Canada and The Cold War

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

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 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  The recovery in Europe was beyond the expectations of those who created the plan  Stability and prosperity returned to Western Europe within a decade

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

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

King and the Gouzenko Affair  PM Mackenzie King was shocked by Gouzenko’s claims about the USSR’s international spy rings  Immediately warned President Truman and UK PM Attlee  Canadian Government arrested suspected spies and King ordered a royal commission  World’s first Cold War Scandal happens in Canada

Louis St. Laurent  As Canada’s Minister of External Affairs, he was instrumental in Canada’s 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 Canada’s military involvement in Korea as part of the UN Force

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

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

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

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

The Start of UN Peacekeeping  Canada’s 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

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

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

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 Pearson’s Liberals  PM Pearson quietly placed the missiles in Canada and improved relations with President Kennedy

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 was$250,000,000 and was paid for by the US

Avro Arrow  This was a Canadian made jet built by the A.V. Roe Company  Fasted and most innovative jet of it’s 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 Diefenbaker’s decision

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

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

: The Cold War Thaws