The military history of Canada comprises centuries of conflict within the territory, and interventions by the Canadian military in conflicts and peacekeeping missions worldwide. For millennia, the area comprising modern Canada saw sporadic conflicts among Indigenous peoples. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Canada was the site of several conflicts, including four major colonial wars between New France and British America. The conflicts spanned nearly 70 years and was fought between British and French forces, supported by their colonial militias, and various First Nations.
In 1760, the British conquered New France, and its civilians, whom they hoped to assimilate, were subsequently declared British subjects. After the Quebec Act of 1774, Canadians received their first charter of rights under the new regime, resulting in the northern colonies abstention from joining the American Revolutionary War and loyalty to British Crown. The US invaded in 1775 and again from 1812 to 1814 but were rebuffed each time. The threat of US invasion persisted into the 19th century, partially facilitating Canadian Confederation in 1867.
Warfare existed in all regions and waxed in intensity, frequency and decisiveness. It was even common in subarctic areas that had sufficient population density.[1] However, Inuit groups in the extreme northern Arctic typically avoided direct warfare due to their small populations, relying on traditional law to resolve conflicts.[2] Conflict was waged for economic and political reasons, such as asserting their tribal independence, securing resources and territory, exacting tribute, and controlling trade routes. Additionally, conflicts arose for personal and tribal honour, seeking revenge for perceived wrongs.[3][4]
In pre-contact Canada, Indigenous warriors relied primarily on the bow and arrow, having honed their archery skills through their hunting practices. Knives, hatchets/tomahawks and warclubs were used for hand-to-hand combat.[4] Some conflicts took place over great distances, with a few military expeditions travelling as far as 1,200 to 1,600 kilometres (750 to 990mi).[4]
Warfare tended to be formal and ritualistic, resulting in few casualties.[5] However, some violent conflicts occurred, including the complete genocide of some First Nations groups by others, such as the displacement of the Dorset of Newfoundland by the Beothuk.[6] The St. Lawrence Valley Iroquois were also almost completely displaced, likely due to warfare with their neighbours the Algonquin.[7] The threat of conflict impacted how some groups lived, with Algonquian and Iroquois groups residing in fortified villages with layers of defences and wooden palisades at least 10-metre-tall (33ft) by 1000 CE.[4]
Captives from battles were not always killed. Tribes frequently adopted them to replenish lost warriors or used them for prisoner exchanges.[8][9][10] Slavery was common among the Pacific Northwest Coast's Indigenous people like the Tlingit and Haida, with around a quarter of the region's population being enslaved.[10] In certain societies, slavery was hereditary, with slaves and their descendants being prisoners of war.[10]
Several First Nations also formed alliances with one another, like the Iroquois League.[11] These existing military alliances became important to the colonial powers in the struggle for North American hegemony during the 17th and 18th centuries.[12]
The first clash between Europeans and Indigenous peoples likely transpired around 1003, during Norse attempts to settle North America's northeastern coast, such as at L'Anse aux Meadows.[13] Although relations were initially peaceful, conflict arose between the Norse and local First Nations, or Skrælings, possibly due to the Norse's refusal to sell weapons. Indigenous bows and clubs proved effective against Norse weaponry, and their canoes offered greater manoeuvrability in an environment they were familiar with. Outnumbered, the Norse abandoned the settlement.[14][15]
The first European-Indigenous engagements to occur in Canada during the Age of Discovery took place during Jacques Cartier's third expedition to the Americas from 1541 to 1542. Between 1577 and 1578, the Inuit clashed with English explorers under Martin Frobisher near Baffin Island.[15]
17th century
Firearms began to make their way into Indigenous hands by the early 17th century, with significant acquisition starting in the 1640s.[4] The arrival of firearms made fighting between Indigenous groups bloodier and more decisive,[16] especially as tribes got embroiled in the economic and military rivalries of European settlers. Unequal access to firearms and horses significantly amplified bloodshed in Indigenous conflicts.[17] By the end of the 17th century, Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands and the eastern subarctic rapidly transitioned to firearms, supplanting the bow.[18] Though firearms predominated, the bow and arrow saw limited use into the early 18th century as a covert weapon for surprise attacks.[4]
Map of European claims on North America at the end of the 17th century, with European forts and settlements also shown. English claims are coloured in pink, while French claims are coloured in blue. The English and French had conflicting claims around Hudson Bay and Newfoundland.
Early European colonies in Canada include the French settlement of Port-Royal in 1605 and the English settlement of Cuper's Cove five years later.[19] French claims stretched to the Mississippi River valley, where fur trappers and colonists established scattered settlements.[20] The French built a series of forts to defend these settlements,[21] although some were also used as trading posts.[21]New France's two main colonies, Acadia on the Bay of Fundy and Canada on the St. Lawrence River, relied mainly on the fur trade.[22] These colonies grew slowly due to difficult geographical and climatic circumstances.[23] By 1706, its population was around 16,000.[24][25][26] By the mid-1700s, New France had about one-tenth of the population of the British Thirteen Colonies to the south.[27][28] In addition to the Thirteen Colonies, the English chartered seasonal fishing settlements in Newfoundland Colony and claimed Hudson Bay and its drainage basin, known as Rupert's Land, through the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC).[29]
The early military of New France was made up of regulars from the French Royal Army and Navy, supported by the colonial militia.[30] Initially composed of soldiers from France, New France's military evolved to include volunteers raised within the colony by 1690. Many French soldiers stationed in New France also chose to stay after their service, fostering a tradition of generational service and the creation of a military elite.[31][32] By the 1750s, most New French military officers were born in the colony.[31] New France's military also relied on Indigenous allies for support to mitigate the manpower advantage of the Thirteen Colonies.[33] This relationship significantly impacted New French military practices, like the adoption of Indigenous guerrilla tactics by its military professionals.[15][34]
The Beaver Wars (1609–1701) were intermittent conflicts involving the Iroquois Confederacy, New France, and France's Indigenous allies.[35] By the 17th century, several First Nations' economies relied heavily on the regional fur trade with Europeans.[36] The French quickly joined pre-existing Indigenous alliances such as the Huron-Algonquin alliance, bringing them into conflict with the Iroquois Confederacy,[36][37][38] who initially aligned with Dutch colonists and later with the English.[39] As a result, the primary threat against New France in its early years were the Iroquois, particularly the easternmost Mohawks.[40]
Conflict between the French and Iroquois likely arose from the latter's ambition to control the beaver pelt trade.[36] However, some scholars posit Iroquoian hegemonic ambitions as a factor, while others suggest these were "mourning wars" to replenish populations in the wake of the epidemic that afflicted Indigenous peoples. Regardless, Iroquois hostilities against First Nations of the St. Lawrence Valley and Great Lakes disrupted the fur trade and drew the French into the wider conflict.[15]
1609–1667
Iroquois warriors attack an Algonquin fort defended by a Franco-Indigenous force at the Battle of Long Sault, 1660
Initially, the French offered limited support to their Indigenous allies, providing iron arrowheads and knives, but few firearms.[15][41] Although France's Indigenous allies saw some success, the Iroquois gained the initiative after adopting tactics that integrated Indigenous hunting skills and terrain knowledge with firearms acquired from the Dutch.[42] Access to firearms proved decisive, enabling the Iroquois to wage an effective guerrilla war.[36]
After depleting the beaver population within their lands, the Iroquois launched several expansionist campaigns, raiding the Algonquin in the Ottawa Valley and attacking the French in the 1630s and 1640s.[36] These attacks caused the dispersion of the Neutral, Petun, and Huron Confederacy, along with the systematic destruction of Huronia.[15][36] The string of Iroquois victories isolated the French from their Algonquin allies and left its settlements defenceless. Exploiting this, the Iroquois negotiated a favourable peace, requiring French Jesuits and soldiers to relocate to Iroquois villages so they could aid in their defence.[15]
Hostilities resumed between the two sides in 1658 when the French withdrew their Iroquois missions.[15] After years of expansionist campaigns in the mid-1650s, the outbreak of a wider front in 1659 and 1660 strained the Confederacy.[36] To secure a favourable peace, the French sent the Carignan-Salières Regiment in 1665,[15] the first uniformed professional soldiers station in Canada, and whose members formed the core of the Compagnies Franches de la Marine militia.[43] The regiment's arrival led the Iroquois to agree to peace in 1667.[15]
After the 1667 peace, the French formed alliances with First Nations further west, most of whom conflicted with the Iroquois. The French provided them with firearms and encouraged them to attack the Iroquois. They also solidified ties with the Abenaki in Acadia, who were harassed by the Iroquois. Conflict resumed in the 1680s when the Iroquois targeted French coureurs de bois and the Illinois Confederation, a French ally. French-allied expeditions were launched in 1684 and 1687, though only the latter saw some success.[15][44]
In 1689, the Iroquois launched new attacks, including the Lachine massacre, to support their English allies during the Nine Years' War and in retaliation for the 1687 expedition.[36] However, after a flurry of raids by France's western allies and a Franco-Indigenous expedition led by Governor General Louis de Buade de Frontenac in 1696, the weakened Iroquois opted to negotiate peace.[36] The Great Peace of Montreal was signed in 1701 between the Iroquois, France, and 38 other First Nations. The terms saw the Iroquois agree to remain neutral in Anglo-French conflicts in return for trade benefits. This weakened the Covenant Chain between the Iroquois and English and weakened their trading relationship.[44] Although the Iroquois nations expanded their territories during the conflict, they did not achieve the prosperity initially envisioned.[36]
In 1640, La Tour forces attacked Port-Royal.[52] In response, d'Aulnay imposed a five-month blockade on Saint John. La Tour's forces overcame the blockade and retaliated with an attack on Port-Royal in 1643.[53] In April 1645, d'Aulney besieged and captured Saint John, after hearing of La Tour's departure to meet his supporters in New England.[54] d'Aulney governed all of Acadia from 1645 until he died in 1650, having gained favour with the French government by informing them of La Tour's attempt to seek aid from the English in New England.[50]
After d'Aulney's death, La Tour returned to France and regained his reputation and governorship over Acadia.[53] La Tour's governorship ended in 1654 when English forces under Robert Sedgwick seized the territory exhausted by years of civil war and neglect by the French court.[50] Sedgwick seized Acadia to secure its fur and fishing resources for New England and The Protectorate, having been authorized to retaliate against French privateer attacks on English ships.[55]
The Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665–1667) resulted from tensions between England and the Dutch Republic, driven partly by competition over maritime dominance and trade routes. A year before the conflict, in September 1664, Michiel de Ruyter was instructed to retaliate against the English seizures of Dutch East India Company assets in West Africa by attacking English ships.[56] In 1665, de Ruyter's fleet raided English merchant ships and settlements in the West Indies and Newfoundland, including St. John's.[57][58] The peace treaty that ended the conflict resulted in the English returning Acadia to the French, a region they seized in 1654.[59]
During the Nine Years' War (1688–1697), English and French forces clashed in North America in a conflict known as King William's War. Initially, Governor General Frontenac devised an invasion plan aimed at conquering the Province of New York to isolate the Iroquois. However, the scale of the plan was later reduced. In February 1690, three joint New French-First Nations military expeditions were dispatched to New England. One attacked Schenectady, another raided Salmon Falls, while a third besieged Fort Loyal. New France also urged other First Nations allies to conduct smaller raids along the English American frontier and promoted scalpings as a form of psychological warfare.[33]
Having faced several attacks by New France's petite guerre,[61] the English launched two retalitory expeditions against New France.[33] The first naval expedition in 1690 was to capture Quebec City. However, it suffered from poor organization and arrived just before the St. Lawrence River froze in mid-October, leaving little time to achieve its objective.[62] After a failed landing at Beauport, English forces withdrew.[63] The second English expedition was repulsed at the Battle of La Prairie in 1691.[33] The English also attacked Acadia, besieging Fort Nashwaak and raiding Chignecto, Chedabucto, Port Royal.[64]
Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville was tasked with attacking English fishing stations in Newfoundland during the Avalon Peninsula campaign,[65] and to expel the English from the island.[66] Setting sail from Plaisance, the French administrative capital for the island,[66] d'Iberville's squadron razed St John's in November 1696 and destroyed English fisheries along Newfoundland's eastern shore. Smaller raiding parties razed and looted remote English hamlets and seized prisoners.[67] In four months of raiding, Iberville destroyed 36 settlements. By the end of March 1697, only Bonavista and Carbonear remained in English control.[68]
During the war, the French strengthened their control over Hudson Bay, having already seized several HBC forts in an expedition two years before the war. French attempts to capture York Factory, HBC's only remaining fort around Hudson's Bay, included a failed effort in 1690 and its brief capture in 1694, although the English later recaptured the fort. The French finally secured York Factory after the Battle of Hudson's Bay in 1697.[69]
The 1697 Peace of Ryswick ended the war, and required the return of territorial gains in North America. The HBC was also forced to surrender all but one fort on Hudson Bay. After the peace, the English and French reinforced their alliances and trade relations with Indigenous groups. It also paved the way for the negotiated peace of the Beaver Wars in 1701.[70][71]
English-maritime Algonquians conflict
The English-French conflict intertwined with an ongoing conflict between the English and maritime Algonquians. Shortly before King William's War, the maritime Algonquians attacked several English settlements in retaliation for English encroachment on their territory. French missionaries and settlers living in Indigenous villages leveraged Algonquian-English hostilities to France's advantage. The French sabotaged peace talks in 1693 between the English and maritime Algonquians, encouraging their Indigenous allies to continue fighting. The French also encouraged the Abenaki and Mi'kmaq to engage in privateering or buccaneering with the French Navy, taking part in the naval battle off St. John and the second siege of Pemaquid in 1696.[33]
Map of European claims on North America from the Peace of Utrecht in 1713 to the Treaty of Paris in 1763, with European forts and settlements also shown. British claims are in pink, while French claims are in blue. Purple areas were territories the French ceded to the British in 1713.
