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History Canada

Shoestring Soldiers

The 1st Canadian Division at War, 1914-1915

by (author) Andrew Iarocci

Publisher
University of Toronto Press
Initial publish date
Sep 2008
Category
Canada
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780802098221
    Publish Date
    Sep 2008
    List Price
    $63.00
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781487523121
    Publish Date
    May 2018
    List Price
    $47.95
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442692794
    Publish Date
    Sep 2008
    List Price
    $39.95

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Description

The Great War was a pivotal experience for twentieth-century Canada. Shoestring Soldiers is the first scholarly study since 1938 to focus exclusively on Canada's initial overseas experience from late 1914 to the end of 1915.

In this exciting new work, Andrew Iarocci challenges the dominant view that the 1st Canadian Division was poorly prepared for war in 1914, and less than effective during battles in 1915. He examines the first generations of men to serve overseas with the division: their training, leadership, morale, and combat operations from Salisbury Plain to the Ypres Salient, from the La Bassée Canal to Ploegsteert Wood. Iarocci contends that setbacks and high losses in battle were not so much the products of poor training and weak leadership as they were of inadequate material resources on the Western Front.

Shoestring Soldiers incorporates a wealth of research material from official documents, soldiers' letters and diaries, and the battlefields themselves, surveyed extensively by the author. It marks an important contribution to the growing body of literature on Canada in the First World War.

About the author

Andres Iarocci’s principal rsearch interests include Canada’s First World War military operations and postwar commemoration. His publications include Canadian Forces Base Petawawa: The First Century (2005).

Andrew Iarocci's profile page

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