Role Of War In Canada

How War and Peace has Defined Canada

Many different themes have defined Canada: war and peace is one of those themes. World War I and World War II defined Canada as it grew into a powerful middle power. War created a strong economy and strengthened the women’s movement, however it strained the ties between French and English Canada. Canada’s peacekeeping missions helped define it as a strong peacekeeping force and built national pride. Canada has been defined by its contributions at home and abroad in WWI, WWII, and peacekeeping.

World War I played an important role in Canada’s history. It shaped Canada by giving women suffrage and by the war creating a greater divide between French and English Canadians. By the end of WWI, the Canadian government

During WWII, Canada played a crucial role in the Battle of the Atlantic and the air war over Germany. They contributed troops to the allied forces and punched far above their weight for a small nation of then only 11 million people. Because of Canada’s oversized role in the War, it established itself as a middle power. This position helped define Canada in a number of ways, primarily being one of the first non-great powers to help build the United Nations. It earned respect from other countries and with The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It gave Canada a voice in trade agreements that helped Canada trade with other countries WWII also shaped Canada by giving it an industrial boom. Canada provided Great Britain with war materials, such as; aircraft and small arms needed to fight the War, plus food to feed the British people when they were cut off by the German U-boat blockade. According to the Canadian Encyclopedia: “There was large production of aircraft, including Lancaster bombers; and the greatest triumph of the program was in the field of military vehicles, of which 815,729 were made.” Britain could not pay for it all and by the end of the war, they owed Canada over three billion dollars. This industrial boom is one reason Canada has been able to have such a

It had a lot of terms to try to maintain world peace. Cold war tensions between the USSR and the USA prevented a permanent UN force from being created. As an alternative, the UN decided to send temporary military forces into the world regional hotspots to keep the peace. Military officials were sent to the Pakistan-India region of Kashmir. The same action was taken the following month along the Arab-Israeli borders in Palestine. Canada continued to have many peacekeeping/making missions, such as in the Korean War and the Suez crisis. Later the Canada view of peacekeeping was most notably damaged by the Somalian scandal where, according to the Canadian Encyclopedia “two Canadian paratroopers serving in Somalia beat and tortured a local teenager to death. A dozen more Canadian soldiers had been aware of the beating but did nothing to intervene” This scandal embarrassed Canada and hurt its reputation for peacekeeping. Canada’s history of peacekeeping has shaped it by helping build its reputation as a strong middle power, a player in the UN. Along with that it helped bolster national pride World War One, Two and peace have been defining themes in Canada’s history. WWI separated french and english Canada and gave women the right to vote. In WWII Canada established itself as a middle power and its industrial sector grew. Peacekeeping helped defined Canada as a nation with strong peacekeeping power and helped bolster