During the 18th century, the British–French struggle in Canada intensified as the rivalry worsened in Europe.[72] The French government increased its military spending in its North American colonies, maintaining expansive garrisons at remote fur trading posts, improving the fortifications in Quebec City, and constructing a new fortified town on Île Royale, Louisbourg, dubbed the "Gibraltar of the North" or the "Dunkirk of America."[73]
Hostilities between the British and French during the War of Spanish Succession extended to their North American colonies in a conflict known as Queen Anne's War (1702–1713). The conflict primarily focused on Acadia and New England, as Canada and New York informally agreed to remain neutral. Initially neutral, the French-aligned Abenaki were drawn into the conflict due to English hostilities.[33]
The New England raid on Grand Pré in June 1704. The raid was carried out in retaliation for an earlier New French-First Nations raid on Deerfield.
Raids between Acadians and New Englanders took place throughout the war, including the raid on Grand Pré in 1704 and the Battle of Bloody Creek in 1711.[76] The raid on Grand Pré, launched by New England forces, was in retaliation for a French-First Nations raid on Deerfield in the British Province of Massachusetts Bay. Similar raids in Massachusetts included the raid on Haverhill.[33] The French besieging St. John's in 1705 and captured the city after a battle in 1709.[77][78] The French faced a significant setback when the British captured the Acadian capital of Port-Royal after besieging it three times during the conflict. Despite repelling two sieges in 1707, Port-Royal fell to the British during the third siege in 1710.[79] Building on their success in Acadia, the British initiated the Quebec Expedition to capture the colonial capital of New France. However, the expedition was abandoned when its fleet was wrecked by the waters of the St. Lawrence River.[77]
The ensuing Peace of Utrecht saw the French surrender substantial North American territory. This included returning Hudson Bay lands to the HBC and relinquishing claims to Newfoundland and Acadia, though retaining fishing rights in parts of Newfoundland.[80] However, due to a dispute over the size of Acadia, the French maintained control over its western portion (present-day New Brunswick).[81] The French also continued its relationship with the Abenaki and Mi'kmaq in Acadia and encouraged them to attack the British.[33] After the conflict, the French built the Fortress of Louisbourg to protect its remaining Acadian settlements on Île-Royale and Île Saint-Jean,[81] while the British quickly built new outposts to secure its Acadian holdings.[33]
Although British-French hostilities ended in 1713, conflict persisted between the maritime Algonquians and the British, with the Mi’kmaq seizing 40 British ships from 1715 to 1722.[33][82] In May 1722 Lieutenant Governor John Doucett took 22 Mi'kmaq hostages to Annapolis Royal to prevent the capital from being attacked.[83] In July, the Abenaki and Mi'kmaq initiated a blockade of Annapolis Royal, aiming to starve the capital.[84] Due to increasing tensions, Massachusetts Governor Samuel Shute declared war on the Abenaki on July 22.[85] Early engagements during the war took place in the Nova Scotia.[86][87] In July 1724, 60 Mi'kmaq and Maliseets raided Annapolis Royal.[88]
The treaty that ended the war marked a major change in European relations with the maritime Algonquians, as it granted the British the right to settle in traditional Abenaki and Mi'kmaq lands.[33] The treaty was also the first formal recognition by a European power that its control over Nova Scotia was dependent on negotiation with its Indigenous inhabitants. The treaty was invoked as recently as 1999 in the Donald Marshall case.[89]
The Fox Wars, was an intermittent conflict from 1712 to the 1730s between New France and its Indigenous allies against the Meskwaki.[15][90] The conflict highlighted how the New French military, supported by its allies, was able to inflict significant losses against enemies thousands of kilometres away from its Canadian core.[90]
In response to Meskwaki raids on coureurs de bois and indigenous allies, particularly the Illinois, New French troops were deployed westward in 1716 to confront the Meskwaki. Despite initial success in forcing them to seek peace, the attacks continued. With diplomatic efforts failing in the 1720s, New France resolved to exterminate the Meskwaki. Subsequent campaigns, including an Illinois-led siege in 1730, led to the death or enslavement of many Meskwaki. A final punitive expedition by New France to present-day Iowa in 1735 failed due to lack of support from Indigenous allies, who deemed the Meskwaki adequately punished.[15]
British and French forces clashed in the War of Austrian Succession, with the North American theatre known as King George's War (1744–1748). While maritime Algonquians swiftly allied with the French, many Indigenous groups in the Great Lakes region hesitated to join, preferring to maintain trade ties with the British. These ties were deliberately fostered by the British prior to the war to weaken France's Indigenous alliances.[33]
Throughout the war, Acadians and Canadiens raided frontier settlements in Nova Scotia, New England, and New York.[91] Attacks on Nova Scotia include those on Canso, Annapolis Royal, and Grand Pré.[92] French-Mohawk also attacked New England and New York, such as the raid on Saratoga and the siege of Fort Massachusetts. However, the Mohawk were unwilling to join French excursions deeper into New York to avoid conflicts with other members of the Iroquois Confederacy.[33]
The British siege of Louisbourg in 1745. The fortress was captured after several weeks.
In 1745, a British-New England force besieiged and captured Louisbourg.[93] The capture of Louisbourg significantly weakened Franco-Indigenous alliances around the Great Lakes by isolating Quebec City from France to interrupt trade. As a result, the price of goods skyrocketed and the French could not provide annual gifts to secure its alliances. This caused some Indigenous nations to end their support of the French war effort, with some nations viewing the absence of gifts as a breach of alliance terms.[33] The French Duc d'Anville expedition was launched in 1746, the largest military expedition to sail from Europe for the Americas at the time, aiming to recapture Louisbourg. However, it failed due to adverse weather and illness among troops before reaching Nova Scotia.[94]
Although Louisbourg was captured, the British were unable to advance further into New France,[91] with a British advance at Port-la-Joye being defeated in 1746.[33] The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ended the war in 1748, returning control of Louisbourg to the French in exchange for some wartime territorial gains in the Low Countries and India.[91] The return of Louisbourg to the French outraged New Englanders. In response to the continued French presence, the British founded the military settlement of Halifax and built Citadel Hill in 1749.[95]
Father Le Loutre's War (1749–1755) occurred in Acadia and Nova Scotia, pitting the British and New Englanders, led by figures like John Gorham and Charles Lawrence,[96] against the Mi'kmaq and Acadians, under the leadership of French priest Jean-Louis Le Loutre.[97] Throughout the conflict, Mi'kmaq and Acadians attacked British fortifications and newly established Protestant settlements in Nova Scotia to hinder British expansion and aid France's Acadian resettlement scheme.[98]
After Halifax was established by the British, the Acadians and Mi'kmaq attacked Chignecto, Grand-Pré, Dartmouth, Canso, Halifax and Country Harbour.[99] The French erected forts at present-day Saint John, Chignecto and Fort Gaspareaux. The British responded by attacking the Mi'kmaq and Acadians at Mirligueche, Chignecto and St. Croix,[100] and building forts in Acadian communities at Windsor, Grand-Pré, and Chignecto.[101] The conflict ended with the defeat of the British victory at the Battle of Fort Beauséjour.[101]
Acadia and Nova Scotia experienced unprecedented fortification building and troop deployments.[97] The region also saw unprecedented population movement, with Acadians and Mi'kmaq leaving Nova Scotia in an exodus to the neighbouring French colonies of Île Saint-Jean and Île Royale.[102]
Map of North American military campaigns during the Seven Years' War.
New French-British colonial hostilities culminated in the Seven Years' War. Although formal hostilities between France and Britain began in 1756, fighting erupted in North America in 1754 in what became known as the French and Indian War (1754–1760).[103] Disputes over the Ohio Country prompted the French to construct a series forts in 1753, sparking hostilities with neighbouring British colonies in 1754.[104] Most First Nations supported the French, largely due to their opposition to earlier British territorial policies. The British worked to undermine the Franco-Indigenous alliances by seeking the latter's neutrality through Iroquois intermediaries. The Iroquois Confederacy eventually entered the conflict as a British ally at the Battle of Fort Niagara in 1759.[33]
In 1756, following the formal declaration of war between the British and French, the commander-in-chief of New France, Pierre de Rigaud, marquis de Vaudreuil-Cavagnial, devised a strategy to keep the British on the defensive and away from the populated areas of New France, like Canada. This resulted in French offensives like the Battle of Fort Oswego and Siege of Fort William Henry, and raids on British frontier settlements by the Canadian militia and First Nations allies. A small French army, supported by the militia and First Nations allies, effectively pinned down British forces at its frontier, prompting the dispatch of 20,000 additional soldiers to reinforce British America. Despite early success in tying down British forces, the French were hindered by limited resources, as most of France's army was engaged the Europe, unable to reinforce its colony.[103]
Following these victories, the British launched three campaigns against Canada: the first two targeted Niagara and Lake Champlain, while the third targeted Quebec City. After the French repelled the latter invasion force at the Battle of Beauport, British commander Major-General James Wolfe opted to besiege Quebec City. The three-month siege culminated in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in September 1759, where French general Louis-Joseph de Montcalm led a numerically inferior force out of the walled city to face the British. The French were defeated, with both Wolfe and Montcalm killed in battle.[111][112]
Surrender of the French Army in 1760, shortly after the fall of Montreal.
