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Period: to
world war two
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Battle of the Atlantic
The battle of the Atlantic was Canada's longest battle during WWII. The battle took place on the supply route between the UK and North America. Germany was trying to stop supplies from getting to Britain. In the end, the allies were successful in defeating the Germans. From it, the Canadians built better ships and grew stronger and smarter. 4600 Canadian lives were lost at sea because of it. -
Canada Declares War
One week after Britain declared war on Germany, Canada did too. It was not mandatory for Canada to join the war, but because of their connection to Britain, they felt it was necessary. The prime minister of Canada, William Lyon Mackenzie King, took a week to organize by advertising the war trying to convince people to enlist, collecting materials and ammunition and preparing and deciding if joining the war was bennificial for Canada. -
Battle of Britain
The majority of this battle took place in the air. Germany originally wanted to bomb Britains airfields but because of the strong British resistance, Germany changed its plans to bomb its cities instead. Some big cities took a hard hit because of Germany. Eventually, the battle ended because the RAF was too strong and fought back hard against the Germans so they gave up and turned their focus towards the Eastern front. -
Hiroshima Nuke
Out of the three nuclear bombs that were created this was the second one to be used, but the first one to be used in a real city against innocent people. The Japanese got a threat from the Americans telling them to surrender. The threat was ignored and the bomb was dropped in the morning just shortly after 9 am. It was nicknamed little boy and was very successful it destroying the city of Hiroshima. -
Nagasaki Nuke
Once again the Americans threatened to bomb another city unless Japan surrendered. The message was ignored and 3 days after Hiroshima, Nagasaki was bombed too. The last bomb created was nicknamed "fat boy" and once again, successfully destroyed Nagasaki. -
Attack on Pearl Harbour
The attack on Pearl Harbour was a huge surprise attack the Japanese had on the US. they bombed America's military headquarters. At this point, America wasn't even involved in the war and the Japanese regretted their decisions almost immediately after they did it. After this America joined the allies in fighting Japan and Germany in the war. -
Internment of Japanese Canadians
Because they were at war with Japan, they felt it was necessary to separate all of the Japanese Canadians in order to protect the country from possible spies. 23 000 Japanese Canadians were arrested and brought to camps. We had 8 total camps. Conditions were rough. By the end of the war, the Japanese were released but had not been returned to their homes or given back any of their possessions. They had 2 options, move back to Japan or BC. This is now frowned upon in Canadian history. -
Battle of Hong Kong
The Canadians stationed Hong Kong in an attempt to protect Britains Asian territories. The battle took place once Japan attacked Canada and Britain the day after the Pearl Harbour attack. After losing significantly, Canada surrendered on Christmas day 1941 and those that were still alive were taken, prisoner, or possibly staved and tortured for the remaining 3 1/2 years of the war. -
Dieppe
The allies wanted to attack Germany on a second front. They decided to attack a beach in northern France. It turned out the Germans had higher land and completely humiliated the Canadians. The allies were unprepared and the battle was full of chaos and confusion. This was Canada's first major action in Europe. thousands of Canadians were killed or captures by the enemies. -
Battle of Stalingrad
The Germans tried invading Stalingrad. One reason being for their sufficient amounts of oil which are essential for the war effort to fuel tanks, machines, etc. Germany was successful in the early months of the battle gaining land. The tide turned when soldiers took Stalin's advice to never take one step back which leads back to the 'total war' ideal. After a long battle Soviet Union was victorious. Casualties were extremely high but this battle is considered the most significant battle of WWII. -
The Italian Campaign
The allies surprised the Germans and Italians. After 38 days the allies landed in southern Italy. Eventually, the Italians turned against Mussolini killing him and humiliating him in front of his country. Hitler remained believing in his total war and even tough the Italians wanted to surrender, he made them fight until death. -
Battle of Ortona
The allies had secured part of Italy and were working their way up. Battle conditions were harsh as the Italians and Germans fought very hard to keep the allies at bay. Street fight was intense. This was a huge victory for Canadians and gave Canadians the opportunity to build strategy. This victory meant that the allies were close to knocking Italy out of the war. -
D-day
The allies determined that now was the perfect time to attack the Germans as the enemies were occupied with other battles They made a decision to attack Normandy beach where it was divided into 5 sections. The Brits and the Americans had two fifths, and Canada held one-fifth of Normandy, called Juno beach. 14 000 of the 150 000 people that were part of the Normandy invasion were Canadians. Canada suffered 1074 casualties and 359 deaths but all divisions were successful during their attempts. -
Liberation of the Netherlands by Canada
After Canada won the battle of Scheldt the Canadians continued to push northeast into the Netherlands. The Netherlands were liberated from Nazi occupation mostly by the Canadians with some participation and help from British, Polish and American forces. The Dutch royal family looked for safety in Canada during the war. As a result of Canadians liberating the Netherlands, the two countries enjoy a special bond which still lasts today -
End of The War!
Japan surrenders after suffering two huge nuclear explosion attacks. After 6 years and 1 day of the war, it finally came to an end. The allies were successful! Over a million Canadians participated in the war directly and almost everyone back home was helping too. Once again Canada's economy was booming, people had come home, settled down and were making babies like crazy. The universal declaration of human rights was created in order to stop history from repeating itself. Canada was victorious.
