"Maintaining the Mobility of the Corps:" Horses, Mules, and the Canadian Army Veterinary Corps in the Great War

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atmire.migration.oldid4865
dc.contributor.advisorBrennan, Patrick
dc.contributor.authorMcEwen, Andrew
dc.contributor.committeememberFerris, John
dc.contributor.committeememberMarshall, David
dc.contributor.committeememberHuebert, Robert
dc.contributor.committeememberCook, Tim
dc.date.accessioned2016-09-14T18:20:01Z
dc.date.available2016-09-14T18:20:01Z
dc.date.issued2016
dc.date.submitted2016en
dc.description.abstractAnimal transportation played a crucial role in the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) during the Great War. In an era of growing mechanization and technological development, horses and mules still provided the overwhelming bulk of draught power in the combat zone. They hauled artillery, supplies, and ambulances, packed ammunition, served as officers’ riding mounts, and chargers for cavalrymen. By the Armistice of 11 November 1918, the CEF alone utilized 24,134 horses and mules in France and Belgium. The task of overseeing their health and working efficiency fell to just a few officers and enlisted personnel of the Canadian Army Veterinary Corps (CAVC). Only 73 Veterinary Officers and 780 Other Ranks presided over this truly living and breathing transportation system. They treated diseases, wounds, exhaustion, malnourishment, and exposure to the elements. They saved what animals they could, and humanely destroyed those they could not. They were, in the words of Canadian Corps commander Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur Currie, essential for “maintaining the mobility of the Corps.” However, their contributions remain largely overlooked in the prevailing historiography. Neither the multifaceted literature exploring the conflict’s impact on Canadian society, nor the considerable scholarship on the CEF in France and Flanders, seriously considers the role played by Canadian horses and veterinarians in the war. A few monographs, book chapters, and journal articles acknowledge these crucial facets, though they too remain largely insular and do not connect the services of horses and veterinarians to the war’s broader chronology. This dissertation seeks to redress such omissions. It argues that Canada’s horses and mules, and the veterinary efforts to keep them healthy, exerted a clear impact on combat operations in the Great War. It explores their foundations in pre-war society Canadian to understand how both became key facets of the Dominion’s war effort, and further emphasizes the broader British Imperial context both served within overseas. Utilizing a broad array of war diaries, weekly casualty reports, government publications, internal correspondence, and contemporary periodicals from Canadian and British sources alike, this study exhibits how horses, mules, and veterinarians critically impacted Canada’s Great War experience.en_US
dc.identifier.citationMcEwen, A. (2016). "Maintaining the Mobility of the Corps:" Horses, Mules, and the Canadian Army Veterinary Corps in the Great War (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/26813en_US
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/26813
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11023/3296
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisher.facultyGraduate Studies
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Calgaryen
dc.publisher.placeCalgaryen
dc.rightsUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.
dc.subjectHistory--Canadian
dc.subjectHistory--Military
dc.subject.classificationVeterinary historyen_US
dc.subject.classificationCanadian military historyen_US
dc.subject.classificationFirst World Waren_US
dc.subject.classificationBoer Waren_US
dc.subject.classificationhorsesen_US
dc.subject.classificationCanadian Army Veterinary Corpsen_US
dc.title"Maintaining the Mobility of the Corps:" Horses, Mules, and the Canadian Army Veterinary Corps in the Great War
dc.typedoctoral thesis
thesis.degree.disciplineHistory
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Calgary
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy (PhD)
ucalgary.item.requestcopytrue
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