When did the First World War end?

Discover Canada records the end of the First World War with one direct sentence. The guide writes: With Germany and Austria's surrender, the war ended in the Armistice on November 11, 1918. The date the test wants is therefore November 11, 1918.

The wider Canadian story leading up to that date is dense. Discover Canada says the war began in 1914 when "Germany attacked Belgium and France... and Britain declared war." Ottawa then formed the Canadian Expeditionary Force (later the Canadian Corps), and "more than 600,000 Canadians served in the war, most of them volunteers, out of a total population of eight million." So the country that came out of the Armistice on November 11, 1918 had been through almost five years of total war.

The named Canadian victories cluster the year before the Armistice. Discover Canada records: "The Canadian Corps captured Vimy Ridge in April 1917, with 10,000 killed or wounded, securing the Canadians' reputation for valour as the 'shock troops of the British Empire.'" One Canadian officer is quoted in the guide: "It was Canada from the Atlantic to the Pacific on parade... In those few minutes I witnessed the birth of a nation." The guide marks April 9 as Vimy Day.

The cost was heavy. Discover Canada writes: In total 60,000 Canadians were killed and 170,000 wounded. The war strengthened both national and imperial pride, particularly in English Canada. So the answer to this test question — November 11, 1918 — is also the date that closed one of the most consequential chapters in Canadian national history.

The question is testing whether new citizens know the precise day, not just the year. Discover Canada commits to November 11, 1918 — the same date that became Remembrance Day. Picking the year alone is not enough; the right answer is the exact calendar date.

The other answer choices each fall close to but not on November 11. Discover Canada never associates the end of the war with October 31, December 1, or September 5 of 1918 — only with the Armistice on November 11.