es crossed, and were now close to Bagdad.
The enemy suddenly retired and the British troops found that their main
opponent was a dust storm. The enemy retired beyond Bagdad, and on March
11th the city was occupied by the English.

The fall of Bagdad was an important event. It cheered the Allies, and
proved, especially to the Oriental world, the power of the British army.
Those who originally planned its capture had been right, but those who
were to carry out the plan had not done their duty. Under General Maude
it was a comparatively simple operation, though full of admirable
details, and it produced all the good effects expected. The British, of
course, did not stop at Bagdad. The city itself is not of strategic
importance. The surrounding towns were occupied and an endeavor was made
to conciliate the inhabitants. The real object of the expedition was
attained.

CHAPTER XXV

CANADA'S PART IN THE GREAT WAR

By COL. GEO. G. NASMITH, C. M. G., TORONTO

When, in August,1914, war burst suddenly upon a peaceful world like
distant thunder in a cloudless summer sky, Canada, like the rest of the
British Empire, was profoundly startled. She had been a peace-loving,
non-military nation, satisfied to develop her great natural resources,
and live in harmony with her neighbors; taking little interest in
European affairs, Canadians, in fact, were a typical colonial people,
with little knowledge even of the strength of the ties that linked them
to the British Empire.

Upon declaration of war by Great Britain Canada immediately sprang to
arms. The love of country and empire which had been no obvious thing
burst forth in a patriotic fervor as deep as it was spontaneous and
genuine. The call to action was answered with an enthusiasm the like of
which had rarely, if ever, been seen in any British colony.

The Canadian Government called for 20,000 volunteers--enough for a
single division--as Canada's contribution to the British army. In less
than a month 40,000 men had volunteered, and the Minister of Militia was
compelled to stop the further enrolment of recruits. From the gold
fields of the Yukon, from the slopes of the Rockies on the west to the
surf-beaten shores of the Atlantic on the east; from workshop and mine;
from farm, office and forest, Canada's sons trooped to the colors.

It will be the everlasting glory of the men of the first Canadian
contingent, that they needed no spur, either of victory or defeat: they
volu