dealing only with Imperial affairs". A strong believer in temperance, Hughes also saw militia service as a way of promoting his "dry" views, believing he stamp out the evils of alcoholism in Canada by having every man serve in the militia. Based on his own experiences of the Boer War, Hughes believed that Canadian soldiers were much better soldiers than the British, and it was because of Hughes that the Canadians fought together as a separate expeditionary force during the First World War. The staff officers had developed a plan for mobilizing the militia in the event of the war, which Hughes disregarded in August 1914 by creating an entirely new organization called the Canadian Expeditionary Force, which was to consist of numbered battalions that had no connection with the militia regiments. Reflecting his own beliefs about the superiority of Canadians over the British as soldiers, Hughes fought hard to ensure that the divisions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force be commanded by Canadian generals, and very reluctantly accepted a British officer, Lieutenant-General Edwin Alderson, as the commander of the 1st Canadian Division and only then because of the lack of a qualified Canadian officer. Alderson found Hughes a difficult man to deal with as the defence minister insisted on involving himself in matters that were normally the concern of a defence minister and because the Canadian nationalist Hughes insisted on equipping the Canadian Expeditionary Force with Canadian-made equipment as much as possible, regardless of whether it was practical or not. Expansion and the World Wars (1901–1945) After Canadian participation in the Second Boer War, the need for domestic supporting organizations was made evident. Canada in short order formed its own Engineer Corps, Permanent Active Militia Army Medical Corps, Canadian Army Veterinary Corps, Signalling Corps, Ordnance Stores Corps and Canadian Army Service Corps. During the First World War a Canadian Provost Corps was also created. Canada was the first military in the world to create a Canadian Army Dental Corps. First World War Canadian participation in the First World War began with the unusual step of scrapping all mobilization plans, and creating a field force from scratch. In 1914, the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) was created in response to a call by the United Kingdom for soldiers. The CEF was a separate entity from the Permanent Active Militia (by now also known as the Permanent Force, or PF) and the Non-Permanent