In April 1760, the French launched a campaign to retake Quebec City, defeating the British at the Battle of Sainte-Foy. After the battle, the British withdrew into the walls of Quebec City's. The French besieged the city until May, when a British naval force defeated a French naval unit supporting the siege at the Battle of Pointe-aux-Trembles.[113] The arrival of the British Royal Navy left New France virtually isolated from France.[103] As a result, the remaining French Army retreated to Montreal and signed the Articles of Capitulation of Montreal on 8 September, marking the completion of the British conquest of New France.[114] A week later, the British made peace with the Seven Nations of Canada, followed by France's maritime Algonquian allies in 1761.[33]
British naval supremacy was pivotal in the war's outcome, facilitating the capture of Louisbourg and Quebec City and blocking French reinforcements to the colony. This led to significant territorial concessions by France in the Treaty of Paris of 1763, including New France. However, the war burdened Britain with a massive financial debt. The absence of the French military threat also emboldened residents of the Thirteen Colonies, who no longer needed to rely on the British for military protection against the French.[103]
After the Seven Years' War in 1763, rumours circulated of a First Nations offensive on the British frontier. An alliance of First Nations led by Odawa chief Pontiac aimed to expel the British from the Great Lakes and Ohio Country. The alliance was forced to lay siege to Fort Detroit after learning the British were aware of their activities. The siege prompted other First Nations aligned with Odawa to attack British outposts in the region.[115] In the conflict, a 300-strong battalion of French Canadians, led by former Troupes de la Marines, was raised and sent to Fort Detroit as part of Brigadier-General John Bradstreet's expedition.[116] Despite its early success, the resistance waned when Pontiac failed to capture Fort Detroit.[103]
Peace was eventually achieved through the distribution of traditional presents and the issuance of the Royal Proclamation of 1763. This proclamation established the Province of Quebec and the Indian Reserve, while also granting First Nations various land rights.[103][115] These measures were implemented to protect the First Nations while facilitating the peaceful, "gradual settlement" of the frontier. However, it inadvertently made Britain into an obstacle against the territorial expansion of the Thirteen Colonies, a role previously held by France.[115]
After the Seven Years' War, the Thirteen Colonies became restive over taxes imposed by the British Parliament, with many questioning its necessity when they no longer needed to pay for a large military force to counter the French.[117] American frustrations intensified following the passage of the Quebec Act, which restored Catholic rights in Quebec, much to the ire of the anti-Catholic Protestant-based Thirteen Colonies. The act also expanded Quebec's territory to include portions of the Indian Reserve, such as the Ohio Country, long desired by British colonies like Pennsylvania and Virginia.[118] These tensions led to a political revolution in the Thirteen Colonies, and eventually, the American Revolutionary War (1775–1776), with American rebels aiming to break free from the British parliament, and assert their claim on the Ohio Country.[119]
At the war's start, most people in Quebec and the Maritime colonies remained neutral, hesitant to join either the Americans or the British side.[120] Early in the war, revolutionaries launched a propaganda campaign in Canadian colonies, although it only attracted limited support. British attempts to raise a militia in Quebec also saw limited success, although they were able to rely on the French Canadian clergy, landowners, and other leading citizens for support.[118] The British received support from the Seven Nations of Canada and the Iroquois Confederacy, though the latter attempted to remain neutral due to an internal civil conflict in the confederacy.[115]
British regulars and Canadian militia shatter the American column in fierce street fighting in the Battle of Quebec in 1775.
In September 1775, American forces invaded Quebec, beginning with the capture of Fort Ticonderoga and the siege of Fort St. Jean near Montreal. The siege prompted Governor Guy Carleton to abandon Montreal for Quebec City. The Continental Army advanced towards Quebec City, where they were joined by Benedict Arnold's expedition. On New Year's Eve, they attacked the city but were repelled.[118][121] After the failed assault, the Americans besieged Quebec until spring 1776, when the Americans were routed by a British naval force sent to relieve Quebec. The Americans subsequently abandoned Montreal, and their remaining forces were defeated at the Battle of Trois-Rivières in June 1776. British forces, led by General John Burgoyne, pursued the retreating Americans out of Quebec into New York in a counter-invasion.[118]
Although the Canadien militia formed most of Quebec City's defenders during the invasion, they saw limited action beyond Quebec. British reluctance to deploy them elsewhere stemmed from uncertainty about their loyalty when faced with the French Army.[116] Five British provincial corps, augmented by additional unincorporated units and Loyalistassociators, were raised in the Canadian colonies to assist in its defence and to harass the American frontier.[122] British First Nations allies, led by Thayendanegea, also conducted raids against US border settlements from 1778 to war's end.[115]
New Englanders attempted to incite a revolt in Nova Scotia but were defeated at the battles of Fort Cumberland in 1776 and St. John in 1777.[118][123] Although they failed to incite a revolt, Nova Scotia remained a target of American privateering throughout the war, with most coastal outposts being attacked.[118] Attacks like the 1782 raid on Lunenburg had a devastating effect on the colony's maritime economy.[124][125][126] American privateers seized 225 vessels departing from or arriving at Nova Scotian ports in total.[127] The French Navy also attacked a British naval convoy off Nova Scotia in July 1781.[128] Conversely, the British captured many American privateers off Nova Scotia's coast, such as in the 1782 battle off Halifax. They also used the colony as a staging ground to launch attacks against New England, as seen in the Battle of Machias.[129]
The American raid on Lunenburg in 1782. Raids by American privateers devastated the maritime Nova Scotian economy.
Consequences
The revolutionaries' failure to seize the Canadian colonies and the continued loyalty of British colonists led to the fragmentation of Britain's North American empire.[130] Despite successfully defending Quebec and Nova Scotia, British military defeats in the Thirteen Colonies led to their surrender in 1781 and the subsequent recognition of the independent US republic in the Treaty of Paris of 1783.[131]
Suspicions against the US persisted in the Canadian colonies for decades. Over 75,000 Loyalists, comprising 15 per cent of residents in the Thirteen Colonies who supported the Crown, migrated north to the remaining parts of British North America.[118][131][132] The British also ceded Indian Reserve south of the Great Lakes to the newly formed United States. As the area included the traditional Iroquois territory, the British offered land in Quebec to the Iroquois, hoping to establish new Iroquois communities that would serve as a barrier against the Americans.[115]
In 1796, during the War of the First Coalition, a naval expedition under Joseph de Richery planned to attack Newfoundland. However, de Richery opted to not attack the island's capital after his forces failed to unite with another naval squadron from Brest and the British mobilized its defences in St. John's.[133] Although St. John's was not attacked, de Richery's squadron disrupted the island's fisheries and razed Bay Bulls and Petty Harbour.[134]
19th century
A form of compulsory military service was established in the Canadas during the 19th century, instituted in Lower Canada in 1803 and Upper Canada in 1808.[135] The compulsory sedentary militia comprised male inhabitants aged 16 to 60 and was mobilized solely during emergencies. In peacetime, service involved a one to two-day annual muster parade.[136][137]
The role of the militia during the American Revolution and War of 1812 led to the "citizen soldier" becoming a unique symbol of adulation in 19th-century Canadian military culture. This veneration stands in contrast with the United States and other British settler colonies, and led to the "militia myth" in the 19th-century Canadian zeitgeist, a belief that it did not need a standing army for its defence, as it could rely on its inhabitants to mobilize into militias overnight. This belief created a tendency to ignore the need for rigorous militia training during peacetime.[138]
The surrender of a US garrison at Fort Detroit, after British regulars, Canadian militiamen, and First Nation warriors besieged the fort in 1812
Animosity and suspicion persisted between the UK and the US decades after the American Revolution.[139] The Napoleonic Wars exacerbated Anglo-American tensions, as the UK's naval blockade of France and the impressment of American sailors the British claimed were deserters, aggravated the US.[140] As the US lacked a navy capable of challenging the UK, an invasion of Canada was proposed as a feasible method to attack the British.[139] Americans living in the western frontier also hoped an invasion would end British support for Indigenous resistances in the American Northwest Territory.[139] Strong support for war from congressional war hawks and optimistic assessments over the feasibility of invading Canada from US officers, like Major General Henry Dearborn, led the US to declare war on the UK in June 1812.[140]
Believing a bold attack was needed to galvanize the local population and First Nations to defend the Upper Canada, Major-General Isaac Brock quickly ordered a British-First Nations siege on Fort Mackinac.[140] In August 1812, Brock's force moved towards Amherstburg to confront an invading American army in Upper Canada, only to find that they had retreated to Detroit.[139] The American retreat facilitated Brock's alliance with Shawnee chief Tecumseh and provided him with the excuse to abandon his orders to maintain a defensive posture within Upper Canada.[143] A British-First Nations force besieged and captured Detroit, providing them control over the Michigan Territory and the Upper Mississippi.[144][145][146]
In October 1812, a British-First Nations force thwarted an American crossing of the Niagara River at the Battle of Queenston Heights. However, the battle resulted in the death of Brock.[147][148] An American army sent to retake Detroit was defeated in January 1813, ending the threat of an American offensive into Canada that winter.[140] Despite the success of Brock's offensives, his death prompted the British to adopt a defensive stance. Governor General George Prevost prioritized conserving his forces, concentrating the strongest garrisons in Lower Canada. Conversely, Upper Canada was only reinforced when additional troops arrived from overseas.[140]
In April 1813, an American naval squadron defeated the British at the Battle of York, briefly occupying and burning parts of the Upper Canadian capital. They then captured Fort George on May 27. However, the retreating British regrouped and defeated American forces at the battles of Stoney Creek and Beaver Dams. The Americans retreated across the Niagara River in December after setting Fort George and Niagara ablaze. In retaliation, the British razed parts of Buffalo during the Battle of Buffalo and continued similar reprisals into 1814, most notably in Washington.[140][149]
Although the British successfully defended the Niagara Peninsula in 1813, they faced significant setbacks in the western frontier. The British-First Nations force failed to capture Fort Meigs, and the British lost control of the Upper Great Lakes after the Battle of Lake Erie.[140] After the naval defeat, British-First Nations forces in the American Northwest Territory were forced to retreat, but were pursued and ultimately routed at the Battle of Moraviantown.[150] Tecumseh's death at the battle fractured his confederacy and the alliance with the British.[151]
In late 1813, two American invasion attempts in Lower Canada. One was repelled by a British-First Nations force at the Battle of the Chateauguay in October, while the other was turned back by a British force at the Battle of Crysler's Farm in November.[140][152]
1814
The final incursions into the Canadas took place in 1814. US forces crossed the Niagara River in July and captured Fort Erie. The American advance led to the Battle of Lundy's Lane. While the battle ended in a stalemate, the exhausted Americans were compelled to retreat to Fort Erie. The Americans successfully defended Fort Erie against a British siege, but the exhausted Americans withdrew to the US shortly after.[140]
In 1814, the British regained the initiative, securing control of Lake Huron after several engagements and establishing effective control over Lake Ontario with HMSSt Lawrence, a first-rate warship that deterred American naval actions from its launch in September to war's end.[140][153] In the Atlantic, British naval efforts were supported by Nova Scotian privateer ships raiding US shipping.[154] The most notable Nova Scotian privateer ship, the Liverpool Packet, captured 50 ships by war's end.[155]
