The Gouzenko Affair

What would be on the exam?
Post War:
UN:
- An international organization
- Aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace
- The UN was founded in 1945 after World War II to replace the League of Nations
- Stops wars between countries, and to provide a platform for dialogue
FLQ: (1963-1970)
- Front de libération du Québec (FLQ; English: Quebec Liberation Front)
- Paramilitary group in Quebec
- Regarded as a terrorist organization for its violent methods of action
- Responsible for over 160 violent incidents which killed eight people and injured many more
- Attacks ended in 1970 with the October Crisis
- British Trade Commissioner James Cross was kidnapped and Quebec Labour Minister Pierre Laporte was murdered
- Supported the Quebec sovereignty movement
- FLQ members practised propaganda of the deed and issued declarations that called for a socialist insurrection against oppressors identified with "Anglo-Saxon" imperialism
- Wanted to overthrow the Quebec government
- Wanted the independence of Quebec from Canada and the establishment of a French-speaking Quebecer "workers' society"
- Soviet Union denounced the FLQ's kidnapping of Cross and the murder of Laporte
- Refused to recognize it as a national liberation movement
- Designated it as a "terrorist separatist organization".
Baby Boom:
- A period of increased birthrates lasting from 1946 to about 1965
- The baby boom began with the births of children who had been postponed during the Depression
- Improved economic conditions caused a recovery that accelerated during World War Two

People:
Lester B Pearson:
Liberal Party of Canada
(1958.01.16 - 1968.04.05)
John Diefenbaker:
Progressive Conservative Party
(1956.12.14 - 1967.09.08)
Brian Mulroney :
Progressive Conservative Party
(1983.06.11 - 1993.06.12)
Pierre E. Trudeau:
Liberal Party of Canada
(1968.04.06 - 1984.06.15)
Joseph Clark:
Progressive Conservative Party
( 1979 )  Only 7 months
Events:
Quiet Revolution: (1959-1960)
- Duplessis rejected ideas that were ‘progressive’ and worked to support the Catholic Church, the French language, and Quebec’s rural culture
- They wanted to make sure that things do not change
- It was against the law to form a union or strike
- Social conditions in Quebec had fallen behind those in the rest of the country
- Women could not vote in provincial elections until 1940
- And after that, married women in Quebec had much the same status and rights as children
- Under the new Liberal leadership, the Quebec society became more secular, moving away from its previous focus on the Catholic Churches
- Many people also began to openly question many social standards
- Traditions based on a rural way of life, such as high birth rates and early marriages, began to change
- Institutions such as education and health care were transformed as people welcomed the move to create a social safety net that was similar to that developing in the rest of Canada.

Berlin Blockade: (June 24th , 1948 - May 12th , 1949)

Why they were in Berlin:
- Yalta conference
- Plan was to go to Berlin, occupy Berlin and then leave
- Stalin stays – Spread of communism
- Everyone was trying to not go to war against Russia because it’s a civilian area and there are lots of people
- People won’t support the bombing of civilians
- They have already been at war for the last 7 years
- Open hostilities that were acceptable (democracy and freedom vs oppressive fascism) now there are no open hostilities
- Allies didn’t want to go to war and public wouldn’t be in favor
Why blockade was setup:
- Blockade was set up against Soviet Union
- Keeps out electricity, food, different supplies
- Allies ship supplies to Berlin civilians (don’t want to be the reason that civilians starve)
• Point of blockade = to get the other person to quit
- Both sides were stubborn
- No one stopped
Berlin wall:
- Physically separating East Germany from West Germany
- Agree to this because they don’t care about the loss of land in Germany o Satisfies both sides o Becomes a symbol of hostilities between East (communists) and the West
Gouzenko Affair:

When was it?
- September 5, 1945 (A short while before the Cold War)
Who was involved?
- Igor Gouzenko was a Russian cipher clerk working in the Soviet embassy in Ottawa
What happened?
- Embassy threatens to send him back to Russia
- He left the embassy one night carrying a number of secret documents
- Prime Minister wasn’t happy because they had a good relationship with Russia
- When Ottawa City Police arrived at the apartment, there was an angry exchange and the Soviets left without their cipher clerk or the stolen documents
- Gouzenko was taken by the city police to RCMP headquarters on September 7 for questioning
- Over there, he officially defected (switched loyalty to another side)
- He turned over the documents that he had taken from the Soviet embassy to the RCMP
- The papers proved the existence of a Soviet spy network operating inside several government departments in Canada and in the British High Commission in Ottawa
- The Soviets also had a spy network in the Canadian-British atomic research project to obtain secret atomic information from Canada, Great Britain and the United States.
- The three leaders agreed to organize a series of arrests, both in Canada and in Britain, some of which had to be delayed in order to get all suspects at one time
- Eventually 12 suspects, both British and Canadians, were arrested

