Did Canada contribute in the vietnam war? ow about WW2? Have they been in wars that we were not? My final inquiry, has there ever been a USA/Canada skirmish?
The US sent troops into Canada in the Revolutionary War, thinking they were as ready to revolt as we, and got defeated. I think we also invaded in the War of 1812, with the same results. So we’re 0-2 against them.
zap…that’s bad news. we got beat by the mounties!
I will leave the specifics to the experts, but yes, yes, yes and yes (although the officialness of this last one could be argued).
Q1: Canada as a nation did not participate in the Vietnam war, but a few Canadians did cross the border and join the US Army. They are not recognized as “war veterans” by the Canadian government and don’t qualify for veterans’ benefits. Whether the US realized a net gain from Canadians heading south versus Americans heading north is an interesting question.
Q2: This question is a good example of why Canada sometimes feels unappreciated. Canada was a major Allied partner in WW2, and ended the war with the 3rd largest navy and fourth largest airforce in the world. Canada declared war on Germany in September 1939, and fought in most of the major theatres of war until August 1945. Unfortunately, the Canadian contribution is usually carelessly lumped in with “British”, or if we’re lucky, “British/Commonwealth” contribution. Do a google search on “Canada World War Two contribution” and you’ll be in for hours of interesting reading.
Q3: Only one comes to mind right away: the Boer war in South Africa, 1899-1902. But we were in both WW1 and WW2 for 3 more years than you (I’m assuming you’re from the US); does that count?
Q4: There was a war between Great Britain and the U.S. in 1812-1814 that involved battles in southern Canada and the northern US. Some Canadians like to remember it as a Canadian victory despite the fact that it was neither. Canada as a country didn’t exist until 1867. There were some cross border raids towards the end of the nineteenth century, but it’s been all quiet on the 49th parallel since at least 1900.
You didn’t ask about Korea, but Canada was a participant in the UN police action there from 1950-1953. We’ve also participated in most of the UN “peacekeeping” missions since 1956. The Canadian prime minister during the Suez crisis, Lester Pearson, was instrumental in creating the first “peacekeeping” force.
Regards,
a proud Canuck.
Thanks Burntsand…you anwsered everything I wanted to know. I might move up there one day, you peopel are so nice.
Nitpick of my own message: Louis St. Laurent was P.M. during the Suez crisis; future Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson was instrumental etc. etc.
Your question doesn’t address this one way or the other, but I wanted to make sure you know that Canada has made a major contribution to the current operations in Afghanistan, and has been one of our most reliable friends for at least 100 years.
Also of note is the fact that Canadian peacekeepers in the Balkans were known to take no $hit from the local factions. When confronted by a roadblock on a supposedly “open” road while escorting a food convoy, the Canadian soldiers politely asked the Serbs manning the roadblock to let them pass. The Serbs refused, so the Canadians ran over the roadblock with an armored personnel carrier and the convoy went on its merry way. (no cite right now, just remembering an interesting news story from a few years ago)
You might also be interested to know that NORAD is a joint US/Canadian command based at Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado and has been since its creation.
Yep, the Canadians are bad-ass. They played an especially crucial role in Normady (Juno Beach) and the closing of the Falaise Pocket. If you’d like to learn more about the high morale and strong motivation of the Canadian troops in Normandy, which appears to have stemmed from a mauling they took as guinea pigs in a landing/raid at Dieppe in 1943, I recommend John Keegan’s Six Armies in Normandy.
Here’s a WWII overview:
http://www.stokesey.demon.co.uk/wwii/canada.html
Canada is often described as a “partisan neutral” in the Vietnam war. Diplomatically and monetarily they supported the U.S. and South Vietnam.
And yes, the Canadians generally delivered a good whoopin’ to us Americans whenever we bucked up, particularly in 1812, when the Canadians took Detroit. If only they had kept it…
Dieppe was in 1942.
It is, ironically, the considered opinion of many Canadian historians that the performance of the Canadian army in Europe in WWII wasn’t as impressive as it was in WWI, for a variety of reasons. There were legitimate questions as to how well trained our troops were when they came to blows with German troops in Normandy; of course, that problem disappears after a little combat. In any event, the Canadian 1st Army was a very important part of the Allied drive across Europe, especially, as you point out, at Juno, the taking of Caen, Falaise, and the drive along the Atlantic coast in northern France and Holland.
I also wonder if Dieppe really had all that much to do with Canada’s morale and such; I think we just had a pretty good, highly motivated army, and I doubt it would have been any less brave or motivated had Dieppe not been a fiasco. Almost all Canadian combat troops were volunteers.