A Non-Traditional Nativity PAGE 17
TUESDAY November 11, 2014 • www.langleytimes.com
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NEWS Conservatives Pick Drysdale
ARTS & LIFE A Passion for Piano
19 21 Langley’s Mounted Rifles SPORTS
Rams Bowled Over
A century after the outbreak of the First World War, historian Warren Sommer recounts how Langley residents took up arms to defend their King and Country WAR R EN SOMME R Tim es Con tributor
Subm itted ph oto
Dr. Benjamin Marr, Langley’s sole physician when the First World War broke out, first trained for and served in the cavalry before transferring to the Canadian Army Medical Corps.
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FOR LANGLEY TOWNSHIP COUNCILOR
Asking good questions that lead to positive results. Authorized by Kate Amangoulova, Financial Agent to Angie Quaale Campaign 2014 604.510.5500
When Langley farmers opened their copies of the British Columbian weekly of June 30, 1914, it was the 100th birthday of New Westminster’s Mrs. George Debeck that dominated the Fraser Valley newspaper’s front page. News of the assassination of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which had occurred just two days earlier, was consigned to a story on the side. Murdered in the Bosnian city of Sarajevo, the late Archduke was heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. His murder by Serbian extremists was seen in Austria as part of a sinister plot on the part of the Serbian government to destabilize the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Despite his lofty status, Franz Ferdinand was little liked by the Austrian government. His death nonetheless offered an irresistible excuse for Austria to take military action against its troublesome Balkan neighbour. Yet after the initial drama of the assassination, the press made little mention of the incident. There was nothing to suggest an emerging regional conflict, much less an impending global conflagration. On July 23, however, the Austrian government presented Serbia with
an inflammatory ten-point ultimatum. Within days, Serbia had agreed to each of its demands, save for one that would have jeopardized the nation’s very sovereignty. Serbia’s non-compliance was sufficient excuse for Austria to declare war, and at that point a complex web of international treaties, alliances and understandings all came into play. Russia rallied to the defence of Serbia and Germany to the support of Austria, thereby placing Russia at war with Germany. France’s alliance with Russia ensured her participation in the emerging conflict. If that was not enough, Great Britain’s understandings with France and Russia put her on the side of those two countries, though it was not until Germany sent troops through neutral Belgium that Britain entered the growing fray. As a British dominion Canada had a peculiar status within the British Empire, enjoying full independence in all matters save for foreign affairs. With close to 60 per cent of its residents tracing their origins to the British Isles, however, the vast majority of Canadians considered themselves loyal members of a world-wide family of British nations, each of them prepared to fight for the Empire. Continued Page 12
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