Cold War:
- 1945 to 1991
- The sides were the Western Bloc, dominated by the United States with NATO and other allies; versus powers in the Eastern Bloc, dominated by the Soviet Union with the Warsaw Pact and other allies
- Could also be called a battle between Communism and Anti-Communism
- The Cold War was named because the two major powers did not meet in direct military combat
- However, in their struggle for global influence they engaged in ongoing psychological warfare and in regular indirect confrontations through proxy wars
- The Cold War and its events have left a significant legacy
- Is often referred to in popular culture, especially in media featuring themes of espionage and the threat of nuclear warfare
Soviet invasion of Manchuria (1945):
- As agreed with the Allies at the Yalta Conference, the Soviet Union declared war against Japan on 9 August 1945
- By 10 August, the Red Army occupied the northern part of the Korean peninsula as agreed
- On 26 August, halted at the 38th parallel for three weeks to await the arrival of US forces in the south
- The Soviets agreed to the US occupation zone demarcation to improve their negotiating position regarding the occupation zones in Eastern Europe, and because each would accept Japanese surrender where they stood
Korean War: (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953)
- War between the Republic of Korea (South Korea), supported by the United Nations, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), supported by the People's Republic of China
- Result of the political division of Korea by an agreement of the victorious Allies
- Korean Peninsula was ruled by the Empire of Japan from 1910 until the end of World War II
- The war didn't end, only major hostilities ended in '53.
- There was no peace treaty signed as usually happens to bring a war to its completion
- An armistice was signed, essentially a cease-fire agreement that left both sides without any actual closure.
Map:
NATO 1949:
- North Atlantic Treaty Organization
- A military alliance
• Belgium, Canada, western European countries
- Purpose of having alliance just after an end of the war o So nothing breaks out again
• To ensure to no longer have open hostilities
• Soviet Union create their own alliance

WARSAW Pact – 1959:

- Between Czech, Hungary…
- These 2 pacts will start an arms race o who has the greatest capacity for destruction
- Military advances need a lot of money o Good for scientists and jobs o Medical use of nuclear energy
• Nuclear imaging

