A number of pieces have appeared this week on the topic of how Canadians received the news that the First World War was over. I know Sara Karn’s piece for our First World War series at ActiveHistory.ca best, because I acted as an editor for the post and am familiar with the newspaper sources she draws on in the post. Considering the arrival of peace from the perspective of soundscapes is a novel approach, and Karn offers a unique way for readers to imagine reactions to the news of peace.
Katie Daubs researched and wrote a photo essay on the topic of responses to the armistice in Toronto for TheStar.com. She contacted me for insight into some aspects of the project, and enlightened me about several of the activities that occurred that day. The photo project about Toronto on 11 November 1918 is an interesting visual contrast to the reading about the sounds from that day. She wrote about the origins of the false armistice of 7 November 1918 in a related article, an issue that addresses the role of journalism and the intense anticipation of peace.
Today I found Jamie Bradburn’s piece for TVO’s website, which publishes new material regularly, in its role as the province’s publicly-supported broadcaster and “partner in digital learning.” and not only related to its television programming. This article looks at reactions to the news of peace in London, Paris, and Berlin – as in the Ontario cities named after those European capitals, a great idea! All located in south-western Ontario, Berlin changed its name to Kitchener in 1916, Paris was a considerable industrial town at the time, and London was a small city.
These items are windows into the excitement and relief we would expect the news of peace to elicit, but they also reveal some of the tensions present in these places, and the different public culture that existed. For most people, getting and sharing news meant being out of doors, and being with other people. And crowds celebrated by engaging in activities, such as lighting bonfires, that, while reserved for special occasions, were part of an established social repertoire. The nature of media today means that the process of receiving and sharing news would be much different, and while celebrations would be different too I wonder to what extent the feeling of the moment would be the same. Hard to say!
Sources
Sara Karn, The town’s gone wild: Sounds of Victory in Toronto, 11 November 1918,” 9 November 2018, ActiveHistory.ca, online at: http://activehistory.ca/2018/11/the-towns-gone-wild-sounds-of-victory-in-toronto-11-november-1918/. Accessed 9 November 2018.
Katie Daubs, “Armistice Day in Toronto: 100 Years Later,” 8 November 2018, TheStar.com, online at: http://projects.thestar.com/armistice-day-toronto/. Accessed 9 November 2018.
Katie Daubs, “Days before the end of the First World War, Canadians celebrated in the streets. But it was thanks to fake news,” 3 November 2018, TheStar.com, online at: https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2018/11/03/days-before-the-end-of-the-first-world-war-canadians-celebrated-in-the-streets-but-it-was-thanks-to-fake-news.html. Accessed 9 November 2018.
Jamie Bradburn, “How Ontarian celebrated the end of the Great War in London, Paris, and (the city formerly known as) Berlin,” 7 November 2018, TVO.org, online at: https://tvo.org/article/current-affairs/how-ontarians-celebrated-the-end-of-the-great-war-in-london-paris-and-the-city-formerly-known-as-berlin. Accessed 9 November 2018.
Citation
Nathan Smith, “News of Peace: Commemorating the 1918 Armistice in 2018,” HIS241.com, 9 November 2018, http://www.his241.com/?p=588#more-588
