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PASSCHENDAELE: A Hundred Years On

A Lecture by Dr. Eric McGeer
Cameron Hall | Yorkminster Park Baptist Church Map

Canadians rightly marked the centenary of Vimy Ridge with commemorative ceremonies and reflections on the meaning of this famous battle. Yet 1917 saw the Canadian Corps engaged in other fiercely contested battles equally deserving of our remembrance a hundred years later. November 10, 2017, marks the centenary of the end of the Battle of Passchendaele, a chilling name which for contemporaries became synonymous with the agonies of the First World War. Why was this battle fought, what did the Canadians achieve in this terrible struggle, and what do we make of the efforts and sacrifice of the soldiers driven to the limits of human endurance?

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ABOUT THE LECTURER:

Eric McGeer taught Latin and history for many years before turning to writing full time. Originally a specialist in Byzantine history, he was so moved by a visit to the battlefields of the First and Second World Wars that he shifted his focus to Canada's military past. His publications include a set of three guidebooks to the Canadian battlefields in Italy and Canada's Dream Shall Be of Them, a study of Canadian epitaphs from the Second World War. His history of the University of Toronto Contingent of the Canadian Officers Training Corps is due to appear in 2017.

He lives with his wife and two children in Toronto.

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