Iron Curtain:
- Political, military, and ideological barrier erected by the Soviet Union after World War II
- Sealed off itself and its dependent eastern and central European allies from the West and other non-communist areas
- Restrictions of the Iron Curtain were reduced in the years following Joseph Stalin’s death in 1953
- Construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 restored them
- Symbolized the ideological conflict and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991
- On either side of the Iron Curtain, states developed their own international economic and military alliances:
• Member countries of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and the Warsaw Pact, with the Soviet Union as the leading country
• Member countries of the European Community and of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and associated countries with the United States as the leading country
World War Two:
Alliances:
- The Allies were Great Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States
- France was occupied by Germany early on and the Vichy government was a puppet of Germany thereafter
- Great Britain stood alone against the Axis until Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941
- In December of that year, the United States entered the war after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor
- The Axis consisted of Nazi Germany, Italy and the Japanese Empire
- Italy was knocked out in 1944 when the U.S. and Great Britain invaded from the South and Mussolini was overthrown
- Germany surrendered in May 1945 in the face of a crushing invasion by all three major Allied powers
- Japan surrendered in August of 1945 after the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Hiroshima and Nagasaki:
- On 8:15 A.M. on August 6, 1945, the nuclear weapon "Little Boy" was dropped on the city of Hiroshima
- This atomic bomb, the equivalent of 20,000 tons of TNT, flattened the city, killing tens of thousands of civilians
- Seventy-six hours later, on August 9, the "Fat Man" nuclear bomb was detonated over Nagasaki
- In Hiroshima, the bomb exploded over the center of the city, destroying everything in a one-mile radius
- In Nagasaki, the bomb was detonated in an industrial valley flanked by a mountain spur so that the total destruction took place within a half a mile that shielded the major business and residential districts
Conscription:
- Conscription Crisis of 1944 was a political and military crisis following the introduction of forced military service in Canada during World War II
- Similar to the Conscription Crisis of 1917, but was not as politically damaging
- After campaigns in Italy in 1943 and the Normandy invasion in 1944, combined with a lack of volunteers, Canada faced a shortage of troops
People:
Hitler:
- Adolf Hitler
- 20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945
- Austrian-born German politician
- Leader of the Nazi Party
- Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945
- Dictator of Nazi Germany from 1934 to 1945
- Was the centre of Nazi Germany, World War II in Europe, and the Holocaust
Mussolini:
- Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini
- 29 July 1883 – 28 April 1945
- Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party
- Ruled the country from 1922 to his ousting in 1943
- Credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of fascism
- Mussolini was Dictator of Italy from 1930 to 1943
- Destroyed all political opposition through his secret police
- Outlawed workers to go on strike
Stalin:
- Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin
- 18 December 1878 – 5 March 1953
- Leader of the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s until his death in 1953
- Managed to consolidate power following the 1924 death of Vladimir Lenin
- Expanded the functions of his role, while eliminating any opposition
- Under the leadership of Stalin, the concept of socialism in one country became a central principle of Soviet society
- Replaced the New Economic Policy introduced by Lenin in the early 1920s with a highly centralised command economy
- Launching a period of industrialization and collectivization that resulted in the rapid transformation of the USSR from an agricultural society into an industrial power
- Economic changes coincided with the imprisonment of several million people in Soviet correctional labour camps and the deportation of many others to remote areas
Churchill:
- Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill,
- 30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965
- British politician, best known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War
- Widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the 20th century, he served as Prime Minister twice (1940–45 and 1951–55)
- Is the only British prime minister to have received the Nobel Prize in Literature
- First person to be made an Honorary Citizen of the United States
Roosevelt:
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt also known by his initials, FDR
- January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945
- A central figure in world events during the mid-20th century
- Lead the U.S. during a time of worldwide economic depression and total war
- A dominant leader of the Democratic Party and the only American president elected to more than two terms
- Built a New Deal Coalition that realigned American politics after 1932
- His domestic policies defined American liberalism for the middle of the 20th century

