In 1939, most Canadian adults remembered the First World War: more than 60,000 Canadians had died, and the 1917 conscription crisis had nearly split the country. Many people hoped Canada would never again send its young people to die in Europe. Yet only twenty-one years after the 1918 armistice, Canada was at war again. This lesson traces how a series of invasions, broken treaties and failed attempts to keep the peace led to the Second World War, and how Canada, now in control of its own foreign policy, decided to join.
The long-term causes
| Cause | Explanation |
|---|---|
| The Treaty of Versailles (1919) | Germany lost territory, its colonies and most of its military, was forced to accept blame for the war and pay reparations. Many Germans felt humiliated, and Hitler promised to tear up the treaty. |
| The Great Depression | Mass unemployment in Germany helped the Nazis win support, and economic crisis pushed Japan and Italy to seek land and resources by conquest. |
| Aggressive dictatorships | Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany and militarist Japan glorified war and wanted empires: Hitler sought "living space" in eastern Europe and to unite all German speakers. |
| A weak League of Nations | The League had no army of its own, the United States never joined, and members were unwilling to enforce strong sanctions, so aggressors were not stopped. |
| Appeasement and isolationism | Britain and France gave in to Hitler's demands to avoid another war; the United States stayed neutral; Canada avoided commitments. Each concession encouraged further aggression. |
Aggression and appeasement, 1931–1939
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- 1931: Japan invades Manchuria in northern China. The League of Nations condemns it, and Japan simply leaves the League in 1933.
- 1933: Hitler becomes chancellor in January and soon pulls Germany out of the League and begins secretly rebuilding its armed forces.
- 1935: Italy invades Ethiopia. The League imposes weak sanctions that leave out oil. When Canada's representative, Walter Riddell, proposed adding oil on his own initiative, the King government publicly disowned him.
- 1936: German troops march into the Rhineland, a zone the Treaty of Versailles had demilitarized. Britain and France do nothing. The Spanish Civil War begins, and Germany and Italy test their weapons supporting Franco.
- 1937: Japan launches a full-scale war on China; its troops massacre civilians at Nanjing in December.
- March 1938: Germany annexes Austria (the Anschluss).
- September 1938: at the Munich Agreement, Britain and France let Germany take the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia in exchange for Hitler's promise of peace. This is the high point of appeasement.
- March 1939: Germany seizes the rest of Czechoslovakia. Britain and France promise to defend Poland.
- August 23, 1939: the Nazi–Soviet Non-Aggression Pact: Hitler and Stalin agree not to fight each other and secretly plan to divide Poland.
- September 1, 1939: Germany invades Poland. Britain and France declare war on September 3.
Canada's cautious foreign policy
Through the 1930s, Mackenzie King avoided promises to Britain or the League, repeating that "Parliament will decide" whether Canada would fight. His main goal was national unity: he knew that a war, and especially conscription, could again divide English and French Canada. In June 1937 King met Hitler in Berlin and wrote admiringly of him in his diary, believing he did not want war. Like most of the public, King welcomed the Munich Agreement. Yet he also privately believed that if Britain went to war against Germany, Canada would have to stand with it, and in the late 1930s his government began slowly rebuilding Canada's tiny armed forces.
September 10, 1939: Canada's own declaration
In 1914, Canada was automatically at war when Britain declared war. After the Statute of Westminster (December 11, 1931), Canada controlled its own foreign policy. So when Britain declared war on September 3, 1939, Canada waited. Parliament met in a special session, debated, and approved going to war on September 9; King George VI, acting as King of Canada on the advice of his Canadian ministers, declared war on Germany on September 10, 1939, one week after Britain. Very few MPs spoke against it; the CCF's leader, J. S. Woodsworth, a lifelong pacifist, was the best-known opponent. King promised there would be no conscription for overseas service.
Between Britain and the United States
| Development | Date | What it meant |
|---|---|---|
| Statute of Westminster | December 11, 1931 | Britain recognized that Canada and other dominions were fully self-governing, including in foreign policy. |
| Imperial Economic Conference, Ottawa | July–August 1932 | Canada and Britain agreed on trade preferences, an attempt to use the Empire to fight the Depression. |
| Ogdensburg Agreement | August 18, 1940 | King and US President Franklin Roosevelt created the Permanent Joint Board on Defence for the joint defence of North America. |
| Hyde Park Declaration | April 20, 1941 | The US agreed to buy more war materials from Canada, and parts Canada bought in the US for British orders could be charged to Britain's Lend-Lease account, easing Canada's shortage of US dollars. |
| Billion-dollar gift | 1942 | Canada gave Britain about one billion dollars' worth of war supplies, followed by further aid. |
A turning point in Canada–US relations
After France fell in June 1940, Britain itself faced invasion and could no longer guarantee Canada's security. Canada turned to the United States, which was still neutral. The Ogdensburg and Hyde Park agreements began a close military and economic partnership with the US that continued after the war, through NORAD and beyond, while Canada still fought alongside Britain overseas.
Historical perspective on appeasement
Today appeasement is often treated as an obvious mistake, but in 1938 many people saw it as sensible: memories of the First World War were fresh, the Treaty of Versailles was widely seen as too harsh, and Britain and France were not ready to fight. Judge decisions by what people knew and believed at the time, then use hindsight to explain the consequences.