Answering Democracy's Call: U.S. Citizen Enlistees in the First World War Canadian Expeditionary Force

• Main Author: Mastan, June A
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 01.01.2018
• Subjects: American studies; Canadian studies; European Studies
• ISBN: 0438010590; 9780438010598

This study explores the close relationship between Britain, the United States, and Canada at the beginning of the twentieth-century. The true closeness of this relationship becomes more evident throughout the First World War when issues of citizenship between the three nations assumed a substantial level of fluidity. Analyzing the motivations that compelled almost 36,000 U.S. citizens to enlist in the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) during the First World War provides a window through which we can view this relationship. Some citizens of the United States sought to join the war effort through military service, even though their country was a declared neutral and doing so potentially put their citizenship at risk. These enlistments, mostly volunteers who crossed the border, took place from 1914 through 1918, including after the United States entered the war. There has been no extensive study of these American volunteers as a group. This study samples 1,000 American born enlistees and analyzes their demographics. Several of them also left behind letters, journals, and books that shed considerable light on their reasons for enlisting. These reasons ranged from a strong desire to protect democracy and the British Empire to a desire for military service as a rite of passage to adulthood. Some joined out of a youthful interest in adventure, while others saw service in the CEF as a job with an allowance for support of their families. In addition to these white men, others sought to join the CEF as well. Also analyzed in this study are a selection of African American volunteers who, although accepted, faced discrimination and consignment to a non-fighting battalion. The dissertation also explores a sample of women who volunteered as nurses, and served as officers for the first time in any military. In the end, none of these Americans suffered any negative consequences to their citizenship. This study argues that it is because of the close relationship between Britain, the United States, and Canada.