Subject says it all. Any response would be appreciated.
Why wouldn’t Canada have been involved in World War II? Do you think it somehow declared itself neutral?
Canada declared war on Germany on its own and not because it had to. PM King had been giving strong support to both Britain and France prior to 1939. There was also sizeable support for Britain among the Canadian population.
Didn’t Ireland declare itself neutral?
Ireland was, which pissed off the British to no ends. They could have used naval bases in Ireland to defend themselves better against the U-boat threat.
It was shameful, really. The Irish definitely have a legimate beef with the British, but could they really imagine that things would have been better for them under the Nazis?
That’s off topic, of course…
Canada declared war on Germany a week after Britain and France, to demonstrate our independence, presumably. I like to think that we did it because it was a war, and an enemy, that was well worth fighting. And though we may not have done the heavy lifting in terms of number of casualties and material, we acquitted ourselves quite well.
Hmm, I use “we” as if I were there…
The Canadian Armies, under British command, fought very effectively in Italy, the Netherlands, not to mention taking Juno beache on D-Day. Also, the Canadian Navy was responsible for most of the anti-submarine work for the Atlantic convoys, at least until the US entered the war.