The 20th century saw a significant increase in the number of conflicts around the world. More people were killed in wars and other conflicts in the 20th century than in the last 19 centuries combined. Two of the most severe conflicts during that time period were World War I and World War II. In both those cases, Canada played pivotal roles, which was so highly needed and appreciated, yet has not been given the necessary recognition that Canada deserved.
Canada suffered disproportioned losses in WWI and WWII as well as a disproportionate level of service by a country that, at the time, had less than 12 million people.However, not only did Canada offer its services to the Allied Forces through the men and women that it supplied but also in the high number of tanks and other essential supplies that the Allied forces needed to continue to fight. What also serves as a testament to the fighting will of the Canadian people, at the onset of WWII, unlike with WWI, Canada was not legally obligated to enter the war on the side of the Allied Forces. Canada’s involvement in WWI had created a serious gap between the English and French speaking people of the country; a gap which had only grown wider since the end of WWI.Also, there was no treaty and Canada was, to a greater extent than ever before, a free country. However, Canada, despite not existing high on Hitler’s list of priorities, declared war on Germany only nine days after England.
As a result of the above mentioned, Canada’s role in both WWI and WWII, though different in some ways, each speak as a collective voice to the high degree of loyalty and respect that Canada had for England, The United States and the cause of freedom. World War I is still to many historians, a chapter in history which cannot fully be explained.The names of the countries and the number of casualties are well known and documented. However, many have come to see World War I as a war of attrition in which millions lost their lives for no specific reason. Frenzy followed the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 26, 1914 and by the end of the summer, with each country coming to the aid of another country, the world was at war.
Canada was no different in the sense that it was obligated to involve herself in the Great War because of England’s involvement in the conflict.Sir Wilfred Laurier stated on the eve of Canada’s involvement in the war: “It is our duty to let Great Britain know and to let the friends and foes of Great Britain that there is in Canada but one mind and one heart and that all Canadians are behind the mother country. ” This was true in a sense. Canada’s population, which consisted of citizens of Irish, Scottish and English descent, was in agreement with each other as to the need to involve themselves in the war effort.
Those of French descent were of an entirely different mindset and voiced their opinion strongly.It would be an opinion and action which would help to distance themselves from the English speaking majority until the beginning of WWII. What served as an impediment for Canada in both WWI and WWII was the incredibly small force which was at her disposal. This remained constant in the months leading up to both conflicts.
At the start of WWI, Canada’s fighting force could barely be called an army. Her regular army consisted of only 3100 men and her Navy and Air Force were small as well.What was surprising and helped to offset the impediments of such a shortage of military force was the quick escalation that Canada enjoyed in a mere two months. By August of 1914, Canada had a fighting force of 32,000 men; a number which would grow exponentially until the end of the war.
This was very important to the success of the Motherland. This would be seen as well in WWII as the beginning of the war would make a casual observer believe that the ability for Canada to make any kind of contribution unlikely. This was not to be the case as Germany would soon discover.One of the ways in which Canada soon discovered that a large force would need to be brought against the Germans was at the 1915 Battle of Neuve Chapelle.
The Canadian Force was employed to prevent the Germans from reinforcing sectors of the city; thus allowing the British forces, led by Douglas Haig, to push through German lines and to establish a new territory on former German lands. This was a common theme within World War I as hundreds of thousands of men from both sides would be lost in order for their country to gain a mere one or two hundred yards of land.This would continue throughout the war and lead many to protest this war of attrition. In the battle, the Canadian forces only lost 100 men. However, the real lesson to be learned was the fact that in order to be successful, Canada would have to realize and realize quickly, as would the Allied Forces, that this was a different kind of war and that heavy numbers of artillery and men would have to pressed against the German forces in order to prove successful. In World War I, Canada was subjected to much of the same horrors that soldiers from the other countries were as well.
WWI stands out from all previous wars in the fact that a higher number of new and deadly technologies were implemented in the war effort on both sides. This included tanks, airplanes, the use of machine guns to a much greater extent that was ever used before and chemical weapons. At the second battle of Ypres in April 1915, Canadian forces were subjected to more than 160 tons of chlorine gas. Thousands of French, English and Canadian forces were left subjected to the effects of the nerve gas and subsequently, a gaping four mile hole emerged from the line in the Allied defense line.However, what would remain a consistent theme for Canadian forces, such obstacles did not prove to be much of a deterrent, at least in the hearts and minds of the Canadian soldiers. In the attempt, Canadian forces suffered more than 6,000 casualties and would suffer more than 67,000 deaths and another 173,000 casualties from the entire war.
