Social Studies 9
Unit Three – Historical Influences on Identity I: Significant Events (1920-1945)
Chapter 6 Class Notes: Canada at War
Text: Canadian Identity, pp. 95-110
6.1 The Road to War (Page 96)
· In the summer of 1939, Canadians watched events unfolding in Europe
· Germany, led by Adolf Hitler, was demanding territory from Poland
· Germany had already taken over neighbouring areas (such as Sudetenland)
· Britain and France warned Germany not to enter Poland
Causes of World War II
1. The Treaty of Versailles (1919)
· This was the treaty or peace settlement signed at the end of WWI at Versailles, France
Germany was punished for starting World War I:
1. forced to pay reparations (compensation paid because of injury or wrong) to the winners/countries that suffered damage
2.loss of land
3.reduce the nation's armed forces
2. The Rise of Hitler
· Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist party (Nazis) were elected to power in 1933 using the anger of the German people about the Treaty of Versailles
· Hitler promised to tear up the treaty and rebuild the nation to its former glory
· Hitler outlawed other political parties and became the dictator (person who seizes control of a government) of Germany
· He began to break the terms of the Treaty of Versailles
· He built up Germany's Armed Forces
· Began to annex (to join or add to a larger thing) or occupy the former territory of Germany that had been taken away from the country after WWI
The Other Nations
· Britain, France and the United States wanted to avoid another war at all costs
· They did not take a stand against the violations of the treaty
· Britain argued that relaxing the terms of the Treaty of Versailles would satisfy the Germans
· The term for this was appeasement (the policy of giving into demands of an unfriendly power to avoid conflict)
· Appeasement did not work; Germany wanted to invade Poland and did so on September 1, 1939
· Britain and France declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939
· See WWII Timeline Handout
Canada at War
· Since 1931, Canada could decide on their own whether to go to war; the Statute of Westminster made Canada independent of British foreign policy
· The government had caused a crisis in WWI through conscription (compelling people to join the Armed Forces by law)
· Canada decided to formally declare war on Germany September 10, 1939 after two days of Parliamentary debate (all MPs except one supported joining)
6.2 Phases of the War (Page 97)
Phase 1: September 1939 - June 1940 (Page 97)
· This period was known as the "phony war" or the "sitzkrieg"- happened in Western Europe after Germany had invaded Poland (Germans did not invade Western Europe until April 1940)
· Germany and Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact and divided Poland between them
· Two competing forces/alliances:
1. The Allies - Britain (and the British Commonwealth) and France
2. The Axis - Germany, Italy and Japan
· This time of inactivity was used by all sides to build up defences and prepare forces for attack.
· France was relying on a line of defence built up in the 1920s and 1930s called the Maginot Line (a line of concrete fortifications, artillery, machine gun posts, and other defences, which France constructed along its borders with Germany)
· The Phony war came to an end when Germany seized Denmark and invaded Norway in April, 1940
-Germany attacked Holland, Belgium and France in May, 1940. Holland and Belgium were quickly conquered.
-The Maginot Line was ineffective against the German technique known as blitzkrieg (a sudden violent attack which combines airplanes, armour and mobile infantry, known as ‘lightning war’) since the Germans simply went around it! (See Figure 6.3)
-The Allied troops were being defeated and forced to escape across the English Channel from the beaches of Dunkirk, France (known as the Dunkirk Evacuation)
Canada's Contribution
· small volunteer army raised and sent to Britain by December 1939
· merchant marines (ocean going ships used for trade)were needed to transport personnel and war goods
· many ships were sunk by German U-Boats (submarines) immediately
· In 1939, the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) was put in place to train allied pilots in Canada
· In 1940, Mackenzie King wins Federal election and maintains a small volunteer army abroad with large scale war production at home. The key aim was to avoid high casualties and the conscription crisis
· In May 1940, Germany's wins through Holland, Belgium and France changed Canada's position to full commitment- National Resources Mobilization Act (NRMA)
Phase 2: June 1940 - July 1943 (Page 100)
This period consists of 2 key events:
1. In June, 1941 Germany invades Soviet Union; this breaks the non-aggression pact signed by both countries in 1939
* this was important because now, the U.S.S.R would be an ally of Britain
2. On December 7, 1941 Japan (an ally of Germany; part of the Axis) led a surprise invasion of the United States at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
* this was important because the U.S. now joined in with the Allies, declaring war on Germany and Japan
During Phase 2, Canada experiences success and failures:
Success
· In the Battle of the Atlantic, convoys (groups of ships traveling together) were used to carry war materials. They would often be sunk by German U-boats, but Canada helped by using new anti-submarine techniques
Three more important Battles were won for the Allies:
1. Battle of Midway - U.S. destroys much of Japan's air and naval forces
2. El Alamein, North Africa - Allies pushed Germany out of region
3. Stalingrad, U.S.S.R. - German army suffered massive defeat
Failures
· Hong Kong in 1941- Japanese killed 290 Canadians while capturing 1685 (POWs) when they attacked there
· Dieppe, France in 1942 - 900 Canadians killed, 1900 POWs (see elaboration below)
The Dieppe Raid
· By the summer of 1942, the Second World War had been raging for almost three years; Nazi Germany had pushed east into the Soviet Union, enemy forces were advancing in North Africa and U-boats were making the Atlantic a deadly place for Allied ships.
