Canada and the Second World War

Mackenzie King, “Limited Liability”

We were legally obliged to join the war effort but we had the entitlement to declare war on our own and to determine how we would contribute- Men? Weapons? Supplies?

King remembered what happened with conscription during WWI- September 8 1939 he stated: “conscription will not be necessary for overseas service…”

Limited liability- Canada will provide support, help Britain with the war but also help our own economy and we could build our own navy, air force etc..

BCATP- British Commonwealth Air Training Program- Canada would train the Empires pilots

Phony War

After Hitler invaded Poland there began what historians call a “Phony War”- nothing really happened for about 6 months

King essentially gets “attacked” from all fronts- Union Nationale fought against even being involved in the war, Ontario and the more British areas of Canada attacked King for not doing enough

March 1940 the Phony War comes to an end- German Blitzkrieg overran Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg and forcing the entire allied army to the port of Dunkirk- “The Miracle of Dunkirk”

France is taken- Canada was now Great Britain’s largest ally (USA remained neutral)

Political Cartoon from Britain 1940

Blitzkrieg is how the allies considered the Nazi military tactic- lightning war- basically not accurate

Obviously this is a reference to the non aggression pact between Hitler and Stalin

NMRA

National Resources Mobilization Act

After the fall of France, King realised he could not longer do limited liability

Enacted the NRMA- conscription for all men but only for homefront service

Not a lot of outcry because people were generally worried that if Britain is invaded (Battle of Britain) Canada would be next

The NRMA soldiers were called “Zombies”

There will be another conscription crisis as in WWI in 1942

Canadians at War

Create a timeline of Events related to the Canadian contribution(s) as well as other events of significance regarding other members of the war

- Your timeline will exist from June 1940 until August 1945

Include a brief description which indicates the significance of the events/contributions you have chosen