Canada at war

1
Canada at war

• Chapter 6

2
The Road to War (Factors)

• First Factor Treaty of Versailles
• After the end of World War 1, the main countries
  (The Big Four) that had won the war (GB, F, USA,
  Italy) met in Paris (Jan.,1919) and 6 months
  later created a treaty of peace called the Treaty
  of Versailles. Germany and Russia were not
  invited.
• This treaty blamed Germany for starting the war,
  took away German land, and forced Germany to pay
  sums of money called reparations to the victors.
  

3
The Road to War

• Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist Party
  (known as the Nazis) were elected in power in
  Germany 1933 using German anger over the Treaty
  of Versailles to become popular.
• Shortly after the election, all other political
  parties were outlawed and Hitler became the
  dictator or only ruler.
• They began to break the terms of the Treaty of
  Versailles. They began to annex, or reoccupy
  territory that had been taken away from them
  after WWI.

4
The Road to War

• Second Factor Policy of Appeasement
• The leaders of Britain, France and the United
  States who had written the treaty wanted to avoid
  war at all costs and argued that relaxing the
  terms of the treaty would prevent this, satisfy
  German demands and allow peace to prevail.
• This became known as appeasement.
• Giving Germany what it wanted did not work.
• When Germany invaded Poland September 1, 1939
  World War 2 began.

5
The Road to War
6
The Road to War

• Two days after the invasion of Poland on
  September 1st, 1939, Britain and France declared
  war against Germany.

7
Canada at War

• During WW1 Canada had no choice but to enter the
  war. They were a part of the British Empire.
• The Statute of Westminster in 1931 made Canada
  independent of Britain in foreign policy.
  Therefore, Canada could decide for itself whether
  to go to war or not.

8
Canada at War

• Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King came
  up with a compromise Canada would support
  Britain by providing war materials and a small
  volunteer army.
• Canada did formally declare war on Germany on
  September 10, 1939 after a two day debate in
  Parliament.
• A picture of Prime Minister William Lyon
  Mackenzie King

9
Phase 1 September 1939 to June 1940

• This early phase of the war was known as the
  Phony War because little happened in Western
  Europe after Germany invaded Poland.
• Countries began to join together and two groups
  were a result The Allies and the Axis.

10
German/Soviet Aggression
11
Phase 1 September 1939 to June 1940

• The Allies
• France
• Britain
• The Commonwealth

• The Axis
• Germany
• Italy
• Japan

12
Global Context

• The Maginot Line of fortifications was built to
  defend France against a German invasion.
• The blitzkrieg, German for lightning war, was
  a tactic used by the Germans in which they used
  tanks, aircraft and infantry to quickly break
  through Allied defences in several places of the
  defence line.

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Global Context

• The French and British set up armies in Belgium
  but they were defeated by the German Blitzkrieg.
• The Maginot Line became ineffective as the
  Germans simply bypassed it.
• France surrendered to Germany.

14
Fall of France
15
Canadas Contribution

• In December 1939, Canada sent a small volunteer
  army to join Britain
• Canada had only 38 ocean going merchant ships in
  1939. These were known as the merchant marine.
  The first ships were sunk by German submarines or
  u-boats almost immediately.

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German U-Boat
17
Canadas Contribution

• In December 1939, the British Commonwealth Air
  Training Plan
• ( BCATP) opened.
• Canadas air force would train Allied pilots and
  air crew in Canada. By the end of the war, over
  131,000 Allied pilots and air crew had been
  trained.

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Phase 2 June 1940 July 1943

• In June 1941, Germany invades the Soviet Union,
  turning it into Britains ally.
• On December 7th, Japan attacks Pearl Harbor in
  Hawaii. The United States declares war on Japan
  and Germany.
• These two events changed the course of the war.

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Global Context

• Three other great victories for the Allies
• In June 1942, U.S. Forces at the Battle of Midway
  destroyed much of Japans naval and air forces.
• In October 1942, Allied forces pushed Germany out
  of El Alamein in North Africa.
• In February 1943, the Soviet army defeated
  Germany near the city of Stalingrad, in the
  Soviet Union.

20
War In Europe
21
German Conquests in Europe
22
Canadas Contribution

• Battle of the Atlantic
• Convoys (groups) of merchant ships carried war
  materials to Britain and the Soviet Union.
• German U-boats successfully sank several convoys
  until mid-1943 when more effective anti-submarine
  tactics and weapons dramatically increased the
  number of ships lost.

