Third Grade
Worksheets
Canada and World War II
Caption: Canadians enter Bergen-op-Zoom, Holland. Early November 1944
The Great Depression was hard on Canada. Now a war was coming. A war would bring big changes. It would bring jobs and money.
Germany was led by a man named Adolf Hitler. He wanted Germany to be a big, strong country. He started taking over other countries. For a while, no one stopped him.
Other country leaders were alarmed. They finally told Hitler to stop. He did not want to. He wanted to control all of Europe and maybe the world. War was declared.
Canada declared war on Germany a week after Britain did. She used that week to arm herself. The United States was going to be neutral. She could not sell arms or ammunitions to a country at war. During that week while she was still neutral, Canada purchased twenty million dollars worth of arms.
Canada's army was very small. They did not have many weapons. It would take time to set up factories to make guns, planes, and tanks.
In some ways, the war helped Canada. It brought jobs for the people. People had money again. They could buy what they needed.
During World War I, the French-Canadians were angry about having to fight. Prime Minister King did not want problems again. He wanted Canada to have just a limited part in the war. He hoped that would keep them from needing conscription.
