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Unit 3 · 8 lessons

Canada, 1929–1945

The Great Depression and how Canadians responded, the extreme ideologies of the 1930s and the Holodomor, antisemitism and the Holocaust, the road to the Second World War, Canada's war overseas and at home, and how First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities lived through these years.

  • 75 practice questions
  • 71 flashcards
  • 2 interactive lessons
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Lessons

  1. 1The Great Depression: Causes and Impact Across CanadaWhy the boom of the 1920s collapsed into the Great Depression, how overproduction, credit, the 1929 crash, dependence on a few exports, tariffs and drought fed a downward spiral, and why the Depression hit the Prairies, single men, immigrants and Indigenous communities so much harder than others.Interactive10 questions
  2. 2Responding to the Depression: Relief, Protest, New Parties and New InstitutionsHow governments under Mackenzie King and R. B. Bennett responded to the Depression, why relief camps led to the On-to-Ottawa Trek and the Regina Riot, what Bennett's New Deal proposed, how new parties (the CCF, Social Credit and the Union Nationale) offered alternatives, and which lasting institutions came out of the decade.9 questions
  3. 3Extreme Ideologies of the 1930s and the HolodomorWhat communism under Stalin, fascism and Nazism stood for and how they destroyed democracy and harmed millions; how these ideologies reached Canada through Adrien Arcand's fascist movement, Swastika Clubs, the Christie Pits riot and the Communist Party; and the Holodomor, the man-made famine of 1932–1933 in Soviet Ukraine, and its significance for Ukrainian Canadians.10 questions
  4. 4Antisemitism, the Holocaust and Canada's ResponseAntisemitism in Canada in the 1930s, how Nazi Germany moved from persecution to the murder of about six million Jews, how Canada's government closed its doors to Jewish refugees (the MS St. Louis and "none is too many"), how Canadians helped liberate camps and welcomed survivors after the war, and how the Holocaust changed Canadian attitudes toward human rights and continues to matter as antisemitism persists.10 questions
  5. 5The Road to World War II and Canada's EntryThe long-term causes of the Second World War (the Treaty of Versailles, the Depression, aggressive dictatorships and a weak League of Nations), the acts of aggression and appeasement from 1931 to 1939, Canada's cautious foreign policy under Mackenzie King, its separate declaration of war on September 10, 1939, and how the war drew Canada closer to the United States.Interactive9 questions
  6. 6Canada's War: From the Atlantic to the NetherlandsCanada's military contribution to the Second World War: the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, the Battle of the Atlantic, the defeats at Hong Kong and Dieppe, the Italian campaign and Ortona, D-Day at Juno Beach, the liberation of the Netherlands and the air war, along with the human cost and the individuals whose service is remembered.9 questions
  7. 7The Home Front: Total War, Women, Conscription and InternmentHow total war transformed Canada at home: a booming war economy, price controls, rationing and Victory Bonds; women in factories and the armed services; the 1942 plebiscite and 1944 conscription crisis; the internment of Italian and German Canadians; and the uprooting, internment and dispossession of Japanese Canadians and the long road to redress.9 questions
  8. 8First Nations, Métis and Inuit, 1929–1945How the Depression, federal and provincial policies (the Indian Act, residential schools, the Dominion Franchise Act, the Métis Population Betterment Act, Inuit disc numbers) and the Second World War affected First Nations, Métis and Inuit; why thousands enlisted, what Indigenous soldiers such as Tommy Prince and Charles Tomkins contributed, and the unequal treatment, lost land and lost status many faced at home.9 questions