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Canada´s Road to the Pacific War: Intelligence, Strategy, and the Far East Crisis
Timothy Wilford
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Description for Canada´s Road to the Pacific War: Intelligence, Strategy, and the Far East Crisis
Paperback. An intriguing account of Canada's role as a Pacific power during the crisis that led to war with Japan. Series: Studies in Canadian Military History. Num Pages: 312 pages. BIC Classification: 1KBC; HBJK; HBW. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 5817 x 3887 x 20. Weight in Grams: 476.
In December 1941, Japan attacked multiple targets in the Far East and the Pacific, including Canadian battalions stationed in Hong Kong. The disaster suggested that the Allies were totally unprepared for war. This book dispels that assumption by offering the first in-depth account of Canadian intelligence gathering and strategic planning on the eve of the Pacific War.
Canadians worked closely with their US and Allied counterparts to develop a picture of Japan’s intentions and a strategic plan to meet challenges in the Pacific. Although Canada wanted to avoid conflict with Japan until US participation was assured, policy makers anticipated action in the Pacific and made preparations for defence, which included the internment of Japanese Canadians. By highlighting Canada’s role as a Pacific power, Timothy Wilford sheds new light on events that led to the crisis in the Far East, as well as to the creation of the Grand Alliance.
Product Details
Format
Paperback
Publication date
2012
Publisher
University of British Columbia Press Canada
Number of pages
312
Condition
New
Series
Studies in Canadian Military History
Number of Pages
312
Place of Publication
Vancouver, Canada
ISBN
9780774821223
SKU
V9780774821223
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 7 to 11 working days
Ref
99-1
About Timothy Wilford
Timothy Wilford received a doctorate in history from the University of Ottawa and specializes in twentieth-century military history.
Reviews for Canada´s Road to the Pacific War: Intelligence, Strategy, and the Far East Crisis
... Canada's Road to the Pacific War is a valuable contribution to the existing historiography. Wilford demonstrates clearly and effectively that Canada was a small but important link in the creation of the anti-Axis alliance prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor. With this examination of Canada's role in the Pacific, students of the Second World War and general readers alike can both form a better understanding of how the Allied nations cooperated to stem the tide of fascist aggression in 1941.
David Macri
Journal of Military History
The speed with which the Dominion declared war, Timothy Wilford shows in this meticulously researched book, had more to do with Prime Minister Mackenzie King’s political calculus that to demonstrate Canadian sovereignty it was better to act before the rest of the British Commonwealth and the United States, than it did with Canadian pre-war preparedness. Yet Wilford has uncovered many traces of Canada’s (surprising) willingness to risk war to roll back Japanese advances in China.
Nathan M. Greenfield
Times Literary Supplement
Canada’s Road to the Pacific War raises awareness of the motivations behind military planning and political decision-making during the final months before Canada’s war with Japan. Wilford presents his research with methodical organization, effective transitions and summaries, and rich documentation, to provide an insightful explanation of Canada’s evolving wartime relationship with Britain and the United States. He shows the extent to which racism coloured the judgment of military and government decision-makers, both in underestimating Japanese military capabilities and in overestimating the threat posed by Japanese-Canadians living in coastal British Columbia. Above all, Wilford gives us an intelligence-based understanding of the Mackenzie King government’s decisions to prepare for the internment of Japanese-Canadians, to support the trade embargo against Japan, to send Canadian soldiers to the ill-fated defence of Hong Kong, and to be the first Allied nation to declare war against Japan.
James Wood
BC Studies, No. 177, Spring 2013
This workmanlike book illuminates the information received in Ottawa about the deteriorating situation in the Pacific between 1939 and 1941 ...The documents discussed also show how the pressures of wartime cooperation were transforming not only the relationships between Canada and the United States but also those between Washington and London.
Jan Drent
Northern Mariner, 23.1
David Macri
Journal of Military History
The speed with which the Dominion declared war, Timothy Wilford shows in this meticulously researched book, had more to do with Prime Minister Mackenzie King’s political calculus that to demonstrate Canadian sovereignty it was better to act before the rest of the British Commonwealth and the United States, than it did with Canadian pre-war preparedness. Yet Wilford has uncovered many traces of Canada’s (surprising) willingness to risk war to roll back Japanese advances in China.
Nathan M. Greenfield
Times Literary Supplement
Canada’s Road to the Pacific War raises awareness of the motivations behind military planning and political decision-making during the final months before Canada’s war with Japan. Wilford presents his research with methodical organization, effective transitions and summaries, and rich documentation, to provide an insightful explanation of Canada’s evolving wartime relationship with Britain and the United States. He shows the extent to which racism coloured the judgment of military and government decision-makers, both in underestimating Japanese military capabilities and in overestimating the threat posed by Japanese-Canadians living in coastal British Columbia. Above all, Wilford gives us an intelligence-based understanding of the Mackenzie King government’s decisions to prepare for the internment of Japanese-Canadians, to support the trade embargo against Japan, to send Canadian soldiers to the ill-fated defence of Hong Kong, and to be the first Allied nation to declare war against Japan.
James Wood
BC Studies, No. 177, Spring 2013
This workmanlike book illuminates the information received in Ottawa about the deteriorating situation in the Pacific between 1939 and 1941 ...The documents discussed also show how the pressures of wartime cooperation were transforming not only the relationships between Canada and the United States but also those between Washington and London.
Jan Drent
Northern Mariner, 23.1