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rfmcdonaldToday, the 7th of September, marks the 70th anniversary of the opening of the session of the Canadian parliament that would see Canada declare war against Germany (see Wikipedia, Department of Veterans Affairs, the Canadian Encyclopedia). Why did Canada wait until the 7th of September to issue its declaration of war According to the Toronto Star's Lynda Hurst, Canadian nationalism was involved, as prime minister William Lyon MacKenzie King sought to avoid the appearance of Canada being a British appendage.
Also in the Star, Brent Popplewell suspects that if Canada had remained neutral or uninvolved, Britain might well have capitulated.
No (Canadian) empire, no supplies, no possibility of continuing the war. Perhaps Britain might then have assented to a peace that would see Nazi Germany leave western Europe demilitarized so as to turn its full forces against the Soviet Union?
At the start of World War I, Canada had had no choice in the matter: As Britain went, so did the Empire. But it had emerged bloodied from that "war to end all wars" with a burgeoning sense of itself as a nation.
In 1939, Prime Minister W.L. Mackenzie King desperately wanted to assert Canada's autonomy. As he told Britain's High Commissioner in the tense days of late August, "We (will) take this stand on our own, not in any colonial attitude of mind, simply following the lead from England."
After all, Canada had been a self-governing country since 1931, when the Statute of Westminster decreed that British law no longer automatically applied to the dominions. Or, at least, that's the way King – unlike the leaders of Australia and New Zealand – interpreted it, says Jack Granatstein, the eminent Canadian historian.
"Not everyone agreed with him. But it was very important to King that Canada go to war on its own, not because it was bound by Britain's declaration."
More prosaically, the delay occurred because the House of Commons was on summer break and King had promised to let parliament make the ultimate decision. By Aug. 31, when it was clear what was coming, MPs were recalled, but in those train-travel days, the process would take a week.
Also in the Star, Brent Popplewell suspects that if Canada had remained neutral or uninvolved, Britain might well have capitulated.
What if, 70 years ago next week, Ottawa decided not to go to war? World War II began Sept. 3, 1939, two days after Hitler's invasion of Poland. Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand declared war on Nazi Germany. Seven days later, Canada entered the war, and the Battle of the Atlantic – referring to Allies' 1939-45 effort to keep supply convoys operating – was on.
The period between the fall of France in June, 1940, and the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 is often cited as Britain's finest hour – when only the British stood between Hitler and the conquest of Europe.
But Britain never stood alone. "Between June 1940 and June 1941, Canada is the second most important military power on the allied side," says Terry Copp, a military historian at Wilfrid Laurier University. France and Poland had been defeated. Russia and the U.S. were still at peace with Germany.
[. . .]
[J]ust as the RAF's efforts in defending the British skies were integral to the country's defence in 1940-1941, so to were the efforts of the growing Royal Canadian Navy and fleet of convoys that were feeding Britain with everything from munitions to troops and food.
"Canada's presence in the fight looms really large in the sense of the possibility for Britain to continue to resist," says Copp.
"If you were to posit Canadian neutrality or appeasement, then in Britain really, the psychological blow would be immense."
Churchill seemed to understand this. In his now-famous June 4, 1940 radio address, he hinted at Canada's worth to the war effort: "We shall never surrender, and if, which I do not for a moment believe, this island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old."
No (Canadian) empire, no supplies, no possibility of continuing the war. Perhaps Britain might then have assented to a peace that would see Nazi Germany leave western Europe demilitarized so as to turn its full forces against the Soviet Union?
