

The murderous and psychopathic Joseph Stalin ruled the Soviet Union with an iron hand. The allies Britain and France, with the backing of the 500-million-strong British Empire - but not the neutral United States - stood up to Hitler and the Nazi party that controlled Germany. Hitler and MobilizationĪfter years of rearming Germany, breaking treaties, threatening neighbours, annexing countries and then invading Poland on 1 September 1939, Adolf Hitler caused the Second World War in Europe. King would guide the country through six painful years of conflict, oversee a massive war effort and make surprisingly few errors in a period of tremendous turmoil, change and anguish.
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But King surrounded himself with an effective Cabinet of ministers, was guided by a strong and dedicated public service and meddled very little with the professional military men who were raising Canada’s new armed forces.


He certainly did not compare favourably, at first glance, to the warlike and aggressive Adolf Hitler in Germany or Benito Mussolini in Italy, or the more stately American president, Franklin Roosevelt or, after May 1940, the pugnacious British prime minister, Winston Churchill. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King was an experienced and shrewd politician who had been in power for nearly 13 years, on and off, since 1921, but few thought he had the grit to lead the country in war. Mackenzie King (in 1941), Prime Minister of Canada from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948.Ĭanada was deeply unprepared when it went to war at Britain’s side against Germany on 10 September 1939.
