Invading the Motherland

The Canadian civilian-soldiers of the two world wars went overseas by the hundreds of thousands to protect the British Empire and Canada from Germany and its allies. As men and women from the northern Dominion, they already had a reputation as rough-and-tumble colonials, which was cultivated through plays, poems and public perception. The Canadians saw themselves as unique compared to the British, even though they came from the same stock. The British, in turn, seemed largely accepting of these colonial wild men. One Second World War complaint to the authorities referred to how “a Canadian soldier on leave has visited my home. As a result, both my daughter and I are pregnant. Not that we hold it against your soldier, but the last time he was here he took my daughter’s bicycle which she needs to go to work. Can you get him to return it?”

Canada was profoundly shaped by the two world wars. More than 1.6 million Canadians served in uniform and 110,000...