The end of the War of the Sixth Coalition led the British to shift their focus to their war with the US, with Lower Canada and Nova Scotia served as staging areas for the British. The British force gathered in Lower Canada invaded northern New York but was repelled at the Battle of Plattsburgh in September. The force gathered in Halifax had greater success, capturing most of Maine's coastline by mid-September.[140]
The Treaty of Ghent, signed on 24 December 1814, ended the conflict and restored the territorial status quo. However, fighting persisted into 1815 in areas unaware of the peace. The war fostered a sense of community in Canadian colonies and set the stage for Canada's future nationhood.[140] No side of the war can claim total victory, as neither fully achieved their war aims.[156] However, historians commonly regard the First Nations as the "losers" of the conflict, given the collapse of the Tecumseh's confederacy in 1813 and the British dropping their proposal for a First Nations buffer state in the midwestern US during peace negotiations.[157]
In 1812, the Red River Colony was established by the HBC despite opposition from the North West Company (NWC), who already operated the nearby trading post, Fort Gibraltar. In January 1814, the colony issued the Pemmican Proclamation, banning the export of pemmican and other provisions for a year to secure its growth. The NWC and local Métisvoyageurs that traded with the NWC opposed the ban, viewing it as a move by the HBC to control NWC traders' food supply.[158]
In June 1815, Métis leader and NWC clerk Cuthbert Grant led a group to harass and steal supplies from the Red River settlement. In response, the HBC seized Fort Gibraltar in March 1816 to curb local pemmican trade. This led to the brief Battle of Seven Oaks in June 1816 when HBC officials confronted Métis and First Nations voyageurs. After the confrontation, Grant briefly controlled the area, prompting the HBC and Red River settlers to retreat to Norway House. HBC authority was restored in August when Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk, arrived with 90 soldiers.[158]
Fear of an American invasion of the Canadas persisted for at least the next half-century, prompting the retention of a sizable British garrison in the colony.[159] From the 1820s to the 1840s, the British built up several fortifications to serve as strong defensive points against potential invasions, including the citadel and ramparts in Quebec City, Fort Henry in Kingston, and the Imperial fortress of Halifax.[159] The Rideau Canal was built to provide a northern waterway from Montreal to Kingston during wartime,[160] bypassing the St. Lawrence River, a waterway that was also the Canada–US border.[160]
By the 1850s, fears of an American invasion had waned, prompting the British to downsize their garrison. The Canadian-American Reciprocity Treaty of 1854 further alleviated concerns.[161]
Two armed uprisings broke out from 1837 to 1838 in the Canadas.[167] Calls for responsible government and an economic depression in Lower Canada led to protests and, subsequently, an armed insurrection led by the radical Patriote movement. The uprising, which erupted in November 1837, was the more significant and violent insurgency between the two rebellions.[168] The other armed uprising occurred in Upper Canada shortly thereafter, its leaders inspired by the events in Lower Canada.[169]
The inaugural uprising in Lower Canada began in November 1837. British regulars and Canadian militia fought Patriote rebels in a series of skirmishes, including the battles of Saint-Denis, Saint-Charles, and Saint-Eustache.[170] The disorganized rebels were defeated, with their leadership escaping to the US. Following this, anglophone militias pillaged and burned French Canadian settlements. A second uprising in Lower Canada commenced in November 1838 with aid from American volunteers, but it was poorly organized and quickly put down. The Lower Canada Rebellion resulted in 325 deaths, predominantly among the rebels, while the British recorded 27 fatalities.[169]
The Upper Canada Rebellion, led by William Lyon Mackenzie, primarily comprised disaffected American-origin farmers who opposed the preferential treatment of British settlers in the colony's land grant system.[171] The first confrontation occurred at the Battle of Montgomery's Tavern in Toronto on 5 December 1837. Most rebels dispersed after the battle, although a small faction remained until Loyalist and Black Loyalist militias attacked the tavern three days later. Mackenzie later seized Navy Island, declaring it the Republic of Canada, but fled to the US after the rebel ship Caroline was burned by Canadian volunteers. The Upper Canada Rebellion resulted in three deaths—two rebels and one loyalist.[169] For the rest of 1838, Mackenzie's followers and US sympathizers conducted a series of raids against Upper Canada known as the Patriot War.
The rebellions led to the Durham Report, which recommended uniting the Canadas. The Act of Union 1840 united Upper and Lower Canada into the Province of Canada and paved the way for the introduction of responsible government in 1848.[169]
Conflicts during the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush
The influx of gold prospectors into the Fraser Canyon during the Fraser Gold Rush led to several conflicts between prospectors and local First Nations. The Fraser Canyon War in 1858 saw the Nlaka'pamux and prospectors clash at the start of the gold rush. The Nlaka'pamux attacked several newly arrived American prospectors in defence of their territory, prompting the prospectors to form military companies to carry out reprisals. Responding to the violence, the British formed the colony of British Columbia on August 2 and sent gunboats to the Fraser River to reestablish order. However, as British military capabilities in the region were limited, they were unable to quickly assert control, leading to open conflict on August 9. A truce was brokered on 21 August, and the arrival of a British contingent by month's end stabilized the area. Around 36 Nlakaʼpamux, including five chiefs, died during the conflict.[172]
The Chilcotin War was another conflict that broke out in the area in April 1864, when the Tsilhqot'in killed 21 prospectors and construction workers who crossed into their territory. The attacks sparked a month-long armed standoff in the British Columbia Interior, after a group predominantly made up of American prospectors marched from the colonial capital of New Westminster to quell the resistance in the Crown's name. The conflict ended with the mistaken arrest of a Tsilhqot'in peace delegation. Six delegates were convicted and hanged for murder, despite the Tsilhqot'in maintaining its actions were an act of war rather than murder. In 2018, the Canadian government exonerated the six individuals and issued an apology to the Tsilhqot'in, recognizing "that they acted in accordance with their laws and traditions" for war.[173]
Anderson Ruffin Abbott in 1863. Abbott was one of many Canadians who volunteered with the Union Army during the American Civil War.
At the start of the American Civil War (1861–1865), the British Empire declared neutrality, although its colonies in British North America sold weapons to both sides of the war. Although some Canadian newspapers sympathized with the Confederate States of America due to its alignment with colonial "security interests," the vast majority of the 40,000 Canadians who volunteered to fight in the Civil War did so with the Union Army.[174][175] Most Canadians fought as volunteers, although some were coerced into service by American recruiters or "crimpers". By the war's end, 29 Canadian Union Army officers were awarded the Medal of Honor.[175]
Incidents like the Trent and the Chesapeake affairs strained Anglo-American relations.[176] The Trent Affair, the most serious incident of the war, occurred in 1861 when a US gunboat stopped the RMS Trent to seize two Confederate officials en route to the UK.[177] The British demanded an apology and the release of the passengers. War appeared imminent in the months after, with the British reinforcing its North American garrison from 4,000 to 18,000 soldiers.[177] However, the crisis abated after an apology was issued.[175] The Empire was also criticized by Americans for allowing its subjects, including those in Canada, to engage in blockade running. According to one historian, these actions undermined the Union blockade against the Confederacy and prolonged the war by two years.[176][178][179]
When the Union Army regained the initiative in 1863, Confederate agent, Jacob Thompson, was tasked with creating a northern front from Canada. With Confederate activities tolerated by Canadian authorities and citizens,[180] Thompson set up bases in Montreal and Toronto. His plans included raiding prison camps to free Confederate prisoners and attacking Union ships in the Great Lakes. In 1864, Confederate raiders from Montreal raided St. Albans in Vermont, but they were defeated and were subsequently arrested at the border by British soldiers.[175]
Volunteers of the Canadian militia who were mobilized during the Fenian raids in June 1866.
In the mid-1860s, Irish American veterans of the Union Army who were members of the Fenian Brotherhood, supported raiding British North America to force Irish independence.[181][182][183][184] The Fenians incorrectly assumed that Irish Canadians would support their invasion. However, the majority of Irish settlers in Canada West were Protestant, mainly of Anglo-Irish or Ulster-Scot descent, and largely loyal to the Crown.[181] Nonetheless, the threat prompted British and Canadian agents in the US to redirect their focus from Confederate sympathizers to the Fenians in 1865. Upon learning of the Fenians' planned attack, 10,000 volunteers of the Canadian militia were mobilized in 1866, a number that later increased to 14,000, and then to 20,000.[185]
The first raid took place in April 1866, as Fenians landed on Campobello Island and razed several buildings. The largest raid occurred on June 2 at the Battle of Ridgeway, where 750–800 Fenians repelled nearly 900 Canadian militiamen, largely due to the latter's inexperience. However, the Fenians withdrew to the US shortly after, anticipating additional British and Canadian reinforcements. In the same month, another party of 200 Fenians was defeated near Pigeon Hill.[185]
The threat of raids in 1870 led the government to mobilize 13,000 volunteers. Fenian raiding parties were defeated at the battles of Eccles Hill and Trout River in May 1870. In October 1871, 40 Fenians occupied a customs house near the Manitoba-Minnesota border, hoping to elicit support from Louis Riel and the Métis, but Riel raised volunteers to repel them. The US Army later intervened and arrested the Fenians, with the US not wanting to risk war with the UK.[185][186]
While the militia prevented the Fenian from accomplishing its goals, the raids exposed deficiencies in its leadership, structure, and training, prompting subsequent reforms within it.[185]
British forces in Canada in the late–19th century
By the mid-1860s, British North American colonies faced mounting pressure to assume their own defences as the UK sought to alleviate themselves of the cost of defending them and to redeploy troops to more strategic areas. British pressure and the American Civil War prompted various colonies to consider forming a single federation. Although some questioned the need to unite post-American Civil War, subsequent raids by Fenians made more people in British North America favourable to Canadian Confederation, which was eventually realized in 1867.[175][187]
Departure of British forces from Quebec City in 1871. British forces withdrew from most of Canada in 1871, several years after Confederation.
In 1869, American grievances over British transgressions during the American Civil War became an issue, as the US demanded payment for said transgressions. A British delegation, including Canadian Prime Minister John A. Macdonald, negotiated the Treaty of Washington in 1871 to settle the issue.[175] By 1871, most British North American colonies joined Canadian Confederation, and US grievances were settled. Consequently, British forces withdrew from Canada, except for Halifax and Esquimalt, where garrisons of the Pacific and North America and West Indies stations remained for reasons of imperial strategy.[188] The Royal Navy continued to provide for Canada's maritime defence, with the understanding that they would provide additional aid in emergencies.[189]
Canadian enlistment in British forces after 1871
Canadian enlistment in the British military continued after Confederation and the British Army's withdrawal in 1871. Several Canadians opted for British service over the Canadian militia, as the latter showed little interest in expeditionary combat.[190] The British Army specifically targeted Canadians for recruitment to replenish certain units, like the 100th Regiment of Foot.[162] Canadians continued joining the British Army's enlisted ranks into the First World War, with several thousand Canadians serving in British units during the conflict.[191]
The first graduating class of the Royal Military College of Canada in 1878. Cadets were recruited into the British military and the Canadian militia in the 19th century.
