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Canada kicked Nazi ass o7
(thelemmy.club)
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OTHER COMMS IN THE HISTORYVERSE:
I didn't even realize Canada fought in WWII. Fuck, the US's education system is such garbage.
That's really unfortunate. Strangely enough, we spent very little time on WW2 in my public school (also in the USA). I honestly don't remember if we went over Canada's contributions to the war in class.
... come to think of it, the largest stretch of education regarding WW2 in public school that I can remember was in high school, when our history teacher took a full half week for us to sit in the darkened classroom in total silence to watch the actual footage taken of the death camps after the Allies liberated them. He was normally a very jovial and engaged fellow, joked with the students, was pretty lenient on us, all that, but that one time he emphasized with deadly gravity that it was necessary that everyone be silent and pay attention for it.
... unironically grateful for that. That stayed with me, for certain. I hope it stayed with everyone else in that class too.
It's propaganda to glorify itself.
You probably also don't know that the country with the most volunteer soldiers in World War II was India, than 2 million men.
Or that both Canada and New Zealand had mutinies where men refused to go overseas to fight.
There's a lot of fascinating stuff. I recommend the podcast We Have Ways of Making You Talk, for an informative and entertaining look at almost every facet of the war. They are up to something like episode #800 now.
I did know that india was involved, but I didn't know they were so heavily involved, not did I learn that from school.
My education on WWII was basically "while Hitler was gassing Jews Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand got assassinated which sent most of Europe to war because of a complex web of alliances. Then the Japanese bombed pearl harbor so us murcans stepped in and ended the war. USA USA BEST COUNTRY IN DA WORL." then my dad showed me Hogans Heros, and that's about it.
I've learned more since then, but mostly scattershot facts. Like how Japanese internment camps were a thing.
Sounds like an interesting podcast recommendation. Thanks!
There is so much that school curricula could cover in limited space of time. But yes, a brief mention of the Commonwealth's participation in WWII shouldn't take too much time so it should not be an excuse.
I feel like we mostly only learn about the history of other countries through the context of interactions they've had with the US. Plus a smattering of ancient history. And I think that's a pretty big blind spot. It would go a long way to break us from our US-centric world view.
How'd they skip over Britain being in WW2?
Canada was independent by WW2, though they joined the war very shortly after the UK joined the war.
We're not even fully independent today. The BNA act gave us more local government powers to respond to the American threat but everything still has to be approved by the crown.
Also we were born as British Subjects in Canada at the time.
Canadians can vote in British elections if they're residents.
We were compelled to go to war when England entered, even if it took a few days to draft a declaration.
From wiki:
I was unaware it extended to war against our sovereign.
WW1 will do that to a fucker.
I knew that Britain was in WW2, but I didn't discover that Canada was a part of the British empire until well after I graduated highschool.
Anyway, there were plenty of British people in WWII movies, but I don't think I've ever seen one that's got Canadians in it.
Jesus Christ. I'd say the average Canadian student could name half the US state capitals before they hit high school when I went to school.