In the 19th century, Britain dominated the seas in a manner unrivaled by any other competitor. The Royal Navy was able to impose its will worldwide, exemplified by 19th century conflicts such as Opium Wars versus China and The Anglo-Egpytian war. During this time, Britain policed the world and ensured safety on the high seas during a prosperous period known as Pax Brittanica. No other nation was seriously able to present a naval challenge to the British Empire. This British golden age was drawing to a close however, as American, French, Russian, Italian, Japanese, and especially German navies grew increasingly more powerful. Due to the vast expanse of the British Empire, the Royal navy found itself spread dangerously thin, or facing financial …show more content…
Division in Canada was deep: Nationalists battled imperialists, and French Canadians were at odds with Anglophones. The theoretical debate was quickly halted by the outbreak of World War I, and forced into a practical test. While Canadian land forces famously punched above their weight in battles like Vimy, Ypres and the Somme, Canadian naval forces offered a lackluster showing throughout the First World War. The vast sums of money required to pursue any naval course of action meant that parliamentary ideological debate would be fierce3, and that the House of Commons would ultimately determine the direction of Canada's naval future. In light of this, it should be asked what effect Canadian politics at the turn of the century had on the development and subsequent effectiveness of the Royal Canadian Navy? Likely, Canadian politics were complicit in quashing any aspirations for a competent and powerful navy. Pursuit of a policy of splendid isolation, absence of bipartisan cooperation or communication, culminating with a poor combat record during the First World War ending 1918 as a result support this hypothesis. The first two factors are the political causes, the combat record is the concrete proof of the consequences. Despite the fact that this opinion is not widely espoused today, especially through government or official websites, the evidence …show more content…
Thus, war with any other power would mean Canada's vital merchant shipping to the British Isles and elsewhere would be a potential target. Nevertheless, even this plausible threat was largely dismissed in Canadian politics. Ex-Prime Minister J. A. MacDonald espoused the opinion widely held among Canadian politicians at the time, stating that “he did not fear even cruiser raids by countries involved in any foreseeable European war. He quickly dismissed the suggestions that Canada might none the less help with the increasing burden of imperial defence... any permanent commitment of that kind would arouse isolationist sentiments among his electorate.”9 From this excerpt, it can be clearly seen that Canadian politics had smothered the creation of the naval service as apathy was the politically safe choice. The government had been fully willing to leave the coast undefended, and shipping hapless at the hands of raiders. Although MacDonald had made the statement some fifteen years prior, the political position had shifted little by 1905. When the dialogue on forming an indigenous naval service opened under the Laurier government, Micheal Hadley states that “the British garrison lay nearly a thousand miles from Ottawa. In the consciousness of Canadian leaders it was even more remote than that. However glad they might be
Furthermore, Canada remaining under the archaic British North America Act and not drafting its own constitution meant that the composition of the nation and the government was in the hands of the British Parliament, which denies the Canadians the luxury of dictating the structure and make-up of their own country. Now, one may say that Canada weakened its economic ties with Britain and was therefore no longer economically dependent on them, but the fact of the matter is that all we did was shift our dependence onto another nation, the United States. By 1926, America’s yearly investment in the Canadian economy had risen up to $3400 million (as opposed to $2000 million in 1920) mainly in the exporting of Canadian resources to the United States. In addition to that, American companies built “branch plants”, which were made to avoid having to pay trade tariffs, making this a pretty one-sided trade
In the years between 1914 and 1929, relations between French and English Canada were shown to be very unpleasant, due to events which occurred throughout the time frame. To begin with, the conscription crisis of 1917 brought upon hostility and division between French and English Canada. The conscription crisis occurred when the federal government of Canada, as well as Canada’s Prime minister at the time, Sir Robert
Isolationism was a very important topic during the times before Canada. Isolationism is the policy where a country avoid alliances and affairs with foreign countries (“ Isolationism”), in this case it was Canada distancing themselves because of how insignificant they were in the League of Nations, its gaining of autonomy made it physically detached and the Great Depression intensified it (“Isolationism”). The listed factors caused isolationism which delayed Canada’s participation in the war. The reason to why it was such a significant topic to Canadians in the late 1930’s is the outcome of their decision, they can chose to help and try to defeat the Axis Powers to secure peace or continue to wait until the they attack Canada, and by that