The British War Office also reserved officer commissions for Canadian "gentlemen and journeymen" to fill vacancies and bolster the British officer corps.[192] The recruitment of Canadians into the British officer corps was encouraged by the War Office as a way to promote military interoperability between Canada and the UK, and to make the Canadian government more amicable to the idea of its military participating in British overseas campaigns.[193] By 1892, about two-thirds of Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) graduates who received commissions opted to join the British military rather than the Canadian militia.[194]
By 1900, RMC graduates in the British military had participated in 27 campaigns across Africa, Burma, India, and China.[195] From 1880 and 1918, around a quarter of RMC graduates accepted commissions in the British military.[191] Recruitment of RMC officer cadets into the British military declined in the early 20th century due to efforts by Frederick William Borden, the Canadian minister of militia and defence. As a result, from 1911 to 1914, over half of all graduates pursuing military careers joined the Canadian militia rather than the British military.[192]
Uniforms used by the Canadian Militia in the late 19th century.
By the mid-19th century, the militia system in the Province of Canada was organized into two classes, sedentary and Active.[196] The sedentary militia, later called the "Reserve Militia," was the traditional compulsory militia mobilized solely during emergencies.[136][137] The Active Militia consisted initially of volunteer service battalions tasked with transport and operational duties.[196]
The Active Militia began as an unpaid voluntary service but evolved into a paid part-time service under the Militia Act of 1855, comprising the Volunteer Militia, the Regular Militia, and the Marine Militia. The Volunteer Militia included artillery, cavalry, and infantry units. The Regular Militia comprised former serving men eligible for emergency service through balloting. The Marine Militia consisted of individuals employed to navigate Canada's waterways.[136] In 1862, proposed legislation to enhance the sedentary militia ignited a debate over whether the colony should rely on a compulsory or voluntary service. Following the 1863 general election, a new Militia Act was passed, shifting the burden of defence to the Active Militia while also preserving the sedentary militia.[196][135] The militia system was adopted into the Canadian federation through the 1868 Militia Act.[135] After the British Army's departure in 1871, the Canadian militia shouldered the main responsibility for its defence.[136]
Members of the Yukon Field Force in Vancouver in 1898. The Yukon Field Force was a garrison of the Active Militia's Permanent Force.
The Active Militia underwent professionalization in the 1870s and 1880s, with the establishment of two professional artillery batteries in 1871.[197] The Active Militia expanded under the 1883 Militia Act, authorizing a new cavalry troop, an additional artillery battery, and three infantry companies.[136] These were intended to provide the professional backbone of the Permanent Force, a full-time "continuous service" component of the Active Militia.[136][197][198] While the Active Militia's professional elements grew in the 1870s and 1880s, its marine component dwindled, with the last marine militia unit disbanded in 1878.[136] The sedentary militia also fell into disuse during this period as annual musters became less frequent. By 1883, the sedentary militia was nearly non-existent, with the requirement for annual musters stricken from legislation.[135]
During the Mahdist War in 1884, the British requested aid from Canada for skilled boatmen to assist Major-General Charles Gordon'sbesieged forces in Khartoum.[199] The government's reluctance led Governor GeneralLord Lansdowne to dispatch only 386 voyageurs, commanded by Canadian militia officers.[200] This force, known as the Nile Voyageurs, served in Sudan and became the first Canadian force to serve outside North America.[201]
Arriving in Asyut in October 1884, the voyageurs transported 5,000 British troops upstream to Khartoum using wooden whaling boats. They arrived two days after the city's capture by Mahdist forces. Canadian militia officers overseeing the voyageurs took part in the Battle of Kirbekan weeks later, although the voyageurs themselves did not partake. After Kirbekan, the expedition withdrew to Egypt, departing in April 1885.[202] Sixteen members of the Canadian contingent died during the campaign.[201]
Late–19th century conflicts in western Canada
In October 1870, near present-day Lethbridge, one of the last major battles occurred between the Blackfoot Confederacy and the Cree known as the Battle of the Belly River. In the battle, Cree war party engaged a Piikani Nation camp but was defeated, unaware that members of the Kainai Nation and Piegan Blackfeet were also there. The Blackfoot's use of revolving rifles likely aided in their victory.[203] However their victory was pyrrhic, as their losses made them vulnerable to attack. Both sides lost as many as 300 warriors during the battle.[204]
In the late 19th century, Louis Riel spearheaded two resistances against the Canadian government amid its efforts to settle western Canada and negotiate land transfer treaties with multiple First Nations.
The first resistance led by Riel, the Red River Rebellion (1869–1870), occurred before the transfer of Rupert's Land from the HBC to Canada. In December 1869, Riel and Métis settlers of the Red River Colony seized Upper Fort Garry to negotiate favourable terms for the colony's entry into Canadian confederation.[205] After an English-speaking settler was executed, a military expedition made up of 400 British regulars and 800 Canadian militiamen was organized to retake the fort.[205][206] Riel and his followers fled to the US before the arrival of the expedition in August 1870. Although they fled, the resistance achieved its major objectives, with the federal government recognizing the rights of the Red River settlers through the establishment of the province of Manitoba.[205]
In response, the Canadian government mobilized 3,000 militiamen to quell the resistance.[209] General Frederick Middleton initially planned for the 3,000-person force to travel together by rail, but attacks at Battleford and Frog Lake forced him to send a 900-person force ahead of the main contingent. However, after the forward force was repelled at the Battle of Fish Creek, Middleton chose to wait for the rest of the contingent before successfully besieging Riel's outnumbered forces at the Battle of Batoche.[208][210] Although Riel was captured at Batoche in May, resistance from Big Bear's followers persisted until 3 June at the Battle of Loon Lake.[208] Canadian militia and NWMP casualties during the conflict include 58 killed and 93 wounded.[211]
The issue of Canadian military participation in British imperial campaigns arose again when the British requested Canadian assistance in the Second Boer War (1899–1902).[212][213] Most of English Canada supported participation, while near-universal opposition came from French Canadians and other groups.[214] This split the governing Liberal Party led by Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier, who's political base comprised both pro-imperial Anglo-Canadians and anti-imperial Franco-Canadians.[215]
Canadian forces arrived in South Africa after the initial phase of the conflict, which included British setbacks during Black Week. They earned praise for leading the final night attack that led to the Boers suddender at the Battle of Paardeberg.[218][219] At the Battle of Leliefontein in November 1900, three members of the Royal Canadian Dragoons were awarded the Victoria Cross for protecting the rear of a retreating force,[220] marking the only occasion when a Canadian unit received three Victoria Crosses in a single action.[221] One of the last major battles involving Canadian units was the Battle of Hart's River in March 1902.[218] During the conflict, Canadian forces played a role in maintaining British-run concentration camps.[222]
Injured Canadian soldiers and a nursing sister in South Africa during the Second Boer War, 1901.
Around 8,600 Canadians volunteered for service during the Boer War.[223] About 7,400 Canadians,[224] including 12 nursing sisters, served in South Africa.[218][225] Of these, 224 died, 252 were wounded, and five were awarded the Victoria Cross.[218][226] A wave of celebrations swept the country after the war, marked by many towns erecting their first war memorials. However, the public debate over Canada's role in the conflict strained relations between English and French Canada.[218]
Early 20th century military developments
An exhibit of infantry equipment used by the Canadian Militia, c.1900s
At the turn of the century, Canada asserted greater control over its defences with the passage of a new Militia Act in 1904, appointing a Canadian Chief of the General Staff.[136] Additionally, control of the Imperial fortress of Halifax and Esquimalt Royal Navy Dockyard was transferred to Canada by the British military in 1906.[231] The Militia Act of 1904 also formally acknowledged the obsolescence of the sedentary Reserve Militia by removing the provision that designated male inhabitants of military age as members, replacing it with a provision theoretically making them "liable to serve in the militia".[135]
HMCS Rainbow in Vancouver, shortly after its recommissioning with the Canadian Naval Service in 1910.
Canada initially maintained a small fishing protection force under the Department of Marine and Fisheries but depended on the UK for maritime defence. However, as the British engaged in a naval arms race with Germany, it looked to its dominions to assist with Imperial naval strategy in 1908.[232] The Conservative Party advocated for Canada to contribute funds solely for the purchase and maintenance of Royal Navy vessels.[232] Some French Canadian nationalists opposed sending any aid, while others proposed establishing an independent Canadian navy capable of assisting the British when necessary.[232]
Prime Minister Laurier adopted a compromised position, leading to the creation of the Canadian Naval Service in 1910, later designated as the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) in August 1911.[233] To appease imperialists, the Naval Service Act included a provision allowing the RCN to be transferred to the British in emergency cases.[234] The bill aimed to build a fleet of five cruisers and six destroyers.[235] The first two ships, Niobe and Rainbow, were somewhat outdated vessels purchased from the British.[236] However, the election of a Conservative government in 1911 led to a reduction in funding, although later increased during the First World War.[237]
A Canadian postcard from 1918 encouraging the purchase of Victory Bonds. It depicts a soldier standing in a poppy field and includes a line from the war poem "In Flanders Fields".
On August 5, 1914, the British Empire, including Canada, entered the First World War (1914–1918) as a part of the Entente powers.[238][239] As a dominion of the Empire, Canada had control over its contributions to the war effort.[238] During the war, Canadian military spending rose considerably, with its financing being supported by the introduction of income taxes and Victory Loan campaigns. Canada also sold munitions to Britain after it experienced a shell shortage, prompting the establishment of the Imperial Munitions Board.[239]
A total of 619,636 people served in the Canadian military during the war. Of those, 59,544 were killed and 154,361 were wounded.[239][227] The conflict provided Canada with a greater degree of autonomy within the British Empire and a modest diplomatic presence at the Paris Peace Conference.[239]
The Canadian Militia was not mobilized. Instead, an separate Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) was raised for the conflict.[240] The CEF comprised infantry battalions and the Canadian Cavalry Brigade, with recruitment handled by the militia. Canada also established the Canadian Forestry Corps to harvest wood from France and Scotland for the war effort.[239]
The first Canadian contingent departed for Europe on October 3, 1914.[239] The CEF's first large engagement was the Second Battle of Ypres from April–May 1915. At Ypres, Canadian soldiers withstood the first large-scale use of poison gas in history.[241] In September 1915, after Ypres, the Canadian Corps was formed with the arrival of the 2nd Canadian Division in France, consolidating the CEF.[242] The corps expanded with the 3rd Canadian Division joining in December 1915, followed by the 4th Canadian Division in August 1916.[242] The 5th Canadian Division, formed in February 1917, never fully formed and was disbanded in February 1918.[242]
During the war, the RCN primarily conducted coastal submarine patrols as part of the Atlantic U-boat campaign.[239] Canada suffered from several maritime disasters during the war. The Halifax Explosion occurred on December 6, 1917, when a ship collision involving a munition ship loaded with explosives caused one of the largest human-made explosions before the detonation of the first atomic bomb. The disaster saw 11,000 casualties, including 2,000 dead, and the entire north end of the city destroyed.[245] The sinking of HMHSLlandovery Castle by a U-boat in June 1918 marks the deadliest Canadian naval disaster of the war.[246]
Besides the Canadian military, Canadians served in British forces such as the Royal Navy and the Royal Flying Corps. By war's end, nearly a quarter of all Royal Flying Corps pilots were Canadian, including the Empire's leading flying ace, Billy Bishop.[239]
Borden's Unionist Party, a coalition of pro-conscription Conservatives and Liberals, won the election and passed the Military Service Act, 1917, although it included various exemption provisions.[239][251] After conscription was implemented in 1918, over 400,000 were called up, but 380,510 appealed for exemption. Ultimately, only 24,132 conscripts were sent to Europe.[239]
Edward VIII unveiling the Mother of Canada on the Vimy Memorial in 1936. The memorial was dedicated to CEF personnel killed during World War I.
