page_title: British Expeditionary Force (World War I)
section_title: Canadian Expeditionary Force
hierarchical_section_title: British Expeditionary Force (World War I) / Empire and Portuguese contribution / Canadian Expeditionary Force
caption_attribution_description: English: Canadians consolidating their positions on Vimy Ridge.
context_page_description: The British Expeditionary Force was the six-division British Army sent to the Western Front during the First World War. Planning for a British Expeditionary Force began with the 1906-1912 Haldane reforms of the British Army carried out by the Secretary of State for War Richard Haldane following the Second Boer War.
  The term "British Expeditionary Force" is often used to refer only to the forces present in France prior to the end of the First Battle of Ypres on 22 November 1914. By the end of 1914—after the battles of Mons, Le Cateau, the Aisne and Ypres—the existent BEF had been defeated, although it helped stop the German advance. An alternative endpoint of the BEF was 26 December 1914, when it was divided into the First and Second Armies. BEF remained the official name of the British armies in France and Flanders throughout the First World War.
  Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany, who was famously dismissive of the BEF, allegedly issued an order on 19 August 1914 to "exterminate ... the treacherous English and walk over General French's contemptible little army". Hence, in later years, the survivors of the regular army dubbed themselves "The Old Contemptibles".
context_section_description: The Canadian Expeditionary Force was the designation of the field force created by Canada for service overseas in the First World War. Its major combat formation was the Canadian Corps, which eventually commanded four Canadian infantry divisions. The Canadian Corps' first commander was General Edwin Alderson, who was succeeded by General Julian Byng in 1916, who was in turn succeeded in 1917, by the Canadian General Arthur Currie until the end of the war. They distinguished themselves in battle from the Second Battle of Ypres, through the Somme and particularly in the Battle of Arras at Vimy Ridge in April 1917. Since they were mostly untouched by the German offensive in the spring of 1918, the Canadians were ordered to help spearhead the last campaigns of the War from the Battle of Amiens in August 1918.
caption: Canadian soldiers consolidating their positions on Vimy Ridge
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