23
A convoy of merchant ships protected by airplanes
en route to Cape Town, South Africa during World
War II
24
Canadas Contribution

• Battle of HONG KONG
• The battle took place in Hong Kong in December of
  1941.
• Of the 1975 soldiers defending the colony, 290
  were killed and 1685 became POWs. Of the POWs,
  260 died in captivity.

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Canadas Contribution

• Battle of Dieppe
• The battle took place in Dieppe, a port in France
  in 1942.
• 4963 Canadians took part.
• 900 of those were killed and more than 1900
  became POWs.

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Phase 3 July 1943- June 1944

• After the three great victories at Midway, El
  Alamein and Stalingrad in 1942-1943, the balance
  of war shifted in favor of the Allies.
• From 1943 onward, the Allies were on the
  offensive on all fronts (the line of contact
  between 2 enemy lines)

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Global Context

• Island-hopping was used by the U.S. military to
  push back the Japanese in the Philippines.
• The Soviet Union army pushed back the German army
  to Berlin in Germany.

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Canadas Contribution

• Canadas air force had expanded greatly in size
  and by 1943 there was an all-Canadian bomber
  group.
• The bombing of industrial sections of German
  cities was carried out around the clock.
• In the spring of 1944, Canadian soldiers also
  took part in the attack against the German army
  in the town of Cassino in Italy.

29
Canadas Contribution

• Canadian soldiers continued to fight in Italy
  until February 1945 when they rejoined the rest
  of the Canadian army in northwest Europe.

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Phase 4 June 1944 September 1945

• This was the final phase of the war
• It began with the Allied invasion of Europe.

31
Global Context

• The plan to invade Europe was named Operation
  Overlord.
• The landings in Normandy, France are called the
  D-day landings.
• The German army had to fight the Allies on two
  fronts.

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Global Context

• The Soviet army in the east.
• The British, Canadian and U.S. armies in the
  west.
• The German army eventually collapsed.

33
Canadas Contribution

• The planning of the D-Day landings was
  meticulous.
• Sending troops to invade a defended coastline is
  one of the most difficult and dangerous military
  operations, as the raid on Dieppe had
  demonstrated.
• The Canadian and British objective was the
  capture of the city of Cain, a road and rail
  centre.

34
Canadas Contribution

• As the Allied armies increased in size in France,
  ports needed to be opened to allow access to
  supplies such as fuel and munitions.
• The First Canadian army was assigned the task of
  clearing coastal areas and opening the ports.
• The key port was Antwerp, Belgium-a major port in
  Europe.

35
Canadas Contribution

• Once Antwerp was captured, the First Canadian
  army was given the task of liberating the
  Netherlands.

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Canadas Contribution

• Over 6000 Canadian soldiers were wounded.
• Today, the people of the Netherlands remember and
  honour the Canadian soldiers who freed them.
• When the war ended on May 8th, 1945, Canadian
  soldiers remained on duty in northern Germany to
  participate in the return to peace.
• Over 1 million Canadian men and women had
  contributed to WW2.

37
German Surrender on May 8th, 1945
38
War in the Pacific

• After the war ends with Germany, the United
  States turn their attention towards Japan in the
  Pacific.
• In May 1945, over 80 000 Canadian soldiers
  volunteered to join the Pacific war.
• However, before they had a chance to take part,
  it ended abruptly in September in 1945.

39
War In Pacific
40
War in the Pacific

• Scientists in the United States started The
  Manhattan Project. This project introduced the
  world to the atomic bomb which had devastating
  explosive power.
• On August 6th, 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped
  on the city of Hiroshima.
• Japan did not surrender.

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War in the Pacific

• On August 9th, three days later, a second bomb
  was dropped on Nagasaki.
• Both cities were devastated. About
• 100 000 to 140 000 died immediately.
  Approximately the same number died later from
  radiation exposure.
• On September 2nd, 1945, Japan surrendered.

42
The Holocaust

• The Nazis slaughter of an estimated 6 million
  Jews during WW2 has come to be known as the
  Holocaust.
• Many people were aware of Nazi prejudice against
  the Jews and the existence of concentration
  camps.
• As Allied troops moved into Germany in the spring
  of 1945, the extent of the Nazis efforts became
  clearer.

43
The Holocaust

• Allied soldiers discovered the death camps of
  Buchenwald and Bergen-Belson.
• These were only two of the many extermination
  camps where Jews were starved, worked to death,
  shot or gassed.
• Genocide (the attempt to eliminate entire groups
  of people) had occurred before WW2 but the scale
  of the killings by the Nazis shocked the world.

44
The Holocaust

• Genocide (the attempt to eliminate entire groups
  of people) had occurred before WW2 but the scale
  of the killings by the Nazis shocked the world.