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Period: to
World War Two
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Canada Declares War
Canada declared war on Germany one week after the UK did, in order to assert Canada's independance. The Second world war was the only time in it's history that Canada independantly declared war. -
Battle of Britain
The battle of Britain was an on Britain by the German Luftwaffe, during the battle, German bombers first attacked RAF airfields and infrastructure, but later began bombing London. The Nazi's objective was to pressure the British into negotiating an armistice or surrendering. The battle was the first major defeat for the Nazi's, and the first major battle fought entirely with air forces. after the battle, the Nazi's turned their attention to the Soviet Union -
Japanese Internment
22 000 Japanese Canadians in British Columbia were sent to internment camps. They were persecuted because of pre-existing racism against Japanese, exacerbated by the recent attack on Pearl Harbour and the battle of Hong Kong. The camps continued for years after the war, and caused one in six Japanese Canadians to leave the country, and the rest later recieved compensation and an apology from the government -
Conscription Plebiscite
Because of the problems conscriptions caused in world war one, Mackenzie King promised, in 1939 that conscription would not be introduced during the war. However, King faced pressure to introduce conscription anyway, and a plebiscite was held to decide whether or not to begin conscripting troops. All provinces except Quebec voted yes, with 65% of all Canadians voting yes, and 83% of English Canadians voting in favor of conscription. 73% of French Canadians voted against. -
Dieppe Raid
The Dieppe raid was an attack on the coastal town of Dieppe. The town was attacked to test german coastal defenses, decieve Germany as to the site of the future invasion of Europe, and split the Nazi's attention, and satisfy the Soviets. the battle failed, with nearly 1000 dead and 2000 captured. Most of the that returned were wounded, but the battle allowed allied forces to learn about Nazi coastal defenses and helped ensure victory on D-Day. -
Battle of Ortona
The Battle of Ortona was a battle fought between the germans and attacking Canadian forces. Ortona was an important port in Italy, one of only a few deep water ports that could be used on the east coast. It was needed to dock Allied ships and shorten supply lines. The germans had placed machine guns and anti tank emplacements throughtout the town, and the Canadians developed "mouse holing", using explosives to blast a hole in the houses' shared walls, then clearing the house of enemies. -
D-Day
D-day was the name given to the Normandy landings, which were the beginning of the Allied invasion of western Europe, and the liberation of France from Nazi occupation. The attack was carried out by British, American, and Canadian forces. The Germans had been decieved as to the actual place of the invasion, and were unprepared for the Allied attack. The attacks were preceded by heavy aerial and naval bombardment, but the Allies still suffered heavy losses taking the beaches. -
Liberation of the Netherlands
Near the end of World War Two, the First Canadian Army was given the task of liberating the Netherlands from Nazi occupation.
The Allied forces were greeted as heroes for forcing the Germans out of the Netherlands, and allowing food, fuel, and other supplies to reach the starved Dutch people. The Netherlands and Canada still have a warm relationship to this day.