Compared to the losses by the French, German and English forces, this may not seem like a great deal of men. However, in proportion the total number of Canadians which served in the war in comparison to Canada’s population, the sacrifices was high; much higher than that of the American forces.The Canadian forces would soon be involved in its deadliest day in its military history. The Battle of the Somme in July of 1916, proved to be a battle which, despite its high levels of casualties, was essential in its turnout. The battle gave the Canadian forces the reputation of being a strong force and one which the British forces could come to depend upon.
During that Battle, the number of Canadian casualties exceeded 45,000 soldiers. This constituted a very large percentage of Canada’s total forces during all four years of fighting.England’s Prime Minister, David Lloyd George would comment on the fierceness of the Canadian fighting forces by saying: “The Canadians played a part of such distinction that thenceforward they were marked out as storm troopers; for the remainder of the war they were brought along to head the assault on one great battle after another. Whenever the Germans found the Canadian Corps coming into the line they prepared for the worst. ” This would remain a running theme for the Canadian forces.
Despite the fact that Canadian forces in both World War I and World War II provided a high percentage of the number of supplies to their allies, Canada would not be content to stay in the background of the fighting. The Canadian forces, along with the rest of the Allied Forces, soon saw moderate gains on the battlefield and on September 27, 1918, Canadian forces broke through the Hindenburg Line; finally ending in victory over the Germans on October 11, 1918 with the Battle of Cambral. The war was finally being over in a matter of a single month.However, the problems for Canada would not soon end. In 1917, Canada instituted a draft.
What served as one of the major problems was the fact that those of French descent did not consider themselves obligated to British interests and therefore, passionately resisted the draft. When Canadian Prime Minister Robert Borden introduced the draft, French Canadian representatives Henri Bourassa and Sir Wildred Laurier argued that such actions helped to use the war in a way that was counterproductive to the autonomy of the Canadian people by pitting one Canadian against each other.However, Canada’s Prime Minister was able to convince enough members of the Parliament and the motion passed. The draft was not widely successful as only 1/3 of those conscripted, actually went overseas.
Despite this, the rift between these two factions would remain for many years. Canada’s involvement in World War II was in some ways, different than from their involvement in World War I. The first difference was that Canada was given a great deal more freedom in her decision to enter the war or to remain neutral.The 1931 Westminster Treaty gave Canada a much larger degree of freedom over England in her pursuit of being her own country.
Therefore, the treaties which obliged Canada to come to the defense of the English at the onset of World War I, was no longer present. However, there still remained a close bond between the two countries as well as to the United States of America. Also, there existed a collective disagreement with Nazism and Hitler’s ideology of a master race.Even though one of the main differences between World War I and World War II was the fact that in World War II, for a number of years before September 1939, the world knew as they saw the exponential build up of German aggression in the world, that war was sure to come, Canada still had very little, at least at the beginning of the war by way of men and machines.
However, this did not stop Canada to declare war on Germany a mere nine days after England and France did the same.On September 10, 1939, after nine days of receiving a large supply of machines and tanks from The United States from an extended version of the Lend Lease Act, Canada declared war on Germany. On December 8, 1941, just a single day after the bombing at Pearl Harbor and the same day that the United States declared war on Japan, Canada did the same. This is one of the key similarities between both World War I and World War II.In both conflicts, Canada proved herself loyal and good to its word as to the assistance that it would provide to the Allied Forces and that the assistance that it would give in both soldiers and machines would be much greater in comparison to many other countries. Canada, a country with only 12 million people at the onset of the war, soon had an army of 600,000 men and a navy which could boast of 700 ships and more than 80,000 men as well as a Royal Air Force of 200,000 men.
Such numbers, coupled with the high number of machines and tanks which it provided to the United States and Britain, forever cemented Canada’s roll in World War II as an important one. Over the course of the war, the Army enlisted 730,000 soldiers, the navy 260,000 and the Air Force 260,000 soldiers. A country with such a small population as was the case in Canada, these numbers, though a smaller percentage than was present in Britain was still impressive and an essential aspect to the war effort.These numbers were in tune with Prime Minister Mackenzie King’s policy of a “limited liability” in relation to Canada’s effort in the war. The 1931 Treaty as well as a Canadian government which shied away from such internal conflict as was the case during the 1917 Draft.
