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Canada at war
Chapter 6
The Road to War (Factors)
• First Factor – Treaty of Versailles
– After the end of World War 1, the main countries (The Big
Four) that had won the war (GB, F, USA, Italy) met in Paris
(Jan.,1919) and 6 months later created a treaty of peace
called the Treaty of Versailles. Germany and Russia were
not invited.
– This treaty blamed Germany for starting the war, took
away German land, and forced Germany to pay sums of
money called reparations to the victors.
The Road to War
 Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist Party
(known as the Nazis) were elected in power in
Germany 1933 using German anger over the
Treaty of Versailles to become popular.
 Shortly after the election, all other political parties
were outlawed and Hitler became the dictator or
only ruler.
 They began to break the terms of the Treaty of
Versailles. They began to annex, or reoccupy
territory that had been taken away from them
after WWI.
The Road to War
Second Factor – Policy of Appeasement
 The leaders of Britain, France and the United
States who had written the treaty wanted to avoid
war at all costs and argued that relaxing the terms
of the treaty would prevent this, satisfy German
demands and allow peace to prevail.
 This became known as appeasement.
 Giving Germany what it wanted did not work.
 When Germany invaded Poland September 1,
1939 World War 2 began.
The Road to War
The Road to War
• Two days after the invasion of Poland on
September 1st, 1939, Britain and France
declared war against Germany.
Canada at War
• During WW1 Canada had no choice but to
enter the war. They were a part of the British
Empire.
• The Statute of Westminster in 1931 made
Canada independent of Britain in foreign
policy. Therefore, Canada could decide for
itself whether to go to war or not.
Canada at War
• Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King
came up with a compromise– Canada would
support Britain by providing war materials and
a small volunteer army.
• Canada did formally declare war on Germany
on September 10, 1939 after a two day debate
in Parliament.
•
A picture of Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King
Phase 1: September 1939 to June 1940
• This early phase of the war was known as the ‘
Phony War’ because little happened in
Western Europe after Germany invaded
Poland.
• Countries began to join together and two
groups were a result: The Allies and the Axis.
German/Soviet Aggression
Phase 1: September 1939 to June 1940
The Allies
The Axis
France
Germany
Britain
Italy
The Commonwealth
Japan
Global Context
• The Maginot Line of fortifications was built to
defend France against a German invasion.
• The blitzkrieg, German for “lightning war”,
was a tactic used by the Germans in which
they used tanks, aircraft and infantry to
quickly break through Allied defences in
several places of the defence line.
Global Context
• The French and British set up armies in
Belgium but they were defeated by the
German Blitzkrieg.
• The Maginot Line became ineffective as the
Germans simply bypassed it.
• France surrendered to Germany.
Fall of France
Canada’s Contribution
• In December 1939, Canada sent a small
volunteer army to join Britain
• Canada had only 38 ocean going merchant
ships in 1939. These were known as the
merchant marine. The first ships were sunk by
German submarines or u-boats almost
immediately.
German U-Boat
Canada’s Contribution
• In December 1939, the British
Commonwealth Air Training Plan
( BCATP) opened.
• Canada’s air force would train Allied pilots and
air crew in Canada. By the end of the war, over
131,000 Allied pilots and air crew had been
trained.
Phase 2: June 1940 – July 1943
• In June 1941, Germany invades the Soviet
Union, turning it into Britain’s ally.
• On December 7th, Japan attacks Pearl Harbor
in Hawaii. The United States declares war on
Japan and Germany.
• These two events changed the course of the
war.
Global Context
Three other great victories for the Allies
In June 1942, U.S. Forces at the Battle of
Midway destroyed much of Japan’s naval and
air forces.
In October 1942, Allied forces pushed
Germany out of El Alamein in North Africa.
In February 1943, the Soviet army defeated
Germany near the city of Stalingrad, in the
Soviet Union.
War In Europe
German Conquests in Europe
Canada’s Contribution
Battle of the Atlantic
• Convoys (groups) of merchant ships carried
war materials to Britain and the Soviet Union.
• German U-boats successfully sank several
convoys until mid-1943 when more effective
anti-submarine tactics and weapons
dramatically increased the number of ships
lost.
A convoy of merchant ships protected by
airplanes en route to Cape Town, South Africa
during World War II
Canada’s Contribution
Battle of HONG KONG
• The battle took place in Hong Kong in
December of 1941.
