In this activity, students will summarize battles and present them to the class. Students can find battle information in three different parts of our virtual exhibition. The Realities of War has information on the most important battles for Canada, The End of the War to Versailles highlights key battles of the last 100 days of the war, and on this page, The Cost of Victory, students can find information about all the battles that the RMR participated in by clicking on the regimental flag.
In these pages, they should find information on the length of the battle, battle details, Canadian innovations, strategies, courage, losses and achievements. Students can also summarize the RMR involvement in these battles.
OPTIONAL: Vimy in Colour: The teacher can show restored photos from Vimy Ridge on this excellent webpage where scrolling to the right of left allows students and teacher to see images in black and white and then colour. It makes war a little more relatable to students’ world.
Activity Instructions
Students will present their findings informally, in small groups, 2-3 minutes per team. As each team presents, the teacher can display the exhibition with information, as per links above.
Class discussion
After the informal student presentations, the teacher can ask the class to discuss the following points (in small groups first, then whole group discussion) 5-10 minutes.
What do all these battles tell us about WWI?
- How difficult was it for Canada? For the Canadian Corps? For the RMR?
- How difficult must it have been for the soldiers individually, some not much older than you?
- How did technology help the war effort? Hinder the physical and mental well-being of soldiers?
- How successful was Canada in the end?
- What were the major accomplishments of the RMR?
Once the class has finished discussing the challenges and victories for Canada and Canadians on a local, national and international level, ask the students to now try and imagine what it must have been like for the families of the men and women who were part of the war effort (soldiers, nurses etc).
Students can take notes directly in the Student Guide – no need to print! To use the fillable function, be sure to download the PDF.
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