Week of Remebrance Musing: War Plan Red and Defence Scheme No. 1

Its fair to say that we're able to think about war and remembrance primarily only at this time of year due to the fact that war isn't a part of most Canadians daily lives. That fact is due to our great relationship with the U.S. Note that I said great, not perfect.

What if that wasn't the case? Fortunately, we will likely never know. But, such scenarios have been imagined by writers and thinkers. In fact, the United States developed a plan for a theoretical invasion of Canada, as part of a larger campaign against Great Britain. Called "War Plan Red," it was only a planning exercise, but for about five years it was an approved military plan. Here it is in detail on Wikipedia: War Plan Red. Sadly, it centred on the U.S. seizing the Maritimes

What's more surprising is that it had a Canadian counterpart. Yes, we had a plan to invade the U.S. in the event of a planned American invasion of Canada. It was called "Defence Scheme No. 1" (click for more info). The best part is that it pre-dated formal American plans to invade us.

Happily, what might have been shall never be...

B.