Awards

• Short-listed for John W. Dafoe Book Prize, J. W. Dafoe Foundation 2012 (Canada)

Overview

In December 1941, Japan attacked multiple targets in the Far East and the Pacific, including Canadian battalions stationed in Hong Kong. The disaster suggested that the Allies were totally unprepared for war. This book dispels that assumption by offering the first in-depth account of Canadian intelligence gathering and strategic planning on the eve of the Pacific War. Canadians worked closely with their US and Allied counterparts to develop a picture of Japan’s intentions and a strategic plan to meet challenges in the Pacific. Although Canada wanted to avoid conflict with Japan until US participation was assured, policy makers anticipated action in the Pacific and made preparations for defence, which included the internment of Japanese Canadians. By highlighting Canada’s role as a Pacific power, Timothy Wilford sheds new light on events that led to the crisis in the Far East, as well as to the creation of the Grand Alliance.

Full Product Details

9780774821223

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Reviews

... Canada's Road to the Pacific War is a valuable contribution to the existing historiography. Wilford demonstrates clearly and effectively that Canada was a small but important link in the creation of the anti-Axis alliance prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor. With this examination of Canada's role in the Pacific, students of the Second World War and general readers alike can both form a better understanding of how the Allied nations cooperated to stem the tide of fascist aggression in 1941. -- David Macri Journal of Military History, April 2012 The speed with which the Dominion declared war, Timothy Wilford shows in this meticulously researched book, had more to do with Prime Minister Mackenzie King's political calculus that to demonstrate Canadian sovereignty it was better to act before the rest of the British Commonwealth and the United States, than it did with Canadian pre-war preparedness. Yet Wilford has uncovered many traces of Canada's (surprising) willingness to risk war to roll back Japanese advances in China. -- Nathan M. Greenfield Times Literary Supplement, June 22, 2012 Canada's Road to the Pacific War raises awareness of the motivations behind military planning and political decision-making during the final months before Canada's war with Japan. Wilford presents his research with methodical organization, effective transitions and summaries, and rich documentation, to provide an insightful explanation of Canada's evolving wartime relationship with Britain and the United States. He shows the extent to which racism coloured the judgment of military and government decision-makers, both in underestimating Japanese military capabilities and in overestimating the threat posed by Japanese-Canadians living in coastal British Columbia. Above all, Wilford gives us an intelligence-based understanding of the Mackenzie King government's decisions to prepare for the internment of Japanese-Canadians, to support the trade embargo against Japan, to send Canadian soldiers to the ill-fated defence of Hong Kong, and to be the first Allied nation to declare war against Japan. -- James Wood BC Studies, No. 177, Spring 2013 This workmanlike book illuminates the information received in Ottawa about the deteriorating situation in the Pacific between 1939 and 1941 ... The documents discussed also show how the pressures of wartime cooperation were transforming not only the relationships between Canada and the United States but also those between Washington and London. -- Jan Drent Northern Mariner, 23.1, January 2013

? Canada's Road to the Pacific War provides a much better understanding of Canada's policy with regards to Japan in the months leading up to Pearl Harbor, and of its relationship with key allies. Well-researched, especially in terms of primary source material, this is an important and original book.?? Steve Hewitt, author of Snitch!: A History of the Modern Intelligence Informer?Although the complete story of Allied intelligence in the years leading up to the Pacific War cannot be told until the last of the classified British files are opened, Wilford's book comes as close to presenting the entire picture, and certainly the full Canadian perspective, as possible. Impressively researched and very well written, it will be essential reading for those interested in Allied intelligence and the possible foreknowledge of the Pearl Harbor attack.?? William Johnston, author of A War of Patrols: Canadian Army Operations in Korea

Canada's Road to the Pacific War provides a much better understanding of Canada's policy with regards to Japan in the months leading up to Pearl Harbor, and of its relationship with key allies. Well-researched, especially in terms of primary source material, this is an important and original book. <br> - Steve Hewitt, author of Snitch!: A History of the Modern Intelligence Informer

Author Information

Timothy Wilford received a doctorate in history from the University of Ottawa and specializes in twentieth-century military history.

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