Supporting Dependents during the First World War
When Canadians talk about the First World War, there are common topics we talk about - Vimy Ridge, why people joined the military, the home front, etc. Today, I want to look at an aspect of the home front that is not as visible and is not spoken about as often. Supporting dependents. Overall, we have many letters from soldier to their families. Their letters were sent to Canada and could be preserved. But, the letters from wives, mothers, and children to the soldiers are not common. Which makes sense. No matter how much these letters meant to soldiers and Nursing Sisters, they could have limited possessions on them. Soldiers on the front had to carry everything in their pack, and everything would be covered in water, mud, and blood. Not an environment where paper can survive. When the Great War started, government and economists believed it would be a short war - modern (for the time) military equipment was more decisive and no one's economy could handle a long war. As we know, t
