They expected the brave and Christian conquering heroes manufactured by the opinion-makers, rather than the combat-scarred, weary, and often embittered men who disembarked back in the Dominion. It took another decade of less-filtered information - ten years of pain and dislocation for returned veterans - before the Great War imagined by Canadian noncombatants began to resemble the war really experienced by Canadians overseas.
The Canadian government censored the news during World War II for two main reasons: to keep military and economic secrets out of enemy hands and to prevent civilian morale from breaking down. But in those tumultuous times - with Nazi spies landing on our shores by raft, U-boat attacks in the St. Lawrence, army mutinies in British Columbia and Ontario and pro-Hitler propaganda in the mainstream Quebec press - censors had a hard time keeping news events contained. Now, with freshly unsealed World War II press-censor files, many of the undocumented events that occurred in wartime Canada are finally revealed. In Mark Bourrie's illuminating and well-researched account, we learn about the capture of a Nazi spy-turned-double agent, the Japanese-Canadian editor who would one day help develop Canada's medicare system, the curious chiropractor from Saskatchewan who spilled atomic bomb secrets to a roomful of people and the use of censorship to stop balloon bomb attacks from Japan. The Fog of War investigates the realities of media censorship through the experiences of those deputized to act on behalf of the public and reveals why press censorship in wartime Canada was, at best, a hit-and-miss game.
At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War on July 17, 1936, forty-two thousand Internationals, comprised of Canadians, Americans, and Spaniards, fought together on the side of the Republicans who were trying to throw back fascist dictator General Franco?s troops, which included countless German and Italian soldiers. By October 29, 1938 though, only two thousand Internationals were able to gather for a speech requesting them to withdraw. Despite all their efforts, Spain wanted to continue on its own, hoping the war would become a Spanish affair once again. Drawing on diaries and newly documented sources, Zuehlke offers a compelling account of the Canadian experience in Spain. It was not a popular war for Canada, with even the prime minister praising Hitler for his social and economic advances. Most world powers were aligning themselves with Italy and Germany, who supported Franco?s movement. Along with allied troops, some 1,500 Canadians joined together in a valiant but doomed cause. This is the story of these brave Canadians, who like all veterans of war, deserve to have their story told and their experiences related, so that they will not be forgotten.
Based upon original research in archives in Ireland, Great Britain, the United States and Canada, this study opens a new page in the history of wartime propaganda and censorship
"The book details the vast sums Global Affairs Canada, Veterans Affairs and the Department of National Defence spend articulating a one-sided version of Canada's foreign policy. A Propaganda System traces the long history of government information control during war, including formal censorship, as well as extreme media bias on topics ranging from Haiti to Palestine, investment agreements to the mining industry. The book also details the corporate elite's funding for university programs and think tanks"--Provided by publisher.
Compared to the idea that Canada was a nation forged in victory on Vimy Ridge, the reality of dissent and repression at home strikes a sour note. Through censorship, conscription, and internment, the government of Canada worked more ruthlessly than either Great Britain or the United States to suppress opposition to the war effort during the First World War. Polarity, Patriotism, and Dissent in Great War Canada, 1914-1919 examines the basis for those repressive policies. Brock Millman, an expert on wartime dissent in both the United Kingdom and Canada, argues that Canadian policy was driven first and foremost by a fear that opposition to the war amongst French Canadians and immigrant communities would provoke social tensions - and possibly even a vigilante backlash from the war's most fervent supporters in British Canada. Highlighting the class and ethnic divisions which characterized public support for the war, Polarity, Patriotism, and Dissent in Great War Canada, 1914-1919 offers a broad and much-needed reexamination of Canadian government policy on the home front.
The First World War is often credited as being the event that gave Canada its own identity, distinct from that of Britain, France, and the United States. Less often noted, however, is that it was also the cause of a great deal of friction within Canadian society. The fifteen essays contained in Canada and the First World War examine how Canadians experienced the war and how their experiences were shaped by region, politics, gender, class, and nationalism. Editor David MacKenzie has brought together some of the leading voices in Canadian history to take an in-depth look into the tensions and fractures the war caused, and to address the way some attitudes about the country were changed, while others remained the same. The essays vary in scope, but are strongly unified so as to create a collection that treats its subject in a complete and comprehensive manner. Canada and the First World War is a tribute to esteemed University of Toronto historian Robert Craig Brown, one of Canada's greatest authorities on the Great War World War One. The collection is a significant contribution to the on-going re-examination of Canada's experiences in war, and a must-read for students of Canadian history.
This volume explores the military and socio-cultural history of World War I, adding new dimensions not only to the history of Canada's role in the war but to the war's role in shaping Canada. The topics covered are wide-ranging and eclectic, and include, among others, studies of the Battle of Amiens, the Halifax explosion, Charlie Chaplin and wartime propaganda in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, Newfoundland's contribution to the war effort, the leadership capabilities of Brigadier General Griesbach, and the wartime poetry of John McRae.
Main description: Much of the story about the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany has yet to be told. In Motherland in Danger, Karel Berkhoff addresses one of the most neglected questions facing historians of the Second World War: how did the Soviet leadership sell the campaign against the Germans to the people on the home front? For Stalin, the obstacles were manifold. Repelling the German invasion would require a mobilization so large that it would test the limits of the Soviet state. Could the USSR marshal the manpower necessary to face the threat? How could the authorities overcome inadequate infrastructure and supplies? Might Stalin's regime fail to survive a sustained conflict with the Germans? Motherland in Danger takes us inside the Stalinist state to witness, from up close, its propaganda machine. Using sources in many languages, including memoirs and documents of the Soviet censor, Berkhoff explores how the Soviet media reflected-and distorted-every aspect of the war, from the successes and blunders on the front lines to the institution of forced labor on farm fields and factory floors. He also details the media's handling of Nazi atrocities and the Holocaust, as well as its stinting treatment of the Allies, particularly the United States, the UK, and Poland. Berkhoff demonstrates not only that propaganda was critical to the Soviet war effort but also that it has colored perceptions of the war to the present day, both inside and outside of Russia.