1930s:
Causes of Depression:
1. Canada’s Dependence on the United States
Canada’s economy depended on that of the United States. Over 65 percent of our imports were from the United States and 40 percent of our exports were sent to the U.S. When America went through the depression, they did not need our resources anymore, a vast majority of our exporting income was lost.
2. Over-Production and Over-Expansion
When factories produced more than the demand, they realised they had over expanded and slowed down production and laid off workers. As a result, the workers did not have enough money to buy the products that were being made and buy the surplus products. This caused sales to decrease even further and the cycle of consumerism was disrupted.
3. Too Much Credit Buying
Many families took credit from banks so they could purchase whatever they wanted to at the time they wanted to. This lead to many individuals drowning in debt due to over purchasing.
4. Too Much Credit Buying of Stocks
People bought on margin because it would enable you to buy a thousand dollars’ worth of stocks for only a hundred dollars credit. The catch was that there was a high interest rate and it would only be worth it if the stocks rose quickly in value. In October of 1929, stock values decreased and investors sold all their stocks in order to avoid losses. The more stocks that were sold, the more the value of the stocks decreased. This caused stocks to lose a value of over 50%, causing the economy to deteriorate.
5. Canada’s Dependence on a Few Primary Products
Canada depends on few primary products to provide their revenue for the economy. Many events caused the During the depression, areas of Canada that depended mainly on one of the few products were suffering a great loss. Grasshoppers would eat all the wheat and droughts destroyed crops. Industries such as flour mills, railways, also slowed down without the production of wheat. Farmers could not pay their mortgages because they didn’t have any crops to sell.
6. High Tariffs Choked Off International Trade
European countries put high tariffs on imported goods which made Canada have to pay the countries extra money in order to sell them their goods. This was a major contributor to the start of the Great Depression because these tariffs decreased the Canadian revenue from international exporting. Although this was a background cause of the Great Depression, we feel it is the least important.
Unions:
- People were forced by the events of the depression to examine critically their place in society
- Industrial workers and tradesmen began to revive their unions
- Craft unions like the Trades and Labour Congress (TLC), which were fairly conservative, were being challenged by newer unions like the CIO which sprang from the different working conditions of mass-production industries like the automotive industry
Relief Camps:
- In 1931 the B.C. government established "relief camps" for single and unemployed men
- In these work camps, usually located in the wilderness far away from settled areas
- Young men were employed building roads, airports, military bases and parks
- The real purpose of the camps was to hide the men in far-off areas, away from cities where they tended to organize and make "trouble" for the police and government
On-to-Ottawa Trek:
- The federal government refused to negotiate with the relief camp strikers, despite the strong public support
- At a huge organizing meeting, strikers voted to take their complaints directly to Parliament Hill
- On June 3, 1935, the first group climbed on board the boxcars and left Vancouver
- By the time the trekkers reached Regina, P.M. Bennett decided it was time to put an end to this "insurrection“ (revolution)
- By the end of the evening of July 1, 1935, one person was dead, several hundred were injured, and thousands of dollars of property damage left downtown Regina in ruins
- The events helped to discredit Bennett's Conservative government
- After the Trek, the government provided free transportation back to the camps as a sign of peace
- The camps were soon dismantled and replaced by seasonal relief camps run by the provinces
- Paid the men slightly more for their labour than the earlier camps
Rise of Totalitarian Government:
- A political system where the state holds total authority over the society and seeks to control all aspects of public and private life wherever necessary
- First developed on a positive sense in the 1920s by the Italian fascists
- Became prominent in Western anti-communist political discourse during the Cold War era
- Highlighted perceived similarities between Nazi Germany and other fascist regimes on one hand, and Soviet communism on the other
Inflation:
- In the 1930s the critical mistake was the Fed’s failure to recognize its lender-of-last-resort responsibilities
- The result was not just financial distress but the collapse of the US price level, which fell by 21 per cent between 1929 and 1932
- Since there was a high demand for commodities, including food and oil, their prices fell even faster than the overall price level, causing distress among primary producers
- As US demand weakened, other countries saw their currencies become overvalued
- They were forced to raise interest rates in the teeth of a deflationary crisis
