Canada and The Cold War

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Canada and The Cold War

• 1945-1968

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USSR in 1945

• 6,000,000 Soldiers
• 50,000 Tanks
• 20,000 Air Craft
• Occupied Central and Eastern Europe
• Occupied Manchuria and North Korea in Asia
• Established communist governments in occupied
  countries

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Canada and the Marshall Plan

• UK and USA wanted Europe to recover after WWII
• USSR wanted Europe to remain in despair to make
  communism appealing
• Canada loaned the UK large sums of money from
  1945 -1948 to help in their recovery
• 1948, Secretary of State George Marshall came up
  with a plan to help Europe recover
• Canada and the US jointly contributed 13.5
  billion dollars (mostly from the US) in supplies
  and loans from 1948 -1953
• The recovery in Europe was beyond the
  expectations of those who created the plan
• Stability and prosperity returned to Western
  Europe within a decade

4
United Nations

• Formed in San Francisco in April 1945
• Aimed at preventing new wars and establishing
  good relations amongst nations
• Headquartered in NYC
• Members with security council veto were USA, UK,
  France, USSR and China

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Igor Gouzenko

• Russian diplomat working in Ottawa
• Decided to defect to Canada in 1945
• Warned the RCMP of Soviet spy activity in Canada
• Canada gave him a new identity and police
  protection for the rest of his life

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King and the Gouzenko Affair

• PM Mackenzie King was shocked by Gouzenkos
  claims about the USSRs international spy rings
• Immediately warned President Truman and UK PM
  Attlee
• Canadian Government arrested suspected spies and
  King ordered a royal commission
• Worlds first Cold War Scandal happens in Canada
  

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Louis St. Laurent

• As Canadas Minister of External Affairs, he was
  instrumental in Canadas initial involvement in
  NATO
• Replaced King as PM in 1948
• Believed in stopping the spread of communism
  world wide and was supportive of US Foreign
  Policy of containment
• Ordered Canadas military involvement in Korea as
  part of the UN Force

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Canada in Korea

• Canadian Government sent troops, three navy
  destroyers and air craft
• Over 22,000 Canadian fought in Korea between June
  1950 and July 1953
• 309 were killed, 1,203 were wounded and 32 became
  POWs
• Canadians took on a peacekeeping role after the
  armistice was signed

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Battle of Kapyong

• American and Australian troops retreated from the
  front line after a Chinese attack in late April,
  1951
• This left the Canadians on Hill 677 outnumbered,
  surrounded and without their supply route
• From April 24 25, 1951, Canadian soldiers of
  the Princess Patricias dug trenches and held off
  7,000 advancing Chinese soldiers and held the
  front line
• Supplies, medicine, and ammunition had to be air
  dropped to the Canadians until the Chinese
  retreated
• 10 Canadians were killed and 23 were wounded
• Only Canadian soldiers in history to be awarded a
  US Presidential Unit Citation for valour

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Anti-Communism in Canada

• US Senator Joseph McCarthy started anti-communist
  investigations
• led to a Red Scare hysteria in the United
  States
• Canada responded by having the RCMP carry out
  illegal and secret inquiries
• known communists were deported or not allowed
  entry into Canada
• the US Government shut down McCarthy
• the McCarthy Hearings destroyed thousands of
  people lives

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Suez Crisis

• In 1956, Egypt seized the Suez Canal from France
  and Britain
• France, Britain and Israel joined forces and
  attacked Egypt to take back control of the Canal
• The Soviet Union sided with Egypt and demaded an
  withdrawl of the invading armies
• The fighting increased
• Looked as if this crisis would ignite a Third
  World War

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The Start of UN Peacekeeping

• Canadas Acting Minister of External Affairs,
  Lester Pearson, came up with a plan to end the
  conflict
• He went to the UN and suggested creating a
  peacekeeping force to run the Suez Canal until a
  settlement could be reached
• The UN agreed and the battle forces withdrew from
  the canal
• Lester Pearson was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
  for his efforts in ending the Suez Crisis

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NATO

• North Atlantic Treaty Organization
• Formed in 1949 by Canada, USA and 10 European
  nations
• Purpose was to defend Europe and the North
  Atlantic from Soviet aggression
• In response, USSR formed the Warsaw Pact with
  Soviet satellite countries of Eastern Europe in
  1955

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NORAD

• North American Aerospace Defence Command
• 1957 treaty between Canada and USA
• Aim is to protect North America from a Soviet air
  or nuclear attack
• Links Canadian and US fighters, missiles and
  radar units under a single command centre located
  deep inside a mountain in Colorado
• In direct contact with American President and
  Canadian Prime Minister

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Battle over Bomarc Missiles

• PM Diefenbaker backed away from an agreement to
  place the US made Bomarc Nuclear Missiles in
  Canada
• This enraged President John Kennedy
• Diefenbaker and Kennedy did not like each other
• The Conservatives were defeated in February 1963
  by Lester Pearsons Liberals
• PM Pearson quietly placed the missiles in Canada
  and improved relations with President Kennedy

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DEW Distant Early Warning

• Canada is geographically between the USSR and the
  USA
• 1957 Canada and the US build a line of long
  range warning stations
• Stations monitor northern airspace for potential
  attacks
• If there was a threat, NORAD would be warned
  immediately
• The cost was250,000,000 and was paid for by the
  US

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Avro Arrow

• This was a Canadian made jet built by the A.V.
  Roe Company
• Fasted and most innovative jet of its time
• A.V Roe expected international sales would be
  around 600 jets
• Price went from 2 million to 12.5 million
• Canada felt the cost to build was too high
• PM Diefenbaker said Canada would buy US made jets
  instead and cancelled the project in February
  1959
• Led to the loss of 14,000 jobs
• Canadians were upset at Diefenbakers decision

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Vietnam War

• Communist North Vietnam invaded capitalist South
  Vietnam
• The United States entered the war to stop Vietnam
  from becoming a united communist nation
• The US were involved militarily in Vietnam from
  the early 1960s until they withdrew in 1975
• The comminists took control of Vietnam
• The war divided the people of the United States
• 1.3 million Vietnamese and 58,000 Americans were
  killed as a result of the conflict

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Canada and Vietnam

• In 1965, PM Lester Pearson criticized US
  involvement in Vietnam in a speech he gave at an
  American university
• US President Lyndon Johnson met Pearson the next
  day at the White House
• In the Oval Office, Johnson lifted Pearson off
  the floor by his coat collar and told him, You
  came into my house and pissed on my rug!.
• The Canadian Government also let US Draft Dodgers
  and conscientious objectors into Canada during
  the Vietnam War
• This also angered the US Government who felt that
  these people should be tried as criminals in the
  United States

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1968 - 1991 The Cold War Thaws