Conflict

A reminder to members of City Daily Photo- the theme for December 1st is Furry Things. 

The path heading towards the permanent galleries in the War Museum is lined with large photographs from Canadian military history. The one at right dates to the Second World War, with a child reaching for his father's hand as he goes off to war. Even if my Canadian readers haven't seen the photograph before, they have probably seen it elsewhere- this photograph was immortalized in a commemorative 2 dollar coin that is still in circulation.

The galleries go in chronological order, and the first one focuses on early conflicts. First Nations tribes conducted their own warfare, with hostilities between tribes to be expected long before contact with outsiders.

Here are reproductions of their weapons from pre-contact times.

A model of an Iroquois village is set up, showing its placement during a siege by a hostile tribe.

The first outsiders known to have made it to North America were the Vikings, a thousand years ago. They made settlements, and found themselves both trading and in conflict with the people who were already there. In time the settlements would fail and the Vikings would return back from where they had come.

Some of the weapons of that time can be seen here.

Hundreds of years after the Vikings, more Europeans came across the ocean, and established a lasting presence. The French established nation-to-nation relationships and alliances with some of the tribes in eastern Canada, and thus would be drawn into conflict with the enemies of their new allies. The result would be a period of time known as the Post-Contact Wars.

Colonists were expected to serve in a militia capacity.