Canadian Army
The Canadian Army is the branch of the Canadian Armed Forces responsible for conventional land operations. As of 2024, it includes about 22,500 Regular Force personnel, 21,500 reservists, and 5,300 Canadian Rangers. Headquartered at NDHQ Carling in Ottawa, it maintains bases and facilities across Canada. The Army is led by the Commander of the Canadian Army, under the authority of the Chief of the Defence Staff.
The Army traces its roots to the colonial-era Canadian militia, though nearly all of its existing units were established after the Militia Act of 1855, which created the Active Militia in the Province of Canada. Shortly after Confederation, the Active Militia became Canada's sole functional military force, participating in several conflicts before being renamed the Canadian Army during the Second World War. It was reorganized as Force Mobile Command in 1965, ahead of the 1968 unification of Canada's military. Renamed Land Force Command in 1992, it reverted to the Canadian Army name in 2011.
The Army is organized into five formations, which includes four geographically based divisions comprising Regular and Reserve Force elements, and the Canadian Army Doctrine and Training Centre for training and doctrine development. The four divisions includes several brigade groups made up of units from the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery, Royal Canadian Armoured Corps, and Royal Canadian Infantry Corps. The Army operates a variety of equipment sourced domestically and from other countries.
History
Origins and the Sedentary Militia
The Canadian Army traces its origins to colonial militias established in New France and British North America. These community-based militias supported French and British military actions on the continent. Prior to Canadian Confederation in 1867, the Militia Acts of the Province of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick required males aged 16 to between 50 and 60 to serve in local Sedentary Militias, unorganized, mostly untrained forces mustered only infrequently each year.Some of the Canadian Army's oldest units trace their lineage to these sedentary militia units, like the predecessor of the Governor General's Horse Guards, the Governor General's Body Guard. Several modern Army units also perpetuate the lineage of Canadian units raised during the War of 1812. However, the nearly all modern Army units were formed after the transformation of Canada's military system through the Militia Acts of 1846 and 1855.
Development of the Active Militia
Plans for a trained volunteer "active militia" in the Province of Canada began with the Militia Act of 1846, although actual active militia units were not formed until a more practical framework was established through the Militia Act of 1855. The Militia Act of 1868 formally integrated the colonial Canadian Militia, both the Sedentary and Active components, into the new federal framework. However, the Sedentary Militia fell into disuse by 1873, leaving the Active Militia as Canada's only functional military force.In 1871, the Active Militia formed its first full-time volunteer units, which later became the nucleus of Permanent Force. By the 1880s, Permanent Force had expanded beyond artillery to include infantry and cavalry corps. During the late 19th century, the Active Militia repelled the Fenian raids from 1866 to 1871 and defeated the North-West Resistance in 1885. Active Militia officers first participated in overseas service during the Nile Expedition of 1884 to 1885, while Active Militia units undertook their first official overseas deployment during the Second Boer War from 1900 to 1902.
File:Royal Canadian Troops at the Battle of Paardeberg.jpg|thumb|Canadian soldiers at the Battle of Paardeberg during the Second Boer War, 1900
However, by the end of the 19th century, the militia remained limited in capability. Major-General Edward Hutton, former General Officer Commanding the Militia of Canada, described the Militia as "a collection of military units without cohesion, without staff, and without those military departments by which an army is moved, fed, or ministered to in sickness."
Reforms under Frederick Borden, minister of militia and defence from 1896 to 1911, revitalized the force through the creation of engineering, medical, signalling, and support corps in the early 1900s. In 1904, the position of General Officer Commanding, traditionally held by a British Army officer, was replaced by the Canadian-appointed Chief of the General Staff of the Militia. Policies adopted by Canada at the 1907 Imperial Conference and the 1909 Defence Conference led the Canadian Militia to maintain broad uniformity with the British Army in organization, equipment, and training doctrine.
World War I and Interwar Period
At the outbreak of World War I, the Canadian militia was not mobilized, with existing mobilization plans for the force considered too slow to meet the urgent demands of the war. Instead, a new force was formed, the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Although the militia provided only a small number of trained soldiers, it offered the foundation on which a national army could be built, with most CEF officers originating from the Non-Permanent Active Militia. Throughout the war, militia units and their administrative staffs were primarily responsible for recruiting personnel for the CEF. However, most CEF units were created specifically for the war and only later recognized by the militia, though militia units like the Royal Canadian Regiment, also formed part of CEF.The militia's pre-war limited development was evident in the appointment of a British lieutenant-general to command the 1st Canadian Division until 1917, when command of the Canadian Corps passed to Lieutenant-General Arthur Currie, a former NPAM officer. Canadian units first entered the front lines in February 1915, and by 1918, the Canadian Corps was regarded as "the most powerful self-contained striking force on any battlefront," in part because it retained four-battalion infantry brigades while British Army brigades were reduced to three battalions. More than 620,000 people served in the CEF, with 60,000 Canadians died during the war.