The war's impact led to the construction of war memorials in Canada. The Canadian National War Memorial was unveiled in 1939 and has since been used to honour Canadian war dead for other conflicts.[252] The monument has since been used to honour Canadian war dead for other conflicts.[252] There are also eight memorials in France and Belgium to honour Canada's war dead from the war, like the Canadian National Vimy Memorial.[253]
After the First World War, the Canadian Expeditionary Force dissolved, and its lineage perpetuated through the Canadian militia. In 1921, the Active Militia was restructured, forming the Permanent Active Militia from Permanent Force, and the Non-Permanent Active Militia from its reserve component. The National Defence Act of 1922 consolidated the Department of Militia and Defence with Air and Naval Services under the Department of National Defence.[136]
The greater degree of autonomy Canada saw after the First World War, coupled with public reluctance to participate in further imperial conflicts, led the Canadian government to refuse a British request for military aid during the 1922 Chanak Crisis.[239][255]
Shortly after the end of the First World War, the King's Privy Council for Canada debated the continued military presence in Russia. A decision was made to extend the commitment until spring 1919, although they limited the use of its forces, requiring their explicit consent for their use.[258]
While some Canadians participated in combat in northwest Russia and as pilots over the Black Sea,[256] the majority of Canadian soldiers stationed in Russia, attached to the CSEF in Vladivostok, experienced minimal combat before their withdrawal.[261] CSEF soldiers began their withdrawal from Russia in April 1919.[258] The 16th Canadian Field Artillery Brigade withdrew from northwest Russia in June 1919.[262] In total, 21 Canadians died in the Russia intervention, the majority from disease or accidents.[258]
The First World War spurred the formation of Canada's air force. Initially, Canada lacked an independent air force, although many Canadians served with the British Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service.[263]
In 1914, the Canadian government authorized the formation of the Canadian Aviation Corps,[264] tasked to accompany the Canadian Expeditionary Force to Europe with one aircraft, a Burgess-Dunne.[265] However, the corps was disbanded in 1915.[266] In 1918, the British Air Ministry established a Canadian bomber and fighter squadron in Europe, marking a second attempt at forming a Canadian air force. The Canadian government later assumed control of these two squadrons, forming the Canadian Air Force.[267] This air force, however, never saw service and was completely disbanded by 1921.[267]
During the 1920s, the British government urged Canada to establish a peacetime air force, offering surplus aircraft. In 1920, the Canadian Air Force (CAF) was created under the Air Board, serving as a part-time or militia service for flying refresher training.[268] After a reorganization the CAF became responsible for all flying operations in Canada, including civil aviation. The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) took over civil flying responsibilities from the Air Board and CAF after its creation in April 1924.[264] The Second World War saw the RCAF become a true military service.[264]
The fall of Belgium and France to Germany in June 1940 led Canada to drastically expand its military spending and armed forces, and implement conscription for home defence.[275] Like the First World War, conscription for overseas service was a divisive issue, with some English Canadians supporting it and French Canadians opposing it.[276] The Conscription Crisis of 1944 saw Mackenzie King pressured to accept conscription for overseas service.[275]
Hostilities ceased in September 1945. Canada participated in the Paris Peace Treaties of 1947, and signed peace treaties with Finland, Italy, Hungary, and Romania. In 1951, Canada issued a royal proclamation to end the state of war with Germany, and signed the Treaty of San Francisco to end hostilities with Japan.[275] Around 1.1 million Canadians served in the military during the war, with over 45,000 casualties and 55,000 wounded.[277]
Royal Canadian Navy sailors man a gun aboard HMCS Assiniboine, while escorting an HX convoy to the UK
The RCN expanded significantly during the war, with 99,688 servicemen, around 6,500 servicewomen, and 471 combat ships by war's end.[275] The navy protected supply and troop convoys from U-boatwolfpacks during the Battle of the Atlantic.[292] After the Atlantic Convoy Conference in 1943, all Allied convoys north of New York City were coordinated through the Canadian Northwest Atlantic Command. RCN warships sank 33 enemy U-boats during the war.[275]
The RCAF also contributed to the war effort, although its manpower was initially hindered by the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), which trained aircrews for the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.[275] While Canada hosted most BCATP facilities and funded three-quarters of the costs, the British expected graduates to join the Royal Air Force (RAF). However, intervention from Mackenzie King allowed some Canadian graduates to join the RCAF instead.[296] As a result of the earlier arrangement, many Canadian BCATP graduates served in RAF units like No. 242 (Canadian) Squadron RAF, instead of RCAF units.[281][275] At its peak, BCATP included 107 schools and 184 ancillary units across Canada. By the end of 1945, 131,553 pilots graduated from BCATP in Canada, serving with the RAF, RCAF, or other Allied air forces.[296]
Although the BCATP initially delayed the RCAF's deployment overseas, by war's end, 48 RCAF squadrons were stationed abroad. They participated in campaigns like the Battle of Britain and the Combined Bomber Offensive.[297][275] By the war's end, Canadian airmen served in every major theatre, including North Africa, Italy, northwest Europe, and the Pacific.[298] Caadian airmen in Canada participated in the Aleutian Islands campaign and conducted anti-submarine operations in the Atlantic. Throughout the war, 232,632 men and 17,030 women served in the RCAF, with 17,101 dead.[275] By the end of the war, the RCAF was the fourth-largest Allied air force.[299]
Canadian industries produced 815,729 units of war materials during the conflict, including small arms, warships, aircraft, and vehicles. Over half of Canada's output was sent to the UK, facilitated by the Billion Dollar Gift package. Labour shortages prompted many women to enter the workforce for the first time, filling roles left by enlisted men.[275] The Canadian Women's Army Corps and the RCAF Women's Division were created to relieve servicemen for frontline duties.[300]
Canada also supported British and American efforts to develop an atomic bomb. In 1942, the Canadian government acquired the Eldorado Mine to mine uranium,[275] and formed a nuclear research partnership with the UK, establishing the Montreal Laboratory to house the British Tube Alloys nuclear program.[301] The British and Americans agreed to cooperate on nuclear weapons development during the First Quebec Conference in 1943, and the Montreal Laboratory was absorbed into the Manhattan Project.[301]
A map depicting the early warning systems for North America. Three early-warning radar lines in Canada were built during the 1950s to detect incoming Soviet bombers heading for the continent.
As a middle power, Canada recognized its military constraints and embraced multilateralism, making its military contributions dependent upon being part of a larger multilateral coalition.[305] As a result, it refrained from direct involvement in conflicts like the Vietnam War, despite the involvement of close allies.[306]
At the start of the Korean War (1950–1953), Canada quickly backed the establishment of a United Nations military force to liberate South Korea.[307] Canadian units in Korea were integrated into the larger British Commonwealth Forces Korea.[308] Canada initially contributed three RCN destroyers and the No. 426 Squadron, a RCAF military transport squadron, to support the war effort.[307][309] Eight RCN ships rotated duties in Korean waters during the war, protecting the UN fleet and supporting onshore operations.[307] In Korea, 22 RCAF fighter pilots also flew jets on exchange duty with the United States Air Force (USAF).[307][310]
Having undergone rapid demilitarization after the Second World War, the Canadian Army required several months to mobilize back to wartime strength.[311] Domestic pressure for a larger commitment led the Canadian Army to form Special Force (later renamed the 25th Canadian Infantry Brigade) for deployment in Korea.[307] The first Canadian Army units arrived in Korea in December 1950, joining the conflict after its early campaigns and when the attrition phase began.[307][312] For army units, the war was characterized as a "war of patrols" in mountainous terrain. Battles the Canadian Army fought in include the battles of Kapyong and Kowang-san.[307]
Canada sent 26,791 troops to fight in Korea.[313] There were 1,558 Canadian casualties, including 516 dead.[314] Hostilities ceased with the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement.[315] Following the armistice, Canada stationed a garrison in the region to patrol the Korean Demilitarized Zone until 1955. The last Canadian soldiers under United Nations Command departed the region in 1957.[307]
During the Cold War, Canada deployed its military abroad for the first time during peacetime, maintaining units in Western Europe from the early 1950s to 1993. Around 100,000 Canadian military personnel served in France and West Germany as part of Canadian Forces Europe.[316]
In adherence to NATO obligations, Canada formed the 27th Canadian Infantry Brigade (27CIBG), later designated as 4 Combat Group and 4 Canadian Mechanized Brigade, for service in West Germany.[317] It initially comprised 6,700 soldiers organized into several units, including three infantry battalions, an armoured regiment, and MGR-1 Honest John nuclear missile batteries. The brigade was reorganized following a 1970 defence review, losing its nuclear capability and reducing its size. By 1977, it transitioned from a frontline role as a part of the British commitment in northern Germany to a rear area reserve force in the south.[316]
In addition to the 27CIBG, Canada contributed two infantry battalion groups to NATO's quick reaction force, Allied Command Europe Mobile Force, in 1964. However, by the late 1960s, the commitment was reduced to one battalion.[316] The Canadian Air-Sea Transportable Brigade Group (CAST), comprising 5,000 personnel, was another unit formed in 1968 to support Canada's European commitments. Though stationed in Canada, CAST was able to deploy to Norway within 30 days. CAST only deployed once for a military exercise in 1986 before disbandment in 1989.[316]
In 1951, Canada formed the 1 Air Division to fulfil NATO air defence obligations.[318] Initially a day/all-weather interception squadron, its role shifted to nuclear strike and reconnaissance in 1962, and then solely to reconnaissance in 1966. The 1 Air Division initially comprised two wings in France and two in Germany, although RCAF assets in France were relocated to Germany after the French withdrawal from NATO in 1966.[316]
Canada began exploring military unification as early as the 1930s, with some elements, such as military colleges and administrative aspects, unified by the 1940s and 1950s.[319] In the 1960s, under national defence ministerPaul Hellyer, Canada pursued full military unification to eliminate duplication of services and reduce costs.[320][321] In 1964, the National Defence Act was amended to establish a unified command structure, consolidating the three service chiefs into one Chief of the Defence Staff. The Canadian Forces Reorganization Act 1968 merged the Army, RCN, and RCAF into branches of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), with the three services ceasing to exist as separate entities.[319]
Hellyer's efforts to unify Canada's military were partly successful, with support services and headquarters commands being successfully unified, and some cost-cutting service consolidations praised. However, changes such as a unified ranking structure and service uniforms faced public and CAF personnel. Due to ongoing resistance from the army, air force, and navy, many of Hellyer's changes were reversed by 2014.[319]
The October Crisis was instigated by the Montreal-based Front de libération du Québec's (FLQ) kidnapping of two government officials.[322] On October 15, 1970, five days after the second kidnapping, the Quebec government requested military aid under the National Defence Act, with soldiers deployed to strategic locations in Montreal hours later.[322][323] The following day, the federal government invoked the War Measures Act to confront the "apprehended insurrection," marking its only peacetime use.[322][324]
Under the War Measures Act, the FLQ was banned and civil liberties were suspended. Troops were deployed to Quebec until January 1971. Ultimately, 12,500 Canadian Forces troops were stationed in Quebec, with 7,500 in Montreal.[325][326] The federal government's use of the War Measures Act sparked controversy due to the unjust detention of the majority of those arrested. This played a role in its replacement with the more restrained Emergencies Act in 1988.[322][323]
In the 1990s, the CAF participated in multinational missions responding to international crises. The CAF also provided aid within Canada after several natural disasters, deploying over 8,500 military personnel to Manitoba after the 1997 Red River flood,[332] over 16,000 to aid in New Brunswick, Ontario, and Quebec after the North American ice storm of 1998. The 1998 ice storm marked the largest-ever Canadian military response to a domestic natural disaster and the largest operational deployment since the Korean War.[333][334][335]
Canadian Forces personnel pictured behind two civilians of the Sûreté du Québec during the Oka Crisis in 1990.