All because of Canada’s workers intelligence, from scratch, they created the best gear such as handguns, fighter planes, armoured personnel carriers that were to be used overseas. “Canadian industry produced more than 800,000 military transport vehicles, 50,000 tanks, 40,000 field, naval, and anti-aircraft guns, and 1,700,000 small arms”. All of these vehicles, and guns were either designed and put onto blue prints in Canada or the United Kingdom but each and every single vehicle and gun was produced in Canada’s factories. Of the eight hundred thousand military vehicles, approximately one hundred sixty eight thousand were issued to Canadian forces. This meant that our Canadian army had an approximate soldier to vehicle ratio of three soldiers to one vehicle. When the Great Britain joined into the Italian campaign, they had eighty thousand vehicles, and seventy five thousand of those were left behind in the evacuation of Dunkirk. Britain relied on Canada to almost “bail” them out with relief vehicles. Once Canada shipped in their obscene amount of vehicles across the Atlantic, the Germans would find themselves overwhelmed and were forced to retreat out of Sicily, thus proving how strong of a threat Canadians posed to the Axis powers. Not only did the contribution of land vehicles support the Allied troops, on the other hand, but the influx of antiaircraft guns help the
Political interferences have played a great role in economic crisis in the current world, especially in most decisions that gives the direction of the economy. Policies are made according people beliefs and the current situation and matter to address at hand. Ideologies and perceptions are made from past experiences and predictions with an aim to address the upcoming challenges. The Second World War resulted to the great depression and economy collapsed in many countries in the world. Wartime expenditure resulted to mobilization of countries funds and human resources, this resulted intervention in the economy that induced inflation.
During the first world war, Britain, and Canada’s allies demanded multiple resources from Canada. The allied countries were France, Serbia, and Russia. Since they were all in a coalition, they agreed to help each other, and send needed resources that would assist them in winning the war. Some common resources that were sent included food, munitions, money, and men. Since Canada during WW1 was still developing and expanding, the allies thought it was a great place to collect the necessities from, as they were in an abundance. Canadians at the commencement of the war were very eager to fight, as the war had been glorified, and made to look adventurous. So without any hesitation, Canada sent over as many resources the allies demanded. Canada then became responsible for supplying resources to the allies soldiers, and their own. Since so much effort was going towards the
When it comes to Canadian History, perhaps the most controversial and widely disputable topic of debate would have to be one of Canada’s greatest wars: The War of 1812. A wide array of views are held on many aspects of the war ranging from who won to what ramifications the war would ultimately sire. In yet another discussion on the ever so controversial War of 1812, a new question was posed and deliberated by five historians: whose war, was it? Like any other question posed about this war a multitude of ideas would ultimately arise in each of their differing viewpoints. In their roundhouse discussion, the historians would ultimately serve to paint the War of 1812 as a war that transcends much further than the nationalistic view. A view that, though an important part of Canadian history, has been exaggerated to the point of choking out the many voices who fought and continue to fight for inclusion in the narrative. In their remembrance of the War of 1812, society unwittingly failed history in their lackluster commemorations which exclude important narratives and voices and stand tainted by the misuse of history to serve the nationalistic agenda.
Economic imperialism is a central part of the ongoing contemporary colonization of indigenous peoples in Canada. Since the colonial era marked the beginning of imperialism in North America, an intricate web of power and domination have formed leaving Indigenous communities in the grip of its economic philosophy. This has led to the ongoing contribution to the disposition of Indigenous peoples in Canada. Economic imperialism can be defined as the need for countries to expand their territories in order to collect resources from their colonies. This illustrates the inherent unsustainability of colonial settler society. In this essay I will look at how the impacts of economic imperialism has had an effect on the development of the indigenous
To say Canada played an important role in World War Two would be an understatement. Canada’s significance in the war will forever be remembered as one of the greatest, and the Battle of Hong Kong is a prime example of just that. The fact that Canada provided troops even with the optional not to, and the struggles the troops endured not only on the battlefield, but as prisoners of war, and the amount of physical and moral support the Canadian soldiers gave to the British soldiers in Hong Kong is proof that Canada was a major contributor in World War Two.
