Home > Arthur Currie

Under his capable leadership the Canadian Forces won a long series of battles, fighting as an independent national command for the first time in a major war and earning a fierce reputation as the shock troops of the British Empire.

Arthur Currie was born in Napperton, Ontario , and became a teacher in nearby Strathroy, Ontario. He then moved to Victoria, British Columbia, where he sold real estate. There, he joined the army, with Garnet Hughes, son of the future Canadian minister of militia Sam Hughes, and was sent to EuropeFor the band of the same name, see Europe (band . Europe is a continent forming the westermost part of the Eurasian supercontinent. Europe is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the Mediterranean Se upon the outbreak of the First World War in 1914Events January 4 77 seal hunters freeze to death on ice near Labrador January 5 Ford Motor Company announces an eight-hour workday and a minimum wage of $5 for a day's labor February 13 Copyright: In New York City the ASCAP (for American Society of Compos. He commanded a brigade at the Second Battle of YpresThe Second Battle of Ypres was the first time Germany used chemical weapons on a large scale on the Western Front in World War I. The Second Battle of Ypres consisted of four separate battles: The Battle of Gravenstafel 22nd to 23rd April 1915 The Battle in 1915Events January 12 The Rocky Mountain National Park is established by an act of Congress. January 12 United States House of Representatives rejects proposal to give women the right to vote. January 13 An earthquake (6. 8 in Richter scale) in Avezzano, Ital and by 1917Events January 2 The Royal Bank of Canada takes over Quebec Bank. January 22 World War I: President Woodrow Wilson calls for "peace without victory" in Europe. January 25 The Danish West Indies is sold to the United States for $25 million January 25 Anti- he had been promoted to general, the first Canadian to receive this honour during the war.

Currie was often vehemently opposed to General Douglas Haig, the senior BritishThe word Britain is used to refer to the United Kingdom (UK): i. the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (from 1927), the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland ( 1801- 1927) or the United Kingdom of Great Britain ( 1707- 1801). commander who was his superior officer and the overall commander of the British, Canadian, and other colonial troops. Haig insisted on sending wave after wave of men into certain death; Currie did his best to win battles with minimal Canadian casualties, in opposition to this costly strategy of attritionThis is about the military strategy war of attrition. See War of Attrition for the Israeli-Egyptian war with the same name. For the game theory game see war of attrition (game A war of attrition is a war in which neither side has an exploitable strategic.

With General Julian Byng, Currie was largely responsible for the tactics and careful planning which led to an unexpected triumph by Canadian forces at the Battle of Vimy Ridge in April, 1917. One of the most useful innovations introduced at this battle was the creeping barrage, which consisted of troops walking just behind an advancing line of shell fire from Canadian artillery, shielding soldiers as they approached the Germans. Currie and the Canadian Corps were successful again at Passchendaele (the Third Battle of Ypres) in November, but at the cost of 16,000 men. Currie had accurately predicted these high casualty figures when Haig ordered his troops to attack.

At Canal du Nord in September of 1918, Currie flatly refused to carry out Haig's orders to attack across a canal and into a fortified German trench. With the support of General Byng, Currie had bridges quickly assembled and crossed the canal at night, surprising the Germans with an attack in the morning. This proved the effectiveness of Canadian engineers, for whom Haig had no use. As the war began to end, the Canadian forces pressed on towards Germany, strengthening their reputation as one of the most feared and respected armies of the war in Canada's Hundred Days which included the Battle of Amiens from August 8-11, 1918.

The last Canadian casualty of World War I died under Currie's command at Mons just two minutes before the 11:00am Armistice on November 11, 1918.

Currie was respected by his soldiers as a competent general who would not waste their lives needlessly, but he was not well-liked as he was considered too arrogant. However, because of his unorthodox tactics and his frequent refusals to follow traditional strategies favoured by his British superiors, Currie was disliked as a general by Sam Hughes, who frequently attempted to have him removed. Currie also refused to allow his former friend Garnet Hughes to serve under him, because of what Currie perceived to be incompetence when they fought together in at Ypres in 1915. This also did not endear him to Garnet's father.

Currie was also involved in a scandal stemming from his time in Victoria just before the war began. He defrauded his regiment of $10,000 to buy new uniforms, which came to light in 1917; however Prime Minister Robert Laird Borden did not wish to disgrace a war hero and let the matter drop.

After the war Currie became President of McGill University in Montreal in 1920. His legacy at the university remains in the Currie Gym . At the Royal Military College of Canada there is a building named for Currie as well as a memorial hall, known as Currie Hall. In 1928 a newspaper in Cobourg, Ontario reported that Sam Hughes had accused Currie of being just as much of a "butcher" as General Haig. Currie sued the newspaper for libel and won the case.

He was knighted in 1917, and also honoured with the British Order of the Bath, Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George, the French Légion d'honneur and Croix de Guerre, and the U.S. Distinguished Service Medal.

Gen. Currie died soon after the 15th anniversary of the Armistice, on November 30, 1933. He is interred in the Mount Royal Cemetery in Montreal, Quebec.