· The Allies felt that a large raid on the coast of France could force the Germans to divert military resources away from the Soviet Union, could help in planning for the full-scale assault to come, and it was within range of fighter pilot planes from Britain
· The Dieppe Raid, "Operation Jubilee", saw more than 6,000 men come ashore at five different points along a 16 kilometre-long stretch of heavily defended coastline at different times during the night on August 19, 1942
· Things immediately went wrong. One of the first groups to land met a small German convoy and the firefight alerted the enemy. Running behind schedule, the main force going ashore at Dieppe landed as daylight was breaking. The alerted German troops cut down many Canadians as they waded in the water
· The assault began at 5:00 a.m. and by 10:50 a.m. the Allied commanders were forced to call a retreat
Phase 3: July 1943 - June 1944 (Page 102)
· The Allies were on the offensive on all fronts (the line of contact between two enemy forces):
1. U.S. pushing back the Japanese and recapture the Philippines
2. Soviets push back the Germans
3. Allied aerial bombing of Germany increased (200 bomber planes a night)
Canada's Contribution
· Canadian Air force greatly expanded and joined in the bombing of German industrial targets. The goal was to destroy Germany's industry and ability to wage war
· Canada's fighting force was now a full scale army and they joined the allied invasion of Sicily, Italy (ally of Germany). They moved on to the Italian mainland and continued to fight German forces who had come to replace Italian forces
· Canadians distinguished themselves as good in combat against the Germans in the Battles for the Italian cities of Ortona and Cassino
· Canadians fought in Italy until February 1945
Phase 4: June 1944 - September 1945 (Page 105)
· This final year began with the Allied invasion of Europe
· The Key event was on June 6, 1944 (known as D-Day or Operation Overlord)
· Note: D-Day is a term often used in the military to signify the day on which an attack or invasion begins. The initial D has been given various meanings including day, making the phrase "day of days"
· The most famous D-Day is on June 6, 1944 - the day of the Normandy landings which was the start of the Allied effort to liberate mainland Europe from Nazi occupation
· Canadians landed on a beach, code named 'Juno', the Americans and British landed nearby on the beaches of Normandy, France
· Preparations were meticulous as this was defended coastline and nobody wanted a repeat of the mistakes at Dieppe
· There were about 155,000 soldiers, 5,000 ships and landing craft, 50,000 vehicles and 11,000 planes set for the coming battle. For Canada, 14,000 soldiers were to land on the beaches; another 450 were to drop behind enemy lines by parachute or glider. The Royal Canadian Navy supplied ships and about 10,000 sailors.
· The march to Berlin was begun with the capture of Caen (centre of transportation), Falaise fell and Paris was liberated as the Germans retreated back to the German border. This took several months.
The Canadian Army pushes on!
· As the Allies moved into France, they needed supplies; supply ports needed to be captured and opened
· First Canadians assigned to clear coastal areas and ports (key port: Antwerp, Belgium)
· Although the city of Antwerp was captured, the actual port was 80km away
· To stop the Canadians from advancing to the port, Germans opened the riverdikes and flooded the fields. Canadians were given nickname 'water rats' and the casualties were high
· Next job was to liberate the Netherlands! Over 6000 Canadian casualties are still honoured by the Dutch
· VE (Victory in Europe day) occurred May 8, 1945 after the death of Hitler on April 30. This was the date when the WWII Allies formally accepted the unconditional surrender of the armed forces of Nazi Germany.
6.3 War in the Pacific (Page 108)
· After the German defeat, all eyes turned to Asia. Canada's navy and air force had a small role in the Pacific.
· May, 1945 - 80,000 Canadians volunteered to join the Pacific war; however, they did not have time to take part
· The United States dropped the Atomic Bomb in August,194
The Atomic Bomb
· Code Name: "Manhattan Project"
· Purpose: 1) destroy the ability of the Japanese to continue to wage war
2) Save the lives of thousands of Allied troops who would die if Japan had to be invaded
· August 6, 1945 - "Little boy" was dropped on Hiroshima
· August 9, 1945 - "Big boy" was dropped on Nagasaki
· Hundreds of thousands died in the initial explosions and the radiation aftermath
· The uranium used in the bomb came from Canada and Canadian scientists were involved in the development of this weapon
· Japan surrendered on September 2, 1945
6.4 Holocaust (Page 109)
· Few people knew the extent of the Nazi commitment to what they called the Final solution (the Nazi's plan to annihilate the Jewish population)
· January 1942, Hitler's deputy announced a plan to murder all Jews and any others they wanted
· The genocide (systematic measures to exterminate a national, cultural, religious or racial group) would shock the world as it was discovered that 6 million Jews (& others) were starved, worked to death, shot or gassed in death camps
· This slaughter would become known as the Holocaust (mass murder of the Jewish people by the Nazis during WWII; the word means sacrifice by fire)
War Crimes Trials, Nuremburg
· German leaders were held accountable for their roles in this horrific event early 1946 (Hermann Goering among others sentenced to death)
· Other trials were held through the years as Nazi leaders were caught and put on trial for crimes against humanity in Israel
· Crimes against humanity was a new development in international law
A Jewish Homeland
· 1948 the State of Israel was established as a Jewish Homeland
· Any Jewish person in the world has the right to move there
· The area is sacred to Jewish people, Christians and Muslims
· The geographic location as well as the religious and political interests has made this area a centre of conflict
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