Shell Shock

Prologue

'There are strange hells within the minds that war made

Not so often, not so humiliatingly afraid

As one would have expected – the racket and fear of guns made.'

— Ivor Gurney "Strange Hells" 

~***~

The gunshot that caused a million deaths was such a simple action. A coincidence that ended in the death of an Archduke and his wife, that took the world to war in a matter of days. The months leading up to August 4th, 1914, were normal in Canada, same as they had been every time there was tension abroad. The cows still needed milking, the fish needed catching, and the bread needed baking. In Belgium though, the situation wasn't so easy. The threat of invasion crept ever closer and when the Germans finally did step over the border there was a huge push for every man to defend his homeland. While the cows were being milked in Manitoba and the bread was baking in British Columbia, war was raging in the Lowlands. The Brits were the first to make it a world war. They had to pull in their colonies, and so only a few weeks after the fighting began, Canada had to switch from a normal, rather boring way of life to a wartime frenzy.

For some, like Sam Hughes, the war meant that he was finally able to be in charge. He was able to put together enough money and pull enough strings to start a bootlegged training camp in Quebec and start recruiting for a war that would be over by Christmas. It seemed strange to some because the other wars didn't need this many Canadians, so why was there such a huge push? And if the war was going to be over by Christmas, why were they joining? For most young men, this was an opportunity to see the world, and maybe meet a nice girl to settle down with.

Nevertheless, the call for King and Country had been sent out, and Canadians responded in scores to enlist in the Canadian Army. Within a few weeks, the training camp at Valcartier, in Quebec, was set up—albeit hastily and carelessly. Hughes and the Borden Government was ready to prosecute the war for the Empire, but there was the question of the ability for the Dominion of 8 million people to effectively contribute to the war.

~***~

When the defense minister, in charge of the militia, arrived at the defense ministry headquarters in Ottawa on 2 August 1914, just hours after the news was received that Germany had invaded Belgium, he stated to the members of his staff gathered, "They are going to skunk it. They seem to be looking for any excuse to get out of helping France. Oh, what a shameful state of things. By God, I don't want to be a Britisher under such conditions."

He fumed about the situation. Nevertheless, he prepared the militia for mobilization. He separated some battalions in the militia from others, the battalions he separated would later become some of the first battalions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force.

Days later, in the green carpeted chamber of the House of Commons, Sam Hughes, a strong speaker and a vicious ally of the Conservatives, stood. His fiery speeches had a way of silencing the opposition. He commanded the attention of the men in the chamber, the haze of the tobacco smoke in the air adding to the aura of tension as the small dominion prepared itself for yet another war. Less than 15 years ago, Laurier had stood in this chamber and promised Canadian support in South Africa. Now it was Hughes' turn to change the history of his beloved country for the good of the King's empire.

"Mister Speaker, I can commit to the honourable House, that the Dominion of Canada will be ready for the war that our King has called on us to fight in. We shall come to the defense of the rights of the Belgians and the French. We shall forever defend the allies of our Empire."

He sat in a huff, thinking to himself, if one member of this House were to question the war effort, I will destroy him.

A few seats to his right, the Prime Minister stood. It was no secret to Hughes that Borden did not appreciate the defense minister. He thought of the minister as pompous, arrogant, and self-serving. Even when Hughes had promoted himself, a much-warranted promotion, to Major General, the Prime Minister seemed to be apprehensive of the promotion.