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Mackenzie King Elected For Hhis Third Term
Mackenzie King was Prime Minister of Canada in 1921–1926, 1926–1930 and 1935–1948 (Neatby, 2008). Image: Photo of King in 1941 (Cook, 2016) -
Canda Strengthens Relationship with United States
In both 1935 and 1938, Canada made economic deals with the United States in order to try and strengthen a relationship and create a more "North American" mindset and avoid being so dependant on Britain (Cook, 2016). Image: Comic of King in Canada (Cook, 2012). -
Mussolini Invades Ethiopia
This event is significant in Canada's road to World War II because Canada's League of Nations representative suggested sanctions on Italy after the invasion but they were shut down by King. This is important because both Franch and Britain agreed that they would not put themselves at risk to protect Ethiopia. To them, it was not a significant reason to wage war even though they had a feeling a war was on the horizons (Cook, 2016).
Image: Photo of the League of Nations meeting (Cook, 2016). -
Canadian Defence Budget
Between 1937-1939 Canada's defense budget is capped at $35 million (Cook, 203). -
King In Berlin
King was in Berlin and listened to a Hitler speech. He notes as he is watching the speech and waiting for translation how amazed he was by his persona and how he spoke in public (Goodall, 97).
Image: This image is later in the war when King was giving out inspections but it is interesting to think if at the time of that speech King could have foreseen into the war what he would have thought (Cook, 2012). -
King in Berlin Continued
King had a chance to do an interview with Hitler continued to be impressed by him and thought he had some good qualities apart from his Nazi Ideologies and went as far as to think he may be seen as a person such as Joan of Arc among his people one day. Hitler gave him a gift of an autographed and framed photo of himself and King left feeling a sense of peace with the situation. -
Aftermath of Berlin Visit
King was sure that Europe would be heading into another war and had hoped that appealing to Hitler would help his cause and desire not to go to war. With that being said he was still clear that Canada would stand by Britains side should a war take place (Dummitt, 22). -
September 1938 - Prime Minister Kings Diary
As tensions with Germany rose King wrote in his diary that "it was a self-evident national duty, if Britain entered the war that Canada should regard herself as part of the British empire" (Cook, 201). Image: The image is of King in his study surrounded by his many books and a photo of his mother (Cook, 2012) -
Prepared for war?
King was aware that this war was more than likely unavoidable but still was unsure of what to do and how to practically prepare. Malcolm MacDonald stated that King was "over-sensitive, over-cautious, over-suspicious" and this was a sentiment many people agreed with in regards to his war action (Cook, 204)
Image: This comic demonstrates that feeling many Canadians had regarding the fact that King had a difficult time take strong positions on certain things and was often on the fence (Cook,2012) -
Roosevelt in Kingston, Ontario
The United States President Roosevelt Spoke at Queen's University and told them that Canada and the United States stood side by side and that the Americans would not allow threats to Canada (Cook, 2016).
Image: Roosevelt, King, and Churchill together discussing war plans (Cook, 2016). -
Munich Agreement
Tensions were rising and the West was realizing that they did not really know how to deal with Hitler and his dictatorship. The Munich Agreement was an attempt to satisfy him by offering him a German-speaking portion of Czechoslovakia. Evidently, this just allowed for an unfortunate outcome for many Czechs (Cook, 201). -
Parliament Speech
Mackenzie King makes a speech before parliament where he finally makes clear his policy on war and Canada's relation to England. He explains much like to his diary entry that if England is at war so is Canada but that Canada may not be involved in all of their wars and it is a circumstantial situation (Cook, 205).
Image: This photo is a couple years later where King similarly addressed some Canadian troops (Goodall, 2003). -
Hitler Occupies Czechoslovakia
On March 15, 1939, Hitler went against the Munich Agreement and occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia. This was one of the turning points where many Western leaders realized that war was the only possible outcome. At this point, it was realized that Hitler was not going to play by the rules that had been established and like Mussolini, his dictatorship had a larger agenda (Cook, 2016). -
Britain Declares War On Germany
This significant declaration got the ball rolling for Canada to join the war. Although it was Canada's choice to join the war it did not come long after Britain (Neatby, 2008). -
Parliament Debates Begin - To Go To War Or Not?
King did not want to create a deeper divide between Quebec and the rest of Canada so he iconically stated “Parliament will decide” what Canada will do. September 7th the debates in Canadian Parliament began in order to decide what Canada's role in the war beginning before them (Cook, 2016). -
Declaration of War from Canada
It was the Sunday of the 10th of September when the request to declare war made by Prime Minister Mackenzie King was approved by King George VI (Goodall, 105). This declaration was only days after the British but about two years before the Americans. Image: This photo significantly marks the feelings about the war many Canadians had the point was that they were an ally but not a colony of Britain thus this was 'their' war and they could fight it independently (Cook, 2012).
