Canada in the Great Power Game: 1914-2014

Canada in the Great Power Game: 1914-2014 PDF Author: Gwynne Dyer
Publisher: Vintage Canada
ISBN: 0307361691
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 450

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Book Description
Canada in the Great Power Game 1914-2014 is a serious contemplation of what it means to engage in major world conflicts, and the price we pay when we do. The First World War was Canada's baptism of fire, or at least the only one that people now remember. (Montrealers in 1776 or Torontonians in 1814 would have taken a different view.) From 1914 to 1918, after a century of peace, Canadians were plunged back into the old world of great power rivalries and great wars. So was everybody else, but Canadians were volunteers. We didn't have to fight, but we chose to, out of loyalty to ideas and institutions that today many of us no longer believe in. And we have been doing the same thing ever since, although we haven't quite given up on the latest set of ideas and institutions yet. In Canada in the Great Power Game, Gwynne Dyer moves back and forth between the seminal event, the First World War, and all the later conflicts that Canada chose to fight in. He draws parallels between these conflicts, with the same idealism among the young soldiers, and the same deeply conflicted emotions among the survivors, surfacing time and again in every war right down to Afghanistan. And in each case, the same arguments pro and con arise—mostly from people who are a long, safe way from the killing grounds—for every one of those "wars of choice." Echoing throughout the book are the voices of the people who lived through the wars: the veterans, the politicians, the historians, the eyewitnesses. And Dyer takes a number of so-called excursions from his historical account, in which he revisits the events and puts them in context, pausing to ask such questions as "What if we hadn't fought Hitler?" and "Is war written in our genes?" This entertaining and provocative book casts an unsparing eye over what happens when Canada and the great powers get in the war business, illuminating much about how we see ourselves on the world stage.

Canada in the Great Power Game: 1914-2014

Canada in the Great Power Game: 1914-2014 PDF Author: Gwynne Dyer
Publisher: Vintage Canada
ISBN: 0307361691
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 450

Get Book

Book Description
Canada in the Great Power Game 1914-2014 is a serious contemplation of what it means to engage in major world conflicts, and the price we pay when we do. The First World War was Canada's baptism of fire, or at least the only one that people now remember. (Montrealers in 1776 or Torontonians in 1814 would have taken a different view.) From 1914 to 1918, after a century of peace, Canadians were plunged back into the old world of great power rivalries and great wars. So was everybody else, but Canadians were volunteers. We didn't have to fight, but we chose to, out of loyalty to ideas and institutions that today many of us no longer believe in. And we have been doing the same thing ever since, although we haven't quite given up on the latest set of ideas and institutions yet. In Canada in the Great Power Game, Gwynne Dyer moves back and forth between the seminal event, the First World War, and all the later conflicts that Canada chose to fight in. He draws parallels between these conflicts, with the same idealism among the young soldiers, and the same deeply conflicted emotions among the survivors, surfacing time and again in every war right down to Afghanistan. And in each case, the same arguments pro and con arise—mostly from people who are a long, safe way from the killing grounds—for every one of those "wars of choice." Echoing throughout the book are the voices of the people who lived through the wars: the veterans, the politicians, the historians, the eyewitnesses. And Dyer takes a number of so-called excursions from his historical account, in which he revisits the events and puts them in context, pausing to ask such questions as "What if we hadn't fought Hitler?" and "Is war written in our genes?" This entertaining and provocative book casts an unsparing eye over what happens when Canada and the great powers get in the war business, illuminating much about how we see ourselves on the world stage.

Gendered Militarism in Canada

Gendered Militarism in Canada PDF Author: Nancy Taber
Publisher: University of Alberta
ISBN: 1772121096
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
“Despite Canada’s claim to be a gender equitable nation, militarism continues to function in ways that protect inequality.” —from the Introduction Little has been done to examine, critique, and challenge the ways ingrained societal ideas of militarism and gender influence lifelong learning patterns and practices of Canadians. Editor Nancy Taber and ten other contributors explore reasons why Canadian educators should be concerned with how learning, militarism, and gender intersect. Readers may be surprised to discover how this reaches beyond the classroom into the everyday lessons, attitudes, and habits that all Canadians are taught, often without question. Pushing the boundaries of education theory, research, and practice, this book will be of particular interest to feminist, adult, and teacher educators and to scholars and students of education, the military, and women’s and gender studies. Contributors: Mark Anthony Castrodale, Gillian L. Fournier, Andrew Haddow, Cindy L. Hanson, Laura Lane, Jamie Magnusson, Robert C. Mizzi, Shahrzad Mojab, Snežana Ratković, Roger Saul, Nancy Taber.

Living with War

Living with War PDF Author: Robert Teigrob
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 1442612509
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 482

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Book Description
In Living with War, Robert Teigrob examines how war is experienced and remembered on both sides of the 49th parallel.

Thunder Bay at War

Thunder Bay at War PDF Author: John Pateman
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1312721308
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 95

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Book Description
This is the story of the men from Thunder Bay (formerly Port Arthur and Fort William) who died in the First and Second World Wars and are buried in five local cemeteries.

