This article delves into Canada's complex position on the world stage in the late 1930s, facing pressure from both the United States and Britain as global tensions escalate. It explores Prime Minister Mackenzie King's dilemma of navigating these competing alliances while a looming war threatens.
The Good Allies: How Canada and the United States Fought Together to Defeat Fascism During the Second World War.
The North Americans had a long, disruptive and unhappy history, with the U.S. and Canada having often been bad neighbours, with wars, cross-border invasions and terror attacks. Since the Republic was formed in revolution from Britain in the late 18th century, the U.S. had expanded in all directions and driven Europeans, Mexicans and Indigenous peoples from land the Americans had claimed.
While these invasion plans seem a bit unhinged in hindsight, armed forces have to engage in such advance thinking; when war comes, it often comes fast. That was not the case with the Second World War in Europe, which everyone could see coming for several years, even as the west desperately negotiated and cravenly appeased Hitler. It was to no avail: the Führer wanted war.
While Canada stood firmly by Britain, it could not fully do so without U.S. assistance in matters of trade, finance and security. Most importantly, Britain and Canada needed weapons, but the dominion’s factories and forges had grown cold in the Depression years. With American expertise and tooling machines, these were stoked hot, and Canada would emerge as a major industrial power in the coming years.
The U.S., still neutral, warily eyed the activity above the 49th parallel, especially the new armed forces. No separate nation is happy to see mass rearmament, even if the Canadians promised it was to support Britain. And what about the Dominion of Newfoundland, separate from Canada, but still critical to the defence of the Atlantic?
But with Japan’s first strike, Canada and the U.S. were further drawn together. In a quirk of history, Canada declared war on Japan before the U.S. did. More importantly in the global war, Germany declared war on the United States. The North Americans were now in a death struggle with the Axis powers.
A crucial element of the North American alliance was the supply of minerals, goods and weapons across the border.
Canada History World War II Diplomacy Alliances United States Great Britain
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