- And by raising interest rates, foreign countries transmitted deflation back to the US
- Only when they delinked from the dollar and allowed their currencies to depreciate did deflation subside.
Japan:
- In foreign policy there was a decisive rejection of international co-operation as the Japanese army engineered the seizure of Manchuria and Japan withdrew from the League of Nations.
- When Japan went into war with China in 1937, the trend towards totalitarianism quickened pace
- Trade unions were suppressed, with an Industrial Association for Service to Country taking their place, while in 1940 the political parties were dissolved to make way for the Imperial Rule Assistance Association
- As Japan entered into alliance with Germany and Italy in 1940 and then slid towards war with America and Britain, there were no open voices of dissent
Internment Camp:
- An internment camp is a large detention center created for political opponents, enemy aliens, people with mental illness, members of specific ethnic or religious groups or civilian inhabitants of a critical war-zone
- The term is used for facilities where the inmates were selected by some generalized criteria, rather than detained as individuals after due process of law fairly applied by a judiciary
- As a result of the mistreatment of civilians interned during World War II, the Fourth Geneva Convention was established in 1949 to provide for the protection of civilians during times of war "in the hands" of an enemy and under any occupation by a foreign power
- Prisoner-of-war camps are internment camps intended specifically for holding members of an enemy's armed forces as defined in the Third Geneva Convention
New Deal:
- A series of economic programs enacted in the United States between 1933 and 1936
- Involved presidential executive orders or laws passed by Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt
- The programs were in response to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call the "3 Rs": Relief, Recovery, and Reform
- Relief for the unemployed and poor
- Recovery of the economy to normal levels
- Reform of the financial system to prevent a repeat depression
1920s:
Temperance Movement (Prohibition):
- A movement to control alcohol consumption, arising early in the 19th century, when social aid was negligible and when a majority of Canadians were self-employed as farmers, fishermen or small businessmen
- Belief that self-discipline was essential to economic success and that alcohol was an obstacle to self-discipline followed the decision to be temperate in the use of alcohol or to abstain entirely
- Many concluded that the urban poverty developing with the growth of cities in the mid-19th century was caused by drink.
Persons Case:
- Edwards v. Canada (Attorney General) — also known as the Persons Case
- Constitutional case which decided that women were eligible to sit in the Canadian Senate
- The case was put forward by the Government of Canada because of the Famous Five
- Began as a reference case in the Supreme Court of Canada, which ruled that women were not "qualified persons" and thus ineligible to sit in the Senate
- The case then went to the Judicial Committee of the Imperial Privy Council, at that time the court of last resort for Canada within the British Empire and Commonwealth
- The Judicial Committee overturned the Supreme Court's decision
- Established that Canadian women were eligible to be appointed senators
- Canadian women had the same rights as Canadian men with respect to positions of political power
- Established what came to be known as the "living tree doctrine"
- A doctrine of constitutional interpretation that says that a constitution is organic and must be read in a broad and liberal manner so as to adapt it to changing times
Residential Schools:
- Indian residential schools of Canada
- Network of "residential" (boarding) schools for Aboriginal peoples of Canada
- Funded by the Canadian government's Department of Indian Affairs
- Administered by Christian churches, most notably the Catholic Church in Canada and the Anglican Church of Canada
- The system had origins in pre-Confederation times, but was primarily active following the passage of the Indian Act in 1876, until the mid-twentieth century
- An amendment to the Indian Act in 1920 made attendance at an industrial or residential school compulsory for First Nations children
- Removed them from their families, deprived them of their ancestral languages, and exposed many of them to physical and sexual abuse at the hands of staff and other students
- Symbolized by the June 11, 2008 public apology offered
- Prime Minister Stephen Harper on behalf of the Government of Canada and the leaders of all the other parties in the Canadian House of Commons apologized
Growing Autonomy:
- Canada gained autonomy by taking steady steps during and after the war.
- Gained a new sense of maturity because of Canada's major contribution to the war
- Given the right to sign the treaty of Versailles on its own
- Joined the League of Nations as a separate nation from Britain
- They were still a Dominion with the British Empire though
- Mackenzie was determined to push for Canadian autonomy
- Canada gained complete autonomy by 1931

