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General Knighthood|Sir Arthur William Currie Order
of Saint Michael and Saint George|KCMG Order of
the Bath|CB (December 5, 1875 - November 30, 1933)
was the first Canada|Canadian commander of the
Canadian Corps on the Western front|Western Front
during World War I and one of the most successful
Allied#World_War_I|Allied generals of the war and
in Canadian history.



Under his capable leadership the Canadian Forces
Land Force Command|Canadian Army won a long series
of battles, fighting as an independent national
command for the first time in a major war and
earning a fierce reputation as among the most
effective Allied troops.

Arthur Currie was born in Napperton, Ontario and
attended Strathroy District Collegiate
Institute|Strathroy Collegiate Institute in
Strathroy, Ontario. In 1894 he moved to Victoria,
British Columbia where he first taught school and
later sold real estate. There, he joined the army
militia and over the years prior to the Great War
rose through the ranks to become his regiment's
Commanding Officer. With Garnet Hughes, son of the
Canadian minister of militia Sam Hughes, he was
sent to Europe upon the outbreak of the First
World War in 1914. He commanded a brigade at the
Second Battle of Ypres in 1915 and by 1917 he had
been promoted to general, the first Canadian to
receive this honour during the war.

Currie was often vehemently opposed to General
Douglas Haig, the senior Britain|British commander
who was his superior officer and who had the
overall command of the British, Canadian, and
other colonial troops. Haig insisted on sending
wave after wave of men into certain death; Currie
did his best to win battles with minimal Canadian
casualties, in opposition to this costly strategy
of War of attrition|attrition.

With General Julian H.G. Byng, Viscount Byng of
Vimy|Julian Byng, Currie was largely responsible
for the tactics and careful planning which led to
an unexpected triumph by Canadian forces at the
Battle of Vimy Ridge in April, 1917. One of the
most useful innovations introduced at this battle
was the creeping barrage, which consisted of
troops walking just behind an advancing line of
shell fire from Canadian artillery, shielding
soldiers as they approached the Germany|Germans.
In addition, constant practice and new troop
organization in which each platoon member was
trained to carry out all platoon responsibilities,
briefing of the frontline troops, the use of
counter-battery fire measures  and constant
patrolling of the enemy defenses all contributed
to the effectiveness of the Canadian army at Vimy
and for the rest of the War.
Currie and the Canadian Corps were successful
again at Passchendaele (the Third Battle of Ypres)
in November, but at the cost of 16,000 men. Currie
had accurately predicted these high casualty
figures when Haig ordered his troops to attack.

At Canal du Nord in September of 1918, Currie
flatly refused to carry out Haig's orders to
attack across a canal and into a fortified German
trench. With the support of General Byng, Currie
had bridges quickly assembled and crossed the
canal at night, surprising the Germans with an
attack in the morning. This proved the
effectiveness of Canadian engineers, for whom Haig
had no use. Currie believed in the specialization
of troops and formally organized battalions of
combat engineers to move with the troops.  
As the war neared its end, the Canadian forces
pressed on towards Germany, strengthening their
reputation as one of the most feared and respected
armies of the war in Canada's Hundred Days which
included the Battle of Amiens from August 8-11,
1918.

The last Canadian casualty of World War I, George
Lawrence Price, died under Currie's command at
Mons just before the 11:00am Armistice on November
11, 1918.

Currie was respected by his soldiers as a
competent general who would not waste their lives
needlessly, but he was not well-liked as he was
considered too arrogant. However, because of his
unorthodox tactics and his frequent refusals to
follow traditional strategies favoured by his
British superiors, Currie was disliked as a
general by Sam Hughes, who frequently attempted to
have him removed. Currie also refused to allow his
former friend Garnet Hughes to serve under him,
because of what Currie perceived to be
incompetence when they fought together in at Ypres
in 1915. This also did not endear him to Garnet's
father.

Currie, along with General John Monash of
Australia, were both civilians who during the War
came to lead their respective armies in war. It is
said by many that they were not bound by British
military traditions and Victorian era|Victorian
social class|class structures, and were able to
develop organizations and tactics that reflected
the colonial cultural from which they came.

Currie was also involved in a scandal stemming
from his time in Victoria just before the war
began. He defrauded his regiment of $10,000 to buy
new uniforms, which came to light in 1917; however
Canadian Prime Minister|Prime Minister Robert
Laird Borden did not wish to disgrace a war hero
and let the matter drop.

After the war Currie became President of McGill
University in Montreal in 1920. His legacy at the
university remains in the Currie Gym and the
Montreal Neurological Institute under William
Penfield. At the Royal Military College of Canada
there is a building named for Currie as well as a
memorial hall. In Calgary until recently there
were the Currie barracks.

In 1928 a newspaper in Cobourg, Ontario reported
that Sam Hughes had accused Currie of being just
as much of a "butcher" as General Haig. Currie
sued the newspaper for libel and won the case.

He was knighted in 1917, and also honoured with
the British Order of the Bath, Knight Commander of
the Order of St. Michael and St. George, the
French Légion d'honneur and Croix de Guerre, and
the U.S. Distinguished Service Medal.

Gen. Currie died soon after the 15th anniversary
of the Armistice, on November 30, 1933. He is
interred in the Mount Royal Cemetery in Montreal,
Quebec.

Canadian historians like Pierre Berton and J.L.
Granatstein have frequently named Currie as
Canada's greatest military commander.