In the dust you will prevail : the mobilization of Acadia, Dalhousie, Mount Allison, and St. Francis Xavier Universities, 1914-1918

Abstract

For Canada's post-secondary institutions, the First World War precipitated great change and upheaval. In Maritime Canada, the effects of the war were keenly felt at Acadia, Dalhousie, Mount Allison, and St. Francis Xavier Universities. The campuses were witness to extreme patriotism, the enlistment of students and faculty, the founding of contingents of the Canadian Officer Training Corps, the conscription crisis, French-English tensions, the Halifax Explosion, influenza, and the raising of university sponsored hospital units for service overseas. Meanwhile, the female students present at each institution carried on with their education amidst the turmoil. Some enjoyed a newfound freedom and rose to become student leaders in the absence of their male counterparts. Moreover, each university's perspective was different largely due to the religious orientations of the institutions. By the time the armistice was declared on November 11, 1918, the face of each university had changed irrevocably. Yet, in the dust and chaos of war, they had prevailed.