The First World War was the first total war in the history [of] mankind. It threw hundreds of thousands of men into a cauldron of inhuman conditions. It was a "Carnival of Death" where men perished in mud, were torn by exploding steel, where the constant threat of sudden death was compounded by squalid, unbearable conditions. The war was described by a German soldier as "Lice, rats, barbed wire, fleas, shells, bombs, underground caves, corpses, blood, liquor, mice, cats, artillery, filth, bullets, mortars, fire, steel." Into this Hell went normal men, farmers, clerks, sons, fathers, brothers, and husbands. The stress on living and dying was often too much and for the first time expressions like shell-shock and self-inflicted wound became part of day-to-day vocabulary.Suicides in the trenches were not uncommon. Desertion was a problem. Generals neede to keep up the discipline of their men, so in keeping with military law draconian measures could be taken "for the sake of example".More than 370,000 Canadians fought in France and Belgium during the First World War. More than 60,000 died. Twenty-five Canadian volunteers were executed by Firing Squad, a small, but sad footnote to Canada's great contribution to the war. Was it necessary to shoot these men? Did their deaths improve discipline in the Canadian Corps?For Freedom and Honour? is the story of the 25 Canadian volunteers executed in the First World War. It examines the history of military discipline, its usage in the war and its role in this tragic episode.
