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

France

Britain

The Commonwealth

The Axis

Germany

Italy

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.