The Oka Crisis was a land dispute between a group of Mohawk and Oka, Quebec, from July 11 to September 26, 1990. Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa invoked Section 275 of the National Defence Act on August 8, requesting military support in "aid of the civil power",[336] after one police officer and two Mohawk were killed.[337]
Around 4,000 regular and reserve troops from Quebec were mobilized to support provincial authorities.[338][339] Troops and equipment were mobilized at staging areas around Kanesatake and Kahnawake, while reconnaissance aircraft conducted missions over Mohawk territory to gather intelligence.[338][337] A month after the military's deployment, the crisis ended with the departure of land defenders from the disputed grounds.[338]
A Canadian naval task force was sent to support the coalition, comprising destroyers HMCSTerra Nova and HMCSAthabaskan, and the supply ship HMCSProtecteur.[340] The Canadian Task Group led the coalition maritime logistics forces in the Persian Gulf.[342] Canadian warships conducted about a quarter of all inspections of vessels suspected of breaching the coalition blockade.[341] Another destroyer, HMCSHuron, arrived after hostilities ceased and was the first allied ship to visit Kuwait.[342]
A formation of coalition aircraft flying over Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War, 1991. A Canadian CF-18 Hornet is visible in the right foreground.
The CAF also deployed a CF-18 Hornet and CH-124 Sea King squadron.[343] When the air campaign began, 24 Canadian CF-18s joined coalition forces in providing air cover and targeting ground assets, including assisting in the destruction of the Iraqi Navy during the Battle of Bubiyan.[344][345] The air war in Iraq was the first offensive combat operation Canadian military personnel took part in since the Korean War.[341][344]
A 530-person military field hospital was also deployed by the CAF, attached to a larger British unit.[341] In 1991, photographs of Canadian Military Engineers posing with dismembered bodies in a Kuwaiti minefield led to the unit being investigated.[346]
Somali Civil War
A security checkpoint operated by Canadian soldiers at Belet Huen Field in Somalia, 1993
The CAF supported UNOSOM I in the Somali Civil War,[347] aiding in security, humanitarian relief, and ceasefire monitoring.[348] In December 1992, the first US-led, UN-sanctioned force, UNITAF, arrived in Somalia. UNITAF involved 23 countries, including Canada, which contributed around 1,400 soldiers from the Canadian Airborne Regiment and the naval support ship HMCSPreserver.[349] In May 1993 the operation came under UN command and was renamed UNOSOM II.[350] Due to resistance from certain local factions, UNOSOM II struggled to end the conflict, enforce a ceasefire, or secure cooperation from local warlords. Consequently, it focused on protecting food and medical aid distribution sites rather than restoring order.[349]
Based primarily in Beledweyne, Canadian forces rebuilt infrastructure, cleared landmines, and guarded aid convoys.[349] However, the mission became a political disaster for Canada.[351] Canadian soldiers were frequently harassed and their base often targeted by looters. In response, their commander authorized looters to be shot in the leg if they ran. Another officer later allowed thieves to be "captured and abused."[352] In March 1993, members of the airborne unit were involved in two extrajudicial killings. The first involved a civilian who was shot while fleeing after breaking into their base for supplies, and the second involved a youth who was tortured and killed after breaking into the encampment.[349][353] Cover-up attempts by senior officials at the Department of National Defence sparked a national scandal in Canada. A federal inquiry into the matter saw the end of several officers' careers, court-martials, and the airborne regiment's disbandment.[349][354] The scandal damaged Canada's international reputation and was heralded as "the darkest era in the history of the Canadian military" since the Second World War.[352]
The UN mission itself failed to restore order, with mounting casualties prompting the US to withdraw its forces after the Battle of Mogadishu. This experience largely halted the use of robust multinational military forces from western countries for humanitarian aid during civil conflicts.[349]
In September 1993, the largest battle involving Canadian military personnel since the Korean War occurred when Canadian and French peacekeepers under UNPROFOR fought Croat forces for 15 hours.[356][357][358] The Canadian-French contingent was tasked with securing the Medak pocket, a strategic salient between Croat and Serb forces when Operation Medak Pocket was launched by Croat forces.[356] Initially targeting Serb positions, on September 15, Croat forces besieged the Canadian-French position at Medak pocket, prompting them to respond.[356][357] The Canadian government reported 27 Croatian soldiers killed and four Canadians wounded during the exchange.[356][359]
The CAF also contributed warships to NATO's maritime blockade of the region, and 18 CF-18 Hornets to support the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999.[355] During the bombing campaign, Canadian CF-18s flew 678 sorties, about 10 per cent of all NATO strike missions.[360]
21st century
HMCSCharlottetown after it conducted a boarding of a vessel in the Arabian Sea in 2008. Charlottetown was deployed in support of Operation Altair, a naval anti-terrorism operation
During the early 21st century, Canada participated in multiple missions in support of the global war on terror, including the US-led Operation Enduring Freedom. This included security operations conducted in the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman from 2001 to 2012. This deployment marked the Canadian navy's largest since World War II, with 15 warships dispatched. At its peak in January 2002, six Canadian warships and 1,500 personnel were in the region, conducting patrols and intercepting suspected terrorists and illegal drug shipments.[361]
Canadian soldiers on their way to provide security for a site in northeast Kandahar in April 2002
Weeks after the September 11th attacks, Canada committed to joining the US-led war in Afghanistan (2001–2021). Canadian special forces participated in the initial invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, with an additional Canadian infantry battle group of 1,200 soldiers deployed to Kandahar in February 2002 to combat al-Qaeda and Taliban forces and support humanitarian efforts.[361]
Following the invasion, Canadian units operated within NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). The CAF contributed a 2,000-strong infantry battle group, alongside armoured, artillery, and aerial support, to ISAF. The battle group was stationed in Kabul from 2003 to 2005, tasked with providing security and disarming Afghan militias.[361] In November 2005, the CAF launched Operation Archer, shifting its focus from Kabul to Kandahar.[367] After its relocation to Kandahar, the battle group oversaw counter-insurgency operations and the province's Provincial Reconstruction Team. In Kandahar, the battle group achieved a series of victories including Operation Medusa and the Battle of Panjwaii.[368] However, they were unable to root out all insurgents in the region, who took refuge on the Pakistani side of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.[361]
Over 40,000 Canadian soldiers served in Afghanistan. The 12-year mission marked Canada's longest military campaign, with 165 Canadians killed, including 158 soldiers and seven civilians.[361] The conflict marked the first instance a female CAF member was killed in combat, Captain Nichola Goddard of the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery.[373]
At its peak, 655 Canadians were deployed on Operation Mobile, including seven CF-18 fighter jets stationed in Italy. The frigate HMCSCharlottetown, already deployed in the Mediterranean as part of Standing NATO Maritime Group 1, also patrolled Libya's coast. In May 2011, Charlottetown came under hostile fire from a shore battery, marking the first attack on a Canadian warship since the Korean War.[374] In October 28, Prime Minister Stephen Harper declared the successful end of the mission.[379]
In 2012, insurgent groups took control of parts of Mali, prompting the Malian government to request military aid from France in January 2013. France sought assistance from NATO allies to support its operation in Mali, including Canada, which initially provided a C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft.[380] From 2015 to 2022, the CAF supported French counter-insurgency operations in the Sahel,[381][382] deploying over 1,250 personnel for helicopter medical evacuations from 2018 to 2019.[383]
The CAF started a phased withdrawal from Mali in 2019 as the Romanian Armed Forces assumed responsibility of helicopter medevacs for the operation.[384] All CAF personnel were withdrawan from Mali in November 2023.[385]
In September 2014, Canada joined a global coalition against the Islamic State.[386] From November 2014 to February 2016, Canadian CF-18s conducted 251 airstrikes in Iraq and five in Syria.[387] In February 2016, the CAF reoriented its mission from combat operations to training,[388][389] reducing the size of its mission.[390][391] The mission deployments are based at a logistics hub in Kuwait and include training missions in Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon.[390]
Canadian special forces were deployed to support the training mission.[389] In 2021, they participated in two Iraqi Armed Forces operations in non-combat roles.[392][393] Another Canadian special forces operator was involved in Talon Anvil, a 20-person USAF special operations group criticized for bypassing rules intended to safeguard civilians, resulting in hundreds of non-combatant deaths.[394] The CAF's increased use of special forces reflects a shift in military thinking, increasingly relying on these units over conventional forces to address asymmetric threats in grey-zone operations. A 2017 defense policy review acknowledged this trend and anticipated it would continue in the foreseeable future.[393]
Canada has participated in over 50 peacekeeping missions, including every UN effort from its inception to 1989.[395] Over 125,000 Canadians served as peacekeepers, with around 130 Canadians having died during these operations.[396] Canada's support for multilateralism and internationalism are closely tied to its peacekeeping efforts.[397][398][399]
Canada's role in the development of and participation in peacekeeping during the 20th century shaped its reputation as a positive middle power.[400][401] Canada's successful mediation of the 1956 Suez Crisis gave it credibility as a country committed to the common good.[402][403] The Canadian public increasingly identified peacekeeping as the country's foremost contribution to international affairs.[404][405][406]
Canada faced controversy over its involvement in some peacekeeping missions, prompting a military reassessment in the late 1990s.[407] By the 21st century, Canadian involvement in UN peacekeeping greatly declined, with its peacekeeping efforts reallocated to UN-sanctioned operations through NATO.[408] This shift resulted in more militarized and lethal peacekeeping operations, rather than traditional peacekeeping duties.[409]
The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States declared war on Britain on 18 June 1812. Although peace terms were agreed upon in the December 1814 Treaty of Ghent, the war did not officially end until the peace treaty was ratified by the United States Congress on 17 February 1815.
The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the start of the war, the French colonies had a population of roughly 60,000 settlers, compared with 2 million in the British colonies. The outnumbered French particularly depended on their native allies.
Queen Anne's War (1702–1713) was the second in a series of French and Indian Wars fought in North America involving the colonial empires of Great Britain, France, and Spain; it took place during the reign of Anne, Queen of Great Britain. In the United States, it is regarded as a standalone conflict under this name. Elsewhere it is usually viewed as the American theater of the War of the Spanish Succession. It is also known as the Third Indian War. In France it was known as the Second Intercolonial War.
New France was the territory colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spain in 1763 under the Treaty of Paris.
King William's War was the North American theater of the Nine Years' War (1688–1697), also known as the War of the Grand Alliance or the War of the League of Augsburg. It was the first of six colonial wars fought between New France and New England along with their respective Native allies before France ceded its remaining mainland territories in North America east of the Mississippi River in 1763.