Cold Fire

Cold Fire PDF Author: John Boyko
Publisher: Knopf Canada
ISBN: 0345808932
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 386

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Book Description
Forget all you think you know about the Kennedy years. With narrative flair and sparkling storytelling, acclaimed historian John Boyko explores the crucial period when America and its allies were fighting the Cold War's most treacherous battles, Canadians were trading sovereignty for security, and everyone feared a nuclear holocaust. At the centre of this story are three leaders. President John F. Kennedy pledged to pay any price to advance his vision for America's defence and needed Canada to step smartly in line. Fighting him at every turn was Conservative prime minister John Diefenbaker, an unapologetic nationalist trying to bolster Canada's autonomy. Liberal leader Lester Pearson, the Nobel Prize-winning diplomat, sought a middle ground. Boyko employs meticulous research and newly released documents to present shocking revelations. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, Canadian warships guarded America's Atlantic coast and Canada suffered a silent coup d'état. Canada was involved in Kennedy's sliding America into Vietnam. Kennedy knew the nuclear missiles he was forcing on Canada would be decoys, there only to draw Soviet nuclear fire. Kennedy's pollster and political adviser travelled to Ottawa under a fake passport to help defeat the Canadian government. And, perhaps most startlingly, if not for Diefenbaker, Kennedy may have survived the bullets in Dallas.

Advocating Overlord

Advocating Overlord PDF Author: Philip Padgett
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 1640120483
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 424

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Book Description
"Well there it is. It won't work, but you must bloody well make it," said the chief of Britain's military leaders, when he gave orders to begin planning for what became known as Operation Overlord. While many view D-Day as one of the most successful operations of World War II, most aren't aware of the intensive year of planning and political tension between the Allies that preceded the amphibious military landing on June 6, 1944. This intriguing history reveals how President Franklin D. Roosevelt, while on a fishing trip in the middle of World War II, altered his attitude toward Winston Churchill and became an advocate for Operation Overlord. Philip Padgett challenges the known narrative of this watershed moment in history and illuminates the diplomatic link between Normandy and the atomic bomb. He shows how the Allies came to agree on a liberation strategy that began with D-Day--and the difficult forging of British and American scientific cooperation that produced the atomic bomb. At its core this story is about how a new generation of leaders found the courage to step beyond national biases in a truly allied endeavor to carry out one of history's most successful military operations.

Space Is Power

Space Is Power PDF Author: John Hickman
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 1498512909
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 217

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Book Description
From Russia’s annexation of Crimea to China’s ‘nine-dash line’ in the South China Sea, it is clear that territory is as important in international politics now as it has ever been. Yet too few contemporary foreign policy makers, journalists, and scholars are able to speak coherently about territorial issues. Space Is Power: The Seven Rules of Territory challenges the intellectual conceits that human territoriality is merely a social construct, that territorial sovereignty is atavistic, that territorial annexation is always irrational, and that territorial disputes are provoked by foreign policy makers who seek to divert public attention from more important issues. Space Is Power argues that territoriality is too basic to human nature to be denied and territorial sovereignty is too important to the survival of the modern state to be ignored. The truths about territory are captured in seven rules, some of which are intuitive while others contradict conventional wisdom. Rather than anticipating the transcendence of the territorial states, this book argues that the unmistakable direction of international politics is toward encompassing ever more physical space as the territory of states.

The Next Great War?

The Next Great War? PDF Author: Richard N. Rosecrance
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262326787
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
Experts consider how the lessons of World War I can help prevent U.S.–China conflict. A century ago, Europe's diplomats mismanaged the crisis triggered by the murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and the continent plunged into World War I, which killed millions, toppled dynasties, and destroyed empires. Today, as the hundredth anniversary of the Great War prompts renewed debate about the war's causes, scholars and policy experts are also considering the parallels between the present international system and the world of 1914. Are China and the United States fated to follow in the footsteps of previous great power rivals? Will today's alliances drag countries into tomorrow's wars? Can leaders manage power relationships peacefully? Or will East Asia's territorial and maritime disputes trigger a larger conflict, just as rivalries in the Balkans did in 1914? In The Next Great War?, experts reconsider the causes of World War I and explore whether the great powers of the twenty-first century can avoid the mistakes of Europe's statesmen in 1914 and prevent another catastrophic conflict. They find differences as well as similarities between today's world and the world of 1914—but conclude that only a deep understanding of those differences and early action to bring great powers together will likely enable the United States and China to avoid a great war. Contributors Alan Alexandroff, Graham Allison, Richard N. Cooper, Charles S. Maier, Steven E. Miller, Joseph S. Nye Jr., T. G. Otte, David K. Richards, Richard N. Rosecrance, Kevin Rudd, Jack Snyder, Etel Solingen, Arthur A. Stein, Stephen Van Evera

The Great Powers and the European States System 1814-1914

The Great Powers and the European States System 1814-1914 PDF Author: Roy Bridge
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317867912
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 359

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Book Description
This book illuminates, in the form of a clear, well-paced and student-friendly analytical narrative, the functioning of the European states system in its heyday, the crucial century between the defeat of Napoleon in 1814 and the outbreak of the First World War just one hundred years later. In this substantially revised and expanded version of the text, the author has included the results of the latest research, a body of additional information and a number of carefully designed maps that will make the subject even more accessible to readers.

Climate Wars

Climate Wars PDF Author: Gwynne Dyer
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 178074059X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
An essential, terryfying, and insightful analysis of a world plunging into crisis arrives in mass market paperback Dwindling resources. Massive population shifts. Natural disasters. Any of the expected consequences of climate change could - as Gwyne Dyer argues - tip the world towards chaos and conflict. Bold, unflinching, and based on extensive research, Climate Wars is an essential guide to the future of our planet that grippingly reveals just how far world powers are likely to go to ensure their own survival in an increasingly hostile environment.