Following the war, steps were taken within the Canadian Militia to preserve the legacy and battle honours of CEF units. Two CEF units were incorporated into the Permanent Force, while others had their honours perpetuated through NPAM regiments. In 1923, the civilian portfolio responsible for militia affairs was consolidated with the other service portfolios under a single Minister of National Defence. During the 1930s, the militia began a program of rearmament and reorganization, although its budget reflected its position as the lowest priority compared with the navy and the air force.
World War II and post-war period
The Government of Canada ordered a partial mobilization of the militia on 25 August, followed by full mobilization after the Canadian declaration of war on Germany on 10 September. Unlike the First World War, the mobilized units were drawn largely from existing militia battalions rather than newly created formations. In November 1940, the Canadian Militia was formally retitled as the Canadian Army, with the Permanent Active Militia becoming Canadian Army and NPAM becoming Canadian Army.Canadian Army units saw little action in the early stages of the war. One brigade briefly took the field during the fall of France in 1940, after which Canadian Army units were largely occupied with the defence of the UK against a possible German invasion. The Canadian Army later played major roles in the Allied invasion of Sicily and Italy, the Battle of Normandy, and the North West Europe campaign, remaining in combat until 5 May 1945 with the German surrender at Lüneburg Heath. During the conflict, the First Canadian Army was formed. It became the largest field army ever assembled by the Canadian Army, with more than 450,000 personnel under the command of General Henry Crerar. Like in the First World War, the Canadian Army served under British higher command in operations. During the war, 730,000 people served in the Canadian Army, 24,500 of whom died.
File:Canadese landtroepen van de 27e Infanterie-brigade voor het Atlantische leger va, Bestanddeelnr 904-8323.jpg|thumb|The 27th Canadian Infantry Brigade, created for service in West Germany disembarks in Rotterdam, 1951
Although the Canadian Army demobilized after the Second World War, it did not reduce its numbers to pre-war levels like it did following the First World War. Its participation in NATO in 1949 also led the Canadian Army to its largest peacetime size. As part of its commitments to NATO, the Canadian Army had detachments in Europe.
During this period, Canada also contributed to early UN peacekeeping operations, like the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization in 1948, the United Nations Emergency Force during the 1956 Suez Crisis and the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus in 1964. The Canadian Army also provided several units, later consolidated into the 25th Canadian Infantry Brigade, to serve under the 1st Commonwealth Division of the United Nations Command during the Korean War.
Post-unification
The Canadian Army was reduced in size the 1960s due to budgetary and manpower constraints. By the mid-1960s, the Canadian government began a process of unifying the country's separate armed service branches into a single force. As a part of the anticipated unification, the Army was reorganized into Force Mobile Command in 1965, before it was unified with the other two service branches, the Royal Canadian Navy and the Royal Canadian Air Force, to form the single-service Canadian Armed Forces. This resulted in some units being reduced to nil strength and transferred to the Supplementary Order of Battle. However, other new units were also created to increase French Canadian representation.The rationale for unification was to improve efficiency and reduce cost. However, unification efforts faced resistance from army regiments, who viewed them as an attempt to erase their history, traditions, and identities. Regimental identities and ethos were gradually restored within Mobile Command during the 1970s and 1980s. During the later Cold War years, the CAF was reduced in size and scaled back troop deployments in Europe, although it continued to uphold peacekeeping commitments, participating in every UN peacekeeping mission until 1989.
The end of the Cold War prompted the CAF to end its European military deployments, although it did play a limited role in the 1991 Gulf War and took part in several peacekeeping missions. In 1992, Force Mobile Command was redesignated as Land Force Command as part of broader post-Cold War restructuring. Many of the army's post-Cold War peacekeeping missions, particularly in Yugoslavia and Rwanda, became volatile, with peacekeepers facing aggression and lacking adequate support. The misconduct of the Canadian Airborne Regiment during operations in Somalia also led to intense public scrutiny and the regiment’s eventual disbandment.
The army hit its lowest enlistment numbers in decades in 2001, before it rebounded as a result of the War in Afghanistan. The 12-year Afghan mission was the longest military campaign undertaken by the CAF. In 2011, Land Forces Command was renamed to the Canadian Army, restoring the pre-unification name for Canada's military land forces.