People:
Famous Five:
- Five Canadian women who asked the Supreme Court of Canada to answer the question, "Does the word 'Persons' in Section 24 of the British North America Act, 1867, include female persons?" in the case Edwards v. Canada (Attorney General)
- The five women created a petition to ask this question
- They sought to have women legally considered persons so that women could be appointed to the Senate
- Canada's Supreme Court summarized its unanimous decision that women are not "persons"
- This judgement was overturned by the British Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
Mackenzie King:
Liberal Party of Canada
(1919.08.07 - 1948.08.06)
Arthur Meighen:
Conservative (1867-1942)
(1941.11.12 - 1942.12.09)
Flappers:
- A "new breed" of young Western women in the 1920s who wore short skirts, bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptable behavior
- Flappers were known for their signature "cupid" lips
- The "liberated" part of the definition came along when women began going to speakeasies (bars) and wearing looser clothing-all of which were quite contrary to the tight clothes and proper distinguished women of the previous times
IN BETWEEN:
WINNIPEG GENERAL STRIKE:
- Lasted for six weeks in the summer of 1919 in Winnipeg, Manitoba
- Frustrated by unemployment, inflation, poor working conditions and regional disparities after World War I, workers from both the private and public sectors joined forces to shut down or drastically reduce most services
- The workers were orderly and peaceful, but the reaction from the employers, city council and the federal government was aggressive
- The strike ended in "Bloody Saturday" when the Royal North-West Mounted Police attacked a gathering of strike supporters
- Two strikers were killed, 30 wounded and many arrested
- Workers won little in the strike, and it was another 20 years before collective bargaining was recognized in Canada
TREATY OF VERSAILLES:
- The Peace Treaty of Versailles was signed on 28 June 1919 by Germany and the Allied powers at the Palace of Versailles
- The Treaty had about 440 Articles, with the addition of Annexes
- Begun in early 1919 and completed in April after several months of hard bargaining, it was presented to Germany for consideration on 7 May 1919
- The German government was given three weeks to accept the terms of the treaty
- Its initial response was a lengthy list of complaints, most of which were simply ignored
- The treaty was perceived by many as too great a departure from U.S. President Wilson's Fourteen Points; and by the British as too harsh in its treatment of Germany
- Controversial even today, it is often argued that the punitive terms of the treaty supported the rise of the Nazis and the Third Reich in 1930s Germany, which led to the outbreak of World War II
- Deprived Germany of around 13.5% of its 1914 territory and all of its overseas possessions
- Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France
- An area of East Prussia was handed over to Lithuania, and the Sudetenland to Czechoslovakia
- The German army was limited to a maximum of 100,000 men
- A ban was placed upon the use of heavy artillery, gas, tanks and aircraft
- The German navy was similarly restricted to shipping under 10,000 tons, with a ban on submarines The League of Nations:
- The League of Nations was an international organisation set up in 1919 to help keep world peace
- It was intended that all countries would be members of the League and that if there were disputes between countries they could be settled by negotiation rather than by force
- If this failed then countries would stop trading with the aggressive country and if that failed then countries would use their armies to fight
- In theory the League of Nations was a good idea and did have some early successes, but ultimately it was a failure
World War One:
Catalyst (28 June 1914):
- Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne
- Him and his wife were shot dead in Sarajevo, by Gavrilo Princip, one of a group of six Bosnian Serb assassins coordinated by Danilo Ilić
- The political objective of the assassination was to break off Austria-Hungary's south-Slav provinces so they could be combined into a Greater Serbia or a Yugoslavia
- The assassins' motives were consistent with the movement that later became known as Young Bosnia
- Serbian military officers stood behind the attack
- Assignment of responsibility for the bombing and murders of 28 June is highly controversial because the attack led to the outbreak of World War I one month later
Background Causes:
Militarism
- Militarism is the belief or desire of a government or people that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests
- Germany, Russia and Britain were the largest Militaristic countries in Europe just before World War 1
Alliances
- A major reason that many countries joined the First World War was Alliances
- Countries would be willing to take you in as an ally if your military was advanced
- Once countries had formed alliances, they felt the need to stay loyal until the time comes to break off the alliance
- The point of loyalty was pushed so far that countries were willing to enter the war with the country they were allied with
- For example, Canada and Britain were allies and when Britain entered the war, Canada joined in to show their loyalty
Nationalism
- A major factor that caused the outbreak of the First World War was Nationalism
- Countries wanted to be independent nations and were encouraged by their alliances
- For example, Serbian cities wanted to be free from the government and were encouraged by Russia and the rest of their alliances to start a war
Imperialism
- Imperialism involves the creation of colonies for the purpose of expanding power and taking land
Alliances:
- France and Germany hated each other
- When Germany became a united country in 1870, France went to war and try to stop it... but got WHOPPED!
- France also lost Alsace-Lorraine in 1870
- The French never forgave the Germans
- In the 19th century, Germany’s Chancellor, Bismarck, solved this problem by keeping friends with RUSSIA and AUSTRIA-HUNGARY
- The Bismarck allied with ITALY and AUSTRIA-HUNGARY (The TRIPLE ALLIANCE,1882)
- When Kaiser Wilhelm became Emperor, he dumped the Russian Alliance
- He kept the TRIPLE ALLIANCE, but this did not solve the problem of Germany’s encirclement
- Instead, in 1892, Russia made an alliance with France
- Although it was only a DEFENSIVE alliance, it was Germany’s worst nightmare
- In 1907, Russia joined Britain and France to make the Triple Entente
- By 1914, Europe had divided into two massive superpower blocs
Battles:
Turn of the 20th century (Pre-World War):
Schlieffen Plan (1905):
- The plan was devised in 1905 by General von Schlieffen
- Its aim was to make sure Germany did not fight a war on two fronts- against Russia and France at the same time
- This would be achieved by first defeating France in six weeks and then taking on the Russians
- The plan required nerve to succeed: the Southern Army had to be deliberately weak so it would retreat and get the French to follow
- Schlieffen died in 1913 and von Moltke took charge of the army
- He lacked Schlieffen’s nerve and feared that the weak Southern Army would drive back all the way into Germany
- Therefore he changed the ratio between the Northern army and Southern army from 10:1 to 10:4 by reducing the size of the Northern army
- By changing the ratio, the stronger Southern Army drove the French back. This meant fewer French troops were drawn away from Paris
- Von Moltke telegraphed Kaiser William: ‘Your Majesty, we have lost the war.’
- This was true but it would take another 4 years before the Kaiser and Germany believed him
Wilfred Laurier (1896-1911)  Term:
- Sir Wilfrid Laurier was the longest Canadian prime minister
- Prime Minister of Canada for 15 years and a member of the House of Commons for 45 years
- Sir Wilfrid Laurier was the first francophone Prime Minister of Canada, fluently bilingual, and spent much of his time in office trying to balance the interests of the French and English Canadians
- Laurier was known for his ability to compromise
- recruited immigrants to the West
- provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan created in 1905
- two new transcontinental railways begun
- His stand against conscription split the Liberal party