Defence Scheme No. 2 was a Canadian military strategy developed after the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

that outlined the Canadian response in the event of a war between the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. The primary concern of the strategy was remaining

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in any conflict between the two countries.

Origins

Plans for the scheme began immediately after the First World War. However, it was not greatly developed until the early 1930s, when

James Sutherland Brown Brigadier General James "Buster" Sutherland Brown (June 28, 1881 – April 14, 1951) was a Canadian military officer best known for drafting Defence Scheme No. 1, a contingency war plan in 1921 to invade and occupy several American border citi ...

constructed a rough model of the strategy. The major tenet of Brown's model was the defence of the Pacific coast in the event of a war between the United States and Japan. General

Andrew McNaughton General (Canada), General Andrew George Latta McNaughton (25 February 1887 – 11 July 1966) was a Canadian Electrical engineering, electrical engineer, scientist, army officer, Minister (government), cabinet minister, and diplomat. Before th ...

would later transform the model into a commitment towards protecting Canadian neutrality. In 1933, the strategy was finalized, but it was not approved by the government until 1936.

Issues

There were several issues that made the strategy of Canadian neutrality unlikely:

Attitudes

In Canada, there was an anti-Japanese and pro-American sentiment to contend with. It would have been difficult for the government to maintain neutrality and retain the support of citizens if it did not at least attempt to align with the United States.

Imperial ties

Because of Canada's imperial ties, if

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

decided to join the Americans in a war against the Japanese, it would be difficult for Canada to remain neutral. If Britain went to war, it would not include Canada by default since the Statute of Westminster in 1931 had transferred war-making powers to the Canadian Parliament, but existing ties would have made it likely for Canada to have been drawn in. (However, the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State (6 December 192229 December 1937), also known by its Irish-language, Irish name ( , ), was a State (polity), state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-ye ...

, then a

dominion A dominion was any of several largely self-governance, self-governing countries of the British Empire, once known collectively as the ''British Commonwealth of Nations''. Progressing from colonies, their degrees of self-governing colony, colon ...

within the British Empire, remained neutral throughout the Second World War.

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, also a dominion, also had internal challenges to a war with Germany. Dominion status was not, therefore, a guarantee in itself of military alliance with Britain.) That relationship had been untested since World War I and was intact until Canada declared war on

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

in 1939. If Britain joined in such a war, it would effectively destroy Canada’s policy of neutrality.

Proximity to the United States

The proximity between Canada and the United States made it only natural that there would be some overlap in the defence of territory. The United States was testing aircraft and flying through Canadian airspace to

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. If Canada allowed the United States to continue that practice, it was feared that it would lead to an unwanted situation. Effectively, Canada would be thus trying to avoid dangerous engagements between Japan or the United States. Even though the American planes overhead were creating tension and a threat to neutrality, Canada was not willing to risk neutrality in a time of peace. The Joint Staff Committee suggested that

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

tell

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that it could offer "no military commitment in advance of an actual crisis developing."Perras, Roger "‘FUTURE PLAYS WILL DEPEND ON HOW THE NEXT ONE WORKS’: FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT AND THE CANADIAN LEGATION DISCUSSIONS OF JANUARY 1938" ''Journal of Military and Strategic Studies'', Winter 2006/07, Vol. 9, Issue 2. 26-27

References

Sources

*Bercuson, David J. and J.L. Granatstein. ''Dictionary of Canadian Military History''. Canada: Oxford University Press, 1992 *Granatstein, J. L. ''Canada's Army: Waging War and Keeping the Peace''. University of Toronto Press, 2004 https://books.google.com/books?id=jqxyhNcha3sC&q=Canada%27s+Army&pg=PA171 *Perras, Galen. "‘FUTURE PLAYS WILL DEPEND ON HOW THE NEXT ONE WORKS’: FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT AND THE CANADIAN LEGATION DISCUSSIONS OF JANUARY 1938." ''Journal of Military and Strategic Studies'', Winter 2006/07, Vol. 9, Issue 2. http://www.jmss.org/2007/2007winter/articles/perras_cont-defence.pdf{{Dead link, date=July 2019 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes *Perras, Galen Roger and Katrina E. Kellner. "’A perfectly logical and sensible thing’: Billy Mitchell Advocates a Canadian-American Aerial Alliance against Japan." ''The Journal of Military History'', Volume 72, Number 3, July 2008 Canada–United States relations Military history of Canada Military plans