page_title: History of Newfoundland and Labrador
section_title: World War
hierarchical_section_title: History of Newfoundland and Labrador / 20th century / World War
context_page_description: The first brief European contact with Newfoundland and Labrador came c. AD 1000 when the Vikings briefly settled in L'Anse aux Meadows. In 1497, European explorers and fishermen from England, Portugal, Holland, France, and Spain began exploration. Fishing expeditions came seasonally; the first small permanent settlements appeared around 1630. Catholic-Protestant religious tensions were high but mellowed after 1860. The British colony voted against joining Canada in 1869 and became an independent dominion in the early 20th century. Fishing was always the dominant industry, but the economy collapsed in the Great Depression of the 1930s and the people voluntarily relinquished their independence to become a British colony again. Prosperity and self-confidence returned during the Second World War, and after the intense debate, the people voted to join Canada in 1949.
  Poverty and emigration have remained significant themes in Newfoundland history, despite efforts to modernize after 1949. Most efforts failed, and the sudden collapse of the cod fishing industry was a terrific blow in the 1990s. The oil boom in the '00s has revived the economy, but the benefits are not distributed evenly.
context_section_description: The First World War was supported with near unanimity in Newfoundland. Recruiting was brisk, with 6,240 men joining the Newfoundland Regiment for overseas duty, 1,966 joining the Royal Navy, 491 joined the Forestry Corps (which did lumberjack work at home), plus another 3,300 men joined Canadian units, and 40 women became war nurses. Without convening the legislature, Premier Morris and the royal governor, Sir Walter Davidson created the Newfoundland Patriotic Association, a non-partisan body involving both citizens and politicians, to supervise the war effort until 1917. With inflation soaring and corruption rampant, with the prohibition of liquor in effect and fears of conscription apparent, the Association gave way to an all-party National Government. The conscription issue was not as intense as in Canada, but it weakened the Fisherman's Union party, as its leaders supported conscription and most members opposed it. The Fisherman's party then merged into the Liberal-Unionist Party and faded away as an independent force.
  During the great Battle of the Somme in France in 1916, the British assaulted the German trenches near Beaumont Hamel. The 800-man Royal Newfoundland Regiment attacked as part of a British brigade. Most of the Newfoundlanders were killed or wounded without anyone in the regiment having fired a shot. The state, church, and press romanticized the sacrifice Newfoundlanders had made in the war effort through ceremonies, war literature, and memorials, the most important of which was the Beaumont Hamel Memorial Park, which opened in France in 1925. The story of the heroic sacrifice of the regiment in 1916 served as a cultural inspiration.
caption: The Newfoundland Red Ensign was the Newfoundland civil ensign from 1904 to 1931.