However, in one area Canada did not shy away from and which proved absolutely essential was in the amount of machines; tanks, airplanes and other various supplies, Canada provided to its Allies during the war. Canada’s industrial war effort was one of the biggest assets that the Allied forces had during the war.By 1938, Canada’s automobile production ranked 4th in the entire world. As a result, Canada was able to produce more than 800,000 cars and trucks during the war effort which exceeded the combined total for Germany and Italy combined. This proved to be an essential benefit to the Allied Forces. Half of all of Britain’s army transports were made in Canada and more than 16,000 aircraft were made in Canada and by the end of 1944, Canada had produced more than 345 merchant vessels.
Half of all of the Allied aluminum and 90% of Allied Nickel were made in Canada.Canada would be involved in a number of important battles during the war and in that theatre, Canada proved worthy and an important aspect of the Allied Forces. During the early years of the war, when England stood virtually alone against the German forces, it was Canada, as well as the United States which provided the highest number of supplies, war materials and food to England and to a large extent, enabled England to continue to make their heroic stand against the Nazis. However, it would be what Canada supplied more than their fighting skills which, in World War II, would come to define Canada’s war effort.However, this certainly did not exclude thousands of Canada’s soldiers from fighting and dying in some of the war’s most important and costly battles. Canada’s involvement in World War II from a military standpoint would rise exponentially in the later years of the war.
The invasion of Europe, June 6, 1944, would prove to be the most important day in the war and for the countries that took part in the greatest land invasion in human history as well. Casualties for those lead countries involved were high. Canada suffered more than 50% casualties in the openings days of the invasion.“Several costly operations began by the Canadians to fight a path to the city of Caen...
Another important contribution was the battle of Scheldt. After several weeks of heavy fighting, the Canadians, in the fall of 1944, seceded in defeating the Germans and thus opening up an important path for the following divisions. It was becoming clear that had not the Canadian forces fought and was involved in the war effort to the same extent; the Allied forces would find themselves fighting an uphill battle to a greater degree in those first years that had previously been the case.One of the major differences between World War I and World War Two for Canada was the fact that in World War II, Canada had entered the war internally undivided. World War II furthered Canada’s nationalistic pride and helped the country politically, economically as well as militarily.
If the war was to come to Canada, then the country, despite the loss of thousands of its brightest individuals, enjoyed a number of gains as well as by the end of the war, like the United States, was able to play a major roll on the world stage.This was one of the advantages of the war for the Allied Powers, save Great Britain who had found itself so bankrupt that the English empire would forever be on the decline. Canada, in both world wars, saw an exponential increase in its fighting force from the start of the war until the end. At the end of World War II, Canada had the world’s 4th largest navy in the world.
At the beginning of the war, Canada could boast of nothing so important and one could not be faulted for their disbelief in the ability of Canada to offer any major contribution to the war effort.On the surface, it would seem as though Canada would follow the isolationist views of the majority of Americans in the immediate years preceding World War II. The 1931 Westminster Treaty as well as the remembrance of the disunity that World War I had brought to the country; one could come to the conclusion that Canada was going to remain neutral. However, those who felt that way, failed to recognize the loyalty that Canada still had to England as well as the ability to recognize the need for Hitler to be stopped. In both wars, Canada’s effort proved vital and affective.
The latter was true, in part, to the propensity of the Axis powers to underestimate the strength and unity of the Canadian forces. A country with a small population and no seemingly interest in the conflict, proved highly effective in supplying the Allied forces, in both wars, with the equipment that it so dearly needed. While England; small island in the Atlantic and the last form of resistance against Hitler, Canada’s ability and willingness to supply England with the materials it needed in order to sustain itself, helped to make all of the difference, not only for England, but in the world as well.Canada’s service in both world wars has not received the attention that it deserved.
If it had not been for Canada, many more Allied lives would have been lost had Canada not supplied the high number of materials that it did and had it not been for Canada’s involvement in coming to the aid of England, especially when France had been defeated and America’s vow to remain neutral, the war might have been lost in favor of Nazism.In the end, Canada’s successful contributions in both World War I and World War II were disproportionately successful compared to other countries as well as overlooked by those outside of Canada who erroneously felt that Canada was not a major player in two of the most important conflicts in the 20th century.
