who Was Excluded? Chinese immigrants faced a head tax. Black and South Asian immigrants faced societal racism and policies that discouraged them. Africville, a Black community in Nova Scotia, was forcibly removed in the 1960s.
• Push and Pull Factors: Poverty and lack of opportunity in Europe pushed people to leave; promises of free land in Canada pulled them in.
• Residential Schools: Established in the 1870s to assimilate Indigenous children into Euro-Canadian culture. These schools involved forced removal, abuse, loss of Indigenous languages, and traditions. Long-term impacts include intergenerational trauma.
• Sir John A. Macdonald: First Prime Minister of Canada (1867-1873, 1878-1891). He encouraged immigration and railway construction but also supported policies that were controversial, such as residential schools and restrictive policies against Indigenous and Chinese immigrants.
• Treatment of Immigrants: Non-European immigrants often received the most dangerous and low-paying jobs, and faced racism.
• Technology: The growth of railways (e.g., Canadian Pacific Railway) connected Canada coast-to-coast. This, coupled with industrialization, led to more factories, urbanization, and innovations like electric lighting.

Unit 2: 1914-1918 - World War I

• Causes of WWI (MANIA):
  • Militarism: Building up armed forces (e.g., Germany's navy).
  • Alliances: Triple Entente (France, Britain, Russia) vs. Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy).
  • Nationalism: Ethnic groups (e.g., Serbs) desiring independence.
  • Imperialism: Competition for colonies.
  • Assassination: Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary was killed in Sarajevo (1914).

Unit 3: 1918-1939 - Interwar Years

• Suffragette Movement: Women like Nellie McClung fought for voting rights, with Manitoba being the first province to grant women suffrage in 1916.
• Winnipeg General Strike (1919): Workers demanded better wages and conditions. The strike ended with violence ("Bloody Saturday").
• Stock Market Crash (1929): Caused by speculation and buying stocks on margin, leading to the Great Depression.
• Life During the Depression: Mass unemployment (30%), unemployment relief camps (poor conditions), and many traveled by train ("Riding the Rails").
• Dust Bowl: Severe droughts and dust storms in the Prairies, leading to crop failures and farmer displacement.
• Jazz Age (1920s): A cultural shift with jazz music, flappers (women rejecting traditional norms), and a more carefree lifestyle.

Unit 4: 1939-2022 - World War II and Beyond

• Hitler's Rise to Power: Blamed the Treaty of Versailles for Germany's struggles, used propaganda and promises of economic recovery, and built a strong military following.
• Blitzkrieg: A German military tactic featuring fast-moving forces and overwhelming power.
• Major Canadian Battles in WWII: Dunkirk (1940), Dieppe (1942), D-Day (1944).
• Japanese Internment: Following Pearl Harbor (1941), Japanese Canadians were forcibly relocated and placed in internment camps.
• The Holocaust: Nazi-led genocide targeting Jews, Romani, disabled individuals, and others; six million Jews were murdered.
• The Cold War (1945-1991): Ideological conflict between the U.S. (capitalism) and the Soviet Union (communism), involving the arms race and the Cuban Missile Crisis.
• The Quiet Revolution (1960s): A period of social and political change in Quebec aimed at strengthening Quebec nationalism and secularization.