Varsity's Soldiers: The University of Toronto Contingent of the Canadian Officers' Training Corps, 1914−1968 (The Canadian Experience of War) - Hardcover

McGeer, Eric

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1487503520 ISBN 13: 9781487503529

Publisher: University of Toronto Press, 2019

Synopsis

The role of Canadian universities in selecting and training officers for the armed forces is an important yet overlooked chapter in the history of higher education in Canada. For more than fifty years, the University of Toronto supported the largest and most active contingent of the Canadian Officers' Training Corps (COTC), which sent thousands of officer candidates into the regular and reserve forces.

Based on the rich fund of documents housed in the university archives, Varsity’s Soldiers offers the first full-length history of military training in Toronto. Beginning with the formation of a student rifle company in 1861, and focusing on the story of the COTC from 1914 to 1968, author Eric McGeer seeks to enlarge appreciation of the university’s remarkable contribution to the defence of Canada, the place of military education in an academic setting, and the experience of the students who embodied the ideal of service to alma mater and to country.

About this title

About the Author

Eric McGeer holds a PhD from the Université de Montréal and teaches at St Clement’s School in Toronto.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Toronto Press
• Publication date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1487503520
• ISBN 13: 9781487503529
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 384