Morton’s book The First World War gives a description of the alliance between Canada and Great Britain being prepared to answer the call of arms from Britain against Germany. This source would help my thesis because this was one of the many alliances that countries in the war would have to face. Using thus source to support my thesis by explain the power of their alliance they had in want oppositions they may have face together. No, I will not be using this source to disagree with. The author Desmond Morton has about 40 books and one of the most respected Canadian author’s. He has several books discussing war and events from Canada perspective to including where they stood in World War I.
The act of applying conscription during the First and Second World Wars have nearly torn Canada apart. The conscription crisis of 1917 was a treacherous event that occurred during the First World War. During this time the relations between Quebec and the rest of Canada were in an all time low in our Canadian history. The Québécois thought conscription was merely unnecessary no matter what circumstance; while all other Canadians did essentially want conscription occur. The contrast was inevitably high on the issue of conscription between the Québécois and the rest of Canada thus creating a solution when conscription was indeed needed was impossible. However while William Lyon Mackenzie King was the Prime Minister during the Second World
The War of 1812 is a war that stemmed from the Napoleonic wars in Europe into North America. It is a result of conflict between America and Britain and is now something that has left a mark on both American and Canadian history. For the Americans it is something that they are ashamed of and tend not to think about too much, but for the Canadians it has much more meaning. Some historians believe that this event, this success, is what sent Canada on its way to separating from Britain and becoming its own nation. The success of Canada in this war can be attributed to the leadership abilities of men such as Sir Isaac Brock and Tecumseh, the unity of Upper and Lower Canada as well as the need and want to fight on the behalf of citizens of these colonies. The good leadership, the unity of the colonies and the desire to defend themselves are the reasons for Canada’s success in the defense of their homeland and the defeat of the Americans in the War of 1812.
While The Great War may seem like a global effort it can largely still be considered as a forced war upon certain countries participation. A war that reinforces the idea of group efforts and strength in numbers highlights contribution of certain countries, focused on Canada’s encouraged aid. The Great War efforts of Canada may leave room for assumptions and questioning. A prominent theme through out the First World War chapter found in each of the readings, primary and secondary, is this idea of a lack of aid and support from the Canadians at the time the war, 1914 to 1918. Each source separately states a multitude of concerns seemingly all to do with Canada’s war efforts. The texts share the idea that Canada did not join the war with enough strength nor numbers in comparison to the great leading powers, such as Great Britain and France. The importance of these texts is to have an over view of just how extensive and difficult it is to gather troops and resources. The Great War also known as World War One is seemingly a war fought with great numbers of armed men. Nonetheless, having external assets is key to a strong combat and a lack there of causes chaos and a weaker front.
It was in the weary war years of Mackenzie King in the 1930’s when the development of Canadian foreign policy started to take shape. Before that period Canada did not have an independent foreign policy with no international presence whatsoever and Canadian people saw themselves as part of the British dynasty. The first period in the formulation of Canadian foreign policy was in fact the ‘absence’ of policy and it was World War 1 which gave birth to foreign policy. Sixty thousand Canadians were lost which left Canadians wary of international development especially when there were very few military objectives. Canada had minimal control over her own troops and negotiations with the British were a challenge. Our troops were under control of the British and negotiating with the British was challenging. Looking back, there was almost a sense of absurdity about WW1. Therefore, Canadians came out of WW1 with a stronger than ever desire for independence. The Statute of Westminster, 1931, was the last of the Imperial Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain applicable to all dominions. It granted Canada,
Graeme Garrad, author of the article and a senior lecturer in history at Cardiff University evokes the event of War of 1812. He writes a beautiful article entitled “The saviour of Canada” which was printed in the journal History today in October 2012. This article is about how Canada defended Britain from United States in the War of 1812. He tells about the consequences of the war and describes how Canada helped Britain. I am going to review his article on the basis of language, images, content, facts, His style of writing, how he concluded the argument, what title lead us to expect from the article, bias or not.