Manliness and Militarism : : Educating Young Boys in Ontario for War / / Mark Moss.

Euphoria swept Canada, and especially Ontario, with the outbreak of World War I. Young men rushed to volunteer for the Canadian Expeditionary Force, and close to 50 per cent of the half-million Canadian volunteers came from the province of Ontario. Why were people excited by the prospect of war? Wha...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Superior document:Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter UTP eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2015
VerfasserIn:
Place / Publishing House:Toronto : : University of Toronto Press, , [2016]
©2001
Year of Publication:2016
Language:English
Series:Canadian Social History Series
Online Access:
Physical Description:1 online resource
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Other title:Frontmatter --
Contents --
Preface --
1. Introduction --
2. Historical Foundations: Imperialism and Militarism --
3. Ideas, Myths, and the 'Modern' State --
4. The Culture of Reading --
5. The Politicization of Schooling --
6. Making Boys into Men --
7. At Play in the Fields of the Empire --
8. Conclusion --
Notes --
Index
Summary:Euphoria swept Canada, and especially Ontario, with the outbreak of World War I. Young men rushed to volunteer for the Canadian Expeditionary Force, and close to 50 per cent of the half-million Canadian volunteers came from the province of Ontario. Why were people excited by the prospect of war? What popular attitudes about war had become ingrained in the society? And how had such values become so deeply rooted in a generation of young men that they would be eager to join this 'great adventure'?Historian Mark Moss seeks to answer these questions in Manliness and Militarism: Educating Young Boys in Ontario for War. By examining the cult of manliness as it developed in Victorian and Edwardian Ontario, Moss reveals a number of factors that made young men eager to prove their mettle on the battlefields of Europe. Popular juvenile literature ? the books of Henty, Haggard, and Kipling, for example, and numerous magazines for boys, such as the Boy's Own Paper and Chums ? glorified the military conquests of the British Empire, the bravery of military men, especially Englishmen, and the values of courage and unquestioning patriotism. Those same values were taught in the schools, on the playing fields, in cadet military drill, in the wilderness and Boy Scout movements, and even through the toys and games of young children.The lessons were taught, and learned, well. As Moss concludes: 'Even after the horrors became known, the conflict ended, and the survivors came home, manliness and militarism remained central elements of English-speaking Ontario's culture. For those too young to have served, the idea of the Great War became steeped in adventure, and many dreamed of another chance to serve. For some, the dream would become a reality.'
Format:Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
ISBN:9781442623392
9783110667691
9783110490954
DOI:10.3138/9781442623392
Access:restricted access
Hierarchical level:Monograph
Statement of Responsibility: Mark Moss.