Canada's Position with British Empire
The Chanak Crisis
Canada's Position with the British Empire
Canada was a colony of Britain, so some of their decisions were still made by the british government (Canada was a part of the British Empire). Although, the canadian government was able to decide how much they wanted to be involved in the first world war. On August 4th 1914 Britain declared war on Germany, so Canada was brought into the war. The next day (August 5th) Canada declared war on Germany and joined the war with Britain. Once Britain declared war on Germany, Canada was automatically part of the war too. Canadians fought in a clear unit, at first Canadian troops were controlled by a British commander, but really they were under control of a Canadian-born commander. Canadians that were born of british descent felt that it was Canada’s duty to fight under control of Britain, and Robert Borden (who was Prime Minister at the time) offered assistance from Canada to Britain. During this war Canada had many victories that made them think twice about being controlled by Britain. Some of the most important battles that Canada fought in were Vimy Ridge, Somme, Passchendaele and Ypres. The battle of Vimy Ridge was a huge accomplishment for Canada because both French and British troops had tried to take Vimy Ridge from Germany, but they were unable to. Once Canadian troops were brought into the battle they won in a matter of days. Vimy Ridge is the most celebrated battle in Canada even today. By winning this battle, Canada realized that maybe they didn’t need to be under control of Britain anymore. They were strong enough to become more independant. Although Canada was already its own country, they were still tied to Britain in many ways. After and during the war, Canadians started to realize that they could become even more independent and maybe they didn’t need to be a part of the british empire anymore.
The Chanak Crisis
The Chanak Crisis was a risk of war between Britain and the Republic of Turkey in September 1922. It was caused because Turkish troops were threatening some of the British troops that were stationed in Turkey in a neutral zone (they were stationed here because it was just after the first world war). The British troops were stationed in a place called Chanak near the international sea route that divided Asia and Europe. Turkey had succeeded in pushing the Greek armies out of Turkey and now wanted to move the British troops out too. War between Turkey and Britain seemed possible. The only thing was that in Britain the public and the military did not want to go to war. So, on September 15th, Britain had sent out a telegram calling upon the British Dominions (Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa). France and Italy also refused to provide military support and refused to go to war. At the time the Prime Minister in Canada was William Lyon Mackenzie King. People expected that the Prime minister would automatically provide support to Britain and stay loyal to Britain. They decided to talk about this matter in parliament. Some people were angry that the Prime Minister didn’t want to send troops and help out Britain, some people believed that they shouldn’t agree to war. The issue was discussed for a long time in parliament and by the time they had made a decision the conflict between Britain and Turkey had passed. No war took place between Britain and Turkey, party because nobody wanted to agree to war or provide military support. By 1923 (the next year) foreign troops began to move out of Turkey and Turkey gained more control of their country. Prime Minister didn’t want to help out Britain in the situation, so this made it clear that the Prime Minister and the Parliament wanted a lot more independence for Canada. This event was important for Canada, not because it directly affected it, but because it showed that we were becoming more independent as a country.