• Of the 1975 soldiers defending the colony, 290
were killed and 1685 became POWs. Of the
POWs, 260 died in captivity.
Canada’s Contribution
Battle of Dieppe
• The battle took place in Dieppe, a port in
France in 1942.
• 4963 Canadians took part.
• 900 of those were killed and more than 1900
became POWs.
Phase 3: July 1943- June 1944
After the three great victories at Midway, El
Alamein and Stalingrad in 1942-1943, the
balance of war shifted in favor of the Allies.
• From 1943 onward, the Allies were on the
offensive on all fronts (the line of contact
between 2 enemy lines)
Global Context
• Island-hopping was used by the U.S. military
to push back the Japanese in the Philippines.
• The Soviet Union army pushed back the
German army to Berlin in Germany.
Canada’s Contribution
Canada’s air force had expanded greatly in
size and by 1943 there was an all-Canadian
bomber group.
The bombing of industrial sections of German
cities was carried out around the clock.
In the spring of 1944, Canadian soldiers also
took part in the attack against the German
army in the town of Cassino in Italy.
Canada’s Contribution
• Canadian soldiers continued to fight in Italy
until February 1945 when they rejoined the
rest of the Canadian army in northwest
Europe.
Phase 4: June 1944 – September 1945
• This was the final phase of the war
• It began with the Allied invasion of Europe.
Global Context
• The plan to invade Europe was named
Operation Overlord.
• The landings in Normandy, France are called
the D-day landings.
• The German army had to fight the Allies on
two fronts.
Global Context
• The Soviet army in the east.
• The British, Canadian and U.S. armies in the
west.
• The German army eventually collapsed.
Canada’s Contribution
• The planning of the D-Day landings was
meticulous.
• Sending troops to invade a defended coastline
is one of the most difficult and dangerous
military operations, as the raid on Dieppe had
demonstrated.
• The Canadian and British objective was the
capture of the city of Cain, a road and rail
centre.
Canada’s Contribution
• As the Allied armies increased in size in
France, ports needed to be opened to allow
access to supplies such as fuel and munitions.
• The First Canadian army was assigned the task
of clearing coastal areas and opening the
ports.
• The key port was Antwerp, Belgium-a major
port in Europe.
Canada’s Contribution
• Once Antwerp was captured, the First
Canadian army was given the task of liberating
the Netherlands.
Canada’s Contribution
 Over 6000 Canadian soldiers were wounded.
 Today, the people of the Netherlands remember
and honour the Canadian soldiers who freed
them.
 When the war ended on May 8th, 1945, Canadian
soldiers remained on duty in northern Germany
to participate in the return to peace.
 Over 1 million Canadian men and women had
contributed to WW2.
German Surrender on May 8th, 1945
War in the Pacific
After the war ends with Germany, the United
States turn their attention towards Japan in
the Pacific.
In May 1945, over 80 000 Canadian soldiers
volunteered to join the Pacific war.
However, before they had a chance to take
part, it ended abruptly in September in 1945.
War In Pacific
War in the Pacific
• Scientists in the United States started ‘The
Manhattan Project’. This project introduced
the world to the atomic bomb which had
devastating explosive power.
• On August 6th, 1945, an atomic bomb was
dropped on the city of Hiroshima.
• Japan did not surrender.
War in the Pacific
• On August 9th, three days later, a second bomb
was dropped on Nagasaki.
• Both cities were devastated. About
100 000 to 140 000 died immediately.
Approximately the same number died later
from radiation exposure.
• On September 2nd, 1945, Japan surrendered.
The Holocaust
• The Nazi’s slaughter of an estimated 6 million
Jews during WW2 has come to be known as
the Holocaust.
• Many people were aware of Nazi prejudice
against the Jews and the existence of
concentration camps.
• As Allied troops moved into Germany in the
spring of 1945, the extent of the Nazi’s efforts
became clearer.
The Holocaust
 Allied soldiers discovered the death camps of
Buchenwald and Bergen-Belson.
 These were only two of the many extermination
camps where Jews were starved, worked to
death, shot or gassed.
 Genocide (the attempt to eliminate entire groups
of people) had occurred before WW2 but the
scale of the killings by the Nazis shocked the
world.
The Holocaust
• Genocide (the attempt to eliminate entire
groups of people) had occurred before WW2
but the scale of the killings by the Nazis
shocked the world.