The Battle of York was a War of 1812 battle fought in York, Upper Canada on April 27, 1813. An American force, supported by a naval flotilla, landed on the western lakeshore and captured the provincial capital after defeating an outnumbered force of regulars, militia and Ojibwe natives under the command of Major General Roger Hale Sheaffe, the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada.
The Invasion of Quebec was the first major military initiative by the newly formed Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. The objective of the campaign was to seize the Province of Quebec from Great Britain, and persuade French-speaking Canadiens to join the revolution on the side of the Thirteen Colonies. One expedition left Fort Ticonderoga under Richard Montgomery, besieged and captured Fort Saint-Jean, and very nearly captured British General Guy Carleton when taking Montreal. The other expedition, under Benedict Arnold, left Cambridge, Massachusetts, and traveled with great difficulty through the wilderness of Maine to Quebec City. The two forces joined there, but they were defeated at the Battle of Quebec in December 1775.
The Beaver Wars, also known as the Iroquois Wars or the French and Iroquois Wars, were a series of conflicts fought intermittently during the 17th century in North America throughout the Saint Lawrence River valley in Canada and the Great Lakes region which pitted the Iroquois against the Hurons, northern Algonquians and their French allies. As a result of this conflict, the Iroquois destroyed several confederacies and tribes through warfare: the Hurons or Wendat, Erie, Neutral, Wenro, Petun, Susquehannock, Mohican and northern Algonquins whom they defeated and dispersed, some fleeing to neighbouring peoples and others assimilated, routed, or killed.
Lieutenant-Colonel John Butler was a British Indian Department officer, landowner and merchant. During the American Revolutionary War, he was a prominent Loyalist who commanded Butler's Rangers. Born in New London, Connecticut, he moved to New York with his family, where he learned several Iroquoian languages and worked as an interpreter in the fur trade. He was well-prepared to work with the Mohawk and other Iroquois nations who became allies of the British during the rebellion.
Drums Along the Mohawk is a 1939 American historical drama film based upon a 1936 novel of the same name by American author Walter D. Edmonds. The film stars Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert, was produced by Darryl F. Zanuck, and directed by John Ford.
The Battle of Fort Niagara was a siege late in the French and Indian War, the North American theatre of the Seven Years' War. The British siege of Fort Niagara in July 1759 was part of a campaign to remove French control of the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley regions, making possible a western invasion of the French province of Canada in conjunction with General James Wolfe's invasion to the east.
The history of Canada in World War I began on August 4, 1914, when the United Kingdom entered the First World War (1914–1918) by declaring war on Germany. The British declaration of war automatically brought Canada into the war, because of Canada's legal status as a British Dominion which left foreign policy decisions in the hands of the British parliament. However, the Canadian government had the freedom to determine the country's level of involvement in the war. On August 4, 1914, the Governor General declared a war between Canada and Germany. The Militia was not mobilized and instead an independent Canadian Expeditionary Force was raised.
The Battle of Cobleskill was an American Revolutionary War raid on the frontier settlement of Cobleskill, New York on May 30, 1778. The battle took place in what is now the hamlet of Warnerville, New York, near the modern Cobleskill-Richmondville High School. The raid marked the beginning of a phase in which Loyalists and Iroquois, encouraged and supplied by British authorities in the Province of Quebec, attacked and destroyed numerous villages on what was then the western frontier of New York and Pennsylvania.
The Battle of Fort Bull was a French attack on the British-held Fort Bull on 27 March 1756, early in the French and Indian War. The fort was built to defend a portion of the waterway connecting Albany, New York to Lake Ontario via the Mohawk River.
The Canadian Militia is a historical title for military units raised for the defence of Canada. The term has been used to describe sedentary militia units raised from local communities in Canada; as well as the regular army for the Province of Canada and post-confederated Canada, referred to as the active militias.
Colonial American military history is the military record of the Thirteen Colonies from their founding to the American Revolution in 1775.
Captain Runchey's Company of Coloured Men was a Canadian militia company of free blacks and indentured black servants, raised in Upper Canada as a small Black corps under a White officer, Robert Reuben Runchey (1759–1819), a tavern keeper from Jordan, Upper Canada. The unit fought in several actions during the early part of the Anglo-American War of 1812. In 1813, Runchey's Company was converted into a unit of the Canadian Corps of Provincial Artificers, attached to the Royal Sappers and Miners, in which sappers and miners performed specialized military operations. They served on the Niagara River front during the war, and were disbanded a few months after the war ended. The Company of Coloured Men's military heritage is perpetuated in the modern Canadian Army by the Lincoln and Welland Regiment.
This is a bibliography of works on the military history of Canada.
The Battle of Sorel occurred on June 19, 1610, with Samuel de Champlain supported by the Kingdom of France and his allies, the Huron, Algonquin people, and Montagnais that fought against the Mohawk people in New France at present-day Sorel-Tracy, Quebec. The forces of Champlain armed with the arquebus engaged and killed or captured nearly all of the Mohawks. The battle ended major hostilities with the Mohawks for twenty years.
The military history of the Mi'kmaq consisted primarily of Mi'kmaq warriors (smáknisk) who participated in wars against the English independently as well as in coordination with the Acadian militia and French royal forces. The Mi'kmaq militias remained an effective force for over 75 years before the Halifax Treaties were signed (1760–1761). In the nineteenth century, the Mi'kmaq "boasted" that, in their contest with the British, the Mi'kmaq "killed more men than they lost". In 1753, Charles Morris stated that the Mi'kmaq have the advantage of "no settlement or place of abode, but wandering from place to place in unknown and, therefore, inaccessible woods, is so great that it has hitherto rendered all attempts to surprise them ineffectual". Leadership on both sides of the conflict employed standard colonial warfare, which included scalping non-combatants. After some engagements against the British during the American Revolutionary War, the militias were dormant throughout the nineteenth century, while the Mi'kmaq people used diplomatic efforts to have the local authorities honour the treaties. After confederation, Mi'kmaq warriors eventually joined Canada's war efforts in World War I and World War II. The most well-known colonial leaders of these militias were Chief (Sakamaw) Jean-Baptiste Cope and Chief Étienne Bâtard.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Parrott, Zach; Marshall, Tabitha (July 31, 2019). "Iroquois Wars". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Historica Canada. Archived from the original on November 27, 2020. Retrieved February 24, 2023.
1 2 Jaenen, Cornelius J.; McIntosh, Andrew (November 13, 2019). "Great Peace of Montreal, 1701". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Historica Canada. Archived from the original on February 25, 2023. Retrieved February 24, 2023.
↑ "Destruction of Port Royal: 1613". www.lermuseum.org. The Loyal Edmonton Regiment Museum. 2018. Archived from the original on September 27, 2023. Retrieved September 26, 2023.
1 2 Cooper, Celine (January 17, 2020). "Sir David Kirke". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Historica Canada. Archived from the original on September 23, 2023. Retrieved September 26, 2023.
1 2 3 4 Marsh, James H. (July 21, 2015). "Acadian Civil War". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Historica Canada. Archived from the original on February 25, 2023. Retrieved February 24, 2023.
↑ "Sedgwick, Robert". www.biographi.ca. University of Toronto/Université Laval. 2023. Archived from the original on September 26, 2023. Retrieved September 26, 2023.
↑ Bruijn, J. R. (1993). The Dutch Navy of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press. pp.68–69. ISBN9780872498754.
↑ Kloster, W. (2016). The Dutch Moment: War, Trade, and Settlement in the Seventeenth-Century Atlantic World. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. p.103. ISBN9781501706677.
↑ Sutherland, Stuart R.J. (June 19, 2015). "Treaty of Breda". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Historica Canada. Archived from the original on February 24, 2023. Retrieved February 24, 2023.
↑ Roper, L. H. (2017). Advancing Empire English Interests and Overseas Expansion, 1613-1688. Cambridge University Press. p.215. ISBN9781107118911.
↑ Pannekoek, Frits; Scott, Jeff; Filice, Michelle (January 23, 2023). "Battle of Hudson Bay". www.thecanadianencylopedia.ca. Historica Canada. Archived from the original on March 12, 2023. Retrieved March 12, 2023.
↑ Sutherland, Stuart R.J. (January 10, 2023). "Treaty of Ryswick". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Historica Canada. Archived from the original on February 24, 2023. Retrieved February 24, 2023.
1 2 Ogilvy, James A. (September 21, 2017). "War of the Spanish Succession". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Historica Canada. Archived from the original on February 26, 2023. Retrieved February 25, 2023.
1 2 Sutherland, Stuart R. (June 19, 2015). "Treaty of Utrecht". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Historica Canada. Archived from the original on February 17, 2023. Retrieved February 25, 2023.
1 2 Belshaw, John Douglas (April 13, 2015). "4.9 War in the Pays d'en Haut". Canadian History: Pre-Confederation. BCcampus Open Publishing. Archived from the original on March 18, 2024. Retrieved April 14, 2024.
1 2 3 Eccles, William John; Marshall, Tabitha (March 29, 2021). "War of the Austrian Succession". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Historica Canada. Archived from the original on February 26, 2023. Retrieved February 25, 2023.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Eccles, William John; Marshall, Tabitha (March 24, 2021). "Seven Years' War". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Historica Canada. Archived from the original on October 26, 2022. Retrieved March 4, 2023.
↑ Stephen E. Patterson (1998). "Indian-White Relations in Nova Scotia, 1749–61: A Study in Political Interaction". In P. Buckner; G. Campbell; D. Frank (eds.). The Acadiensis Reader. Vol.1: Atlantic Canada Before Confederation. pp.105–106.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Sprague, D. N.; Foot, Richard; Filice, Michelle (January 24, 2023). "American Revolution and Canada". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Historica Canada. Archived from the original on May 31, 2022. Retrieved March 4, 2023.
↑ Lester D. Langley (2010). America and the Americas: the United States in the Western Hemisphere (2nded.). University of Georgia Press. p.8. ISBN978-0-8203-2888-1.
↑ "The Defence of the Fisheries". www.heritage.nf.ca. Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage. 2020. Archived from the original on April 14, 2021. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Marsh, James H.; Berton, Pierre; de Bruin, Tabitha (October 31, 2018). "War of 1812". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Historica Canada. Archived from the original on March 6, 2023. Retrieved March 6, 2023.
1 2 Barkwell, Lawrence (July 18, 2018). "Battle of Seven Oaks". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Historica Canada. Archived from the original on March 21, 2023. Retrieved March 3, 2023.
1 2 3 4 Foot, Richard; McIntosh, Andrew (October 4, 2019). "Rebellion of 1837–38". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Historica Canada. Archived from the original on February 28, 2023. Retrieved February 27, 2023.
↑ Wright, Eric (September 10, 2019). "Fraser Canyon War". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Historica Canada. Archived from the original on October 24, 2021. Retrieved March 5, 2023.
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↑ Brian Jenkins (2008). The Fenian problem: insurgency and terrorism in a liberal state, 1858–1874. McGill-Queen's University Press (MQUP). pp.62–64. ISBN978-0-7735-3426-1.
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Shaw, Susan Evans, and Jean Crankshaw. Canadians at War Vol. 1: A Guide to the Battlefields and Memorials of World War I; Vol. 2: A Guide to the Battlefields and Memorials of World War II (2014)
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