The Pros And Cons Of Conscription

Sir Robert Borden had a great impact on Canada, because he led our nation through a difficult period of time in history. He also gave our nation more independence and separated us from Britain, which soon gave Canada its own identity. Over his 9 years of being Canada's Prime Minister, Robert Borden has led us through many different battles in helping Canada becoming an independant nation and also creating our identity. He allowed only women, who had family members that were soldiers in the war to vote. He did this, which helped him get re-elected and. After this he began conscription, forcing men that were in between the age 19-45 to help Canada in the war. He even led us through a victory from the ``Battle of Passchendaele``. Robert borden also managed to get a individual seat, apart from Britain at the treaty of versailles, this led to Canada becoming an independant nation, as which they signed the treaty as.

In May 1917, Congress passed a   Selective Service Act.   , authorizing a draft of young men for military service

Conscription was so controversial because was that it was very normal for two people from within the same social group and who would normally share a similar opinion on something, to have two completely opposing views on the topic of conscription. For example, many of the ANZACs who had fought on the Western Front and returned home to Australia. Some ANZACS strongly agreed with conscription because they knew that more reinforcements were needed on the

* Selective Service Act-forced draft boards to induct them for combatant or noncombatant duty depending on the nature of their objections

This manifesto was written from 1916-1917, there are three different sub-sections within the manifesto. The first section outlines the National Service, which was written in October 23 1916. The second section outlines the formation of the union government, which was written in October 18 1917 and the third section outlines how Canada can win the war, which was written in November 10 1917 . The manifesto has been written by Robert Borden, who was a member of the Canadian parliament and the eight prime minister of Canada during world war one. This Manifesto was written during world war one, regarding conscription and the enlistment of more soldiers needed to joining the Canadian army. The viewpoint that Borden had was pro war and supporting

The source clearly communicates a perspective that is in favour of conscription. The source starts off by portraying their opinion through the key term ‘to maintain the contribution of Canada’s fighting force.’ Conscription was a way to build up a stronger force for Canada because more soldiers became involved this way. This was seen as ‘necessary’ according to the source because as stated in the beginning, “Canada would not back down from the commitment it made to Great Britain.’ The key words in the context ‘in order to protect freedom and democracy,’ are in correlation to Canada’s determination to defeat in battle and to keep their force strong. This term demonstrates that Canada’s morals were for the better of our country and how conscription

In 1917 during WW1, the Canadian government justified in enacting the Military Services Act to register and conscript men for war. Almost all French Canadians opposed conscription because they felt they had no loyalty to France and Britain. Other Canadians were at ease with the conscription as they supported the British Empire. The farmers, union heads, and pacifists were all opposed of the conscription like the French Canadians. I believe the Military Services Act was not the best choice because it ripped up the relations between the English and the French Canadians, it eliminated the freedom of the people by forcing them to go to war, and caused a riot in Quebec City leading to a few deaths. The

Soon after the outbreak of World War II, Trudeau began to study law at the Université de Montréal. Pierre was strongly against signing up to fight. Like most French Canadians at that time, he didn`t believe that it was just a war. Rumours about the Holocaust swirled around campus. Nothing could distract Pierre from his studies. A few months later, he heard a speech by Ernest Lapointe, who was Prime Minister Mackenzie King`s right-hand man and Quebec lieutenant. He promised the crowd that there would be no absolutely no conscription, or so Pierre thought.

Once the Military Service Act was put in place, the problems began that made the Conscription Crisis of 1917 so significant. Almost immediately Quebec anti-conscription riots broke out all over Montreal. The province of Quebec was totally opposing the fact of serving in World War One. The fact that forcing young men to fight and die was thought to be an outrage in Quebec. Never minding the fact that the Canadian Corps was nearly in Complete English. During the riots nearly forty percent of the Québécois conscripted men did not report for their duty in the war. The views French-Canadian's between the majorities of the English Canadian's were basically utterly opposed to each other causing the relations between the two the lowest ever within Canadian history. In both the elections of 1917 and 1921 seventy percent of the Quebec Population voted liberal for the loss of trust from the conservatives due to this event. "The 1917 Election was the most bitter in Canadian history, viciously fought on both sides"- said

The military service act that was passed in 1917 and legalized conscription truly revolutionized Canada’s future. It resulted in the increase of the Canadian economy and respect for women in our society. Additionally, it gave women more political rights.

but he required the extra votes to help him win because he was falling behind, so he eventually made an exception. This adjustment had come up a lot, during WWI, which started in 1914. Borden had been provoked about it numerous times, and finally agreed to it. Only military participants were given permission to vote, strictly nursing sisters and the wives of soldiers were granted the ability to send in their own vote. “About 40,000 Canadian women now worked in factories, banks and offices, replacing the men who were fighting in World War”, (Strong-Boag, Veronica.)

The conscription plebiscites of 1916-17 were not only about reinforcing the Australian troops in Europe. The Australian government did have the power to implement conscription without holding a plebiscite. But in 1916 the Prime Minster, Billy Hughes, knew that introducing a bill to implement conscription would not work, and would have serious consequences. It would not have had enough support from the government, so it would not have passed through both houses of parliament, and it would split the Labor Party that was in power at the time. A plebiscite, on the other hand, did have support from both houses of parliament, and was seen by Hughes as the only way

On August 7th 1964 the United States Congress passed into law the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution which, for all intents and purposes, officially brought the United States into the Vietnam War. Following this resolution, a draft was instated to increase the number of men that could be sent to war. Shortly after men started to be signed into conscription for the United States Military, a public outcry started over the use of a draft to increase military size. The draft was found to be unfair to American Citizens because certain groups of men were severely disadvantaged, the draft was illegal in many ways, and veteran’s future lives were harmed, among other reasons.

Conscription, or more boldly the draft, has not been in place for some thirty years. While some people cringe at the thought of reinstating the draft, others have different views. This short paper will speak of those different views and the reasons why conscription of military service may not be such a bad idea after all.

The Great War was known as ‘the war to end all wars’ as it had such a dramatic and tragic impact on soldiers and civilians alike. Many aspects of the conscription debate, the home front, trench warfare and weaponry had a significant impact on Australia and its involvement in the war.