World War I: Canada's Role In World Events

Canada’s Role in World Events Canada has really changed throughout the years and went from a colony of Britain, to the proud independent nation it is today. Over the years this country has played a large role in world events which helped shape not only them, but the whole world, whether it be providing military support or signing a treaty. Even though Canada was not as influential as other countries such as France, Britain, the US and Russia, they still made a contribution putting them on the world stage. The positive changes that Canada made were a result of their involvements in world events, which helped the country in becoming stronger and more developed. Some examples of these world events are World War One, World War Two, and the Cold …show more content…
Before the First World War started, Canada was known as a colony of Britain, and just that. Nobody took them seriously and many thought they had no impact on the war, which they soon proved to be wrong. The Canadians entered the war as a colony of Britain, but left as a proud nation as a result of their contribution in the war. The war was the bloodiest conflict in Canadian history, with around 61’000 casualties, however battles such as Ypres, Somme, Passchendaele and Vimy Ridge triggered many Canadians to believe that Canada could be its own country and not a colony of Britain. The battle of Vimy Ridge was by far the most successful for the Canadians and it changed the way Canadians were looked at. The Canadians captured the very difficult position that the other allies could not, which was the start of Canada becoming its own nation. Not only did they provide Britain with military support on the ground, but also in the air and at sea as well as providing Britain with weapons. When the First World War ended and the time came to sign the Treaty of Versailles, Canada came as their own nation and were no longer considered a part of the British Commonwealth. Before the treaty, Canada was not officially its own country but when the war ended, Canada benefited because they came out as a proud nation. Although the war made Canada stronger and overall …show more content…
The Cold War was a time where the world split into two halves, one half democratic and the other half communist. Canada was democratic and the Cold War was a period of time where Canada and the US’s relations started to improve. The United States was a superpower, so for Canada to be closely tied with them changed a lot and led to many different agreements and trades to be made. The reason the Cold War helped make Canada stronger was because of its contributions to the world. When WWII ended, PM Mackenzie King visited the San Francisco Conference with the ‘Big Five’ nations, and Canada was just one status down from being one of the Big Five, a middle power. They had a booming economy and was one of the most prosperous countries in the world at the time, which is an upgrade from just a couple of years ago when they were just a colony of Britain. Canada was also part of a treaty with the US and Western European nations called NATO, (North American Treaty Organization) to provide collective security against the Soviet Union, which raised their status as well as the confidence of Canadians. Finally, Canada was made stronger as a result of leaders such as Lester Pearson. Pearson accomplished a lot during his lifetime, and even earned a nobel peace prize for solving the Suez Crisis. He also did a lot as a leader and really helped make Canada the country it is today. Although he did