The Korean War

  The Korean War began in 1950 and ended in 1953. It first started when the North Korean communist army, which was led by communist leader Kim II-sung,  invaded non-communist South Korea. The North Korean army was armed with tanks, machine guns, and explosives. It quickly took over South Korea. The United States quickly came to South Korea's aid by sending troops.

    North Korea decided to launch a large attack on September 1st 1950. They were not able to hold up the attack. The US saw this as a perfect opportunity to make a move. It decided to attack Incheon due to the fact that it was the best place to attack the North Korean army from. After careful planning the US launched its attack and it was extremely successful. No American soldiers were killed. However, the US and South Korean army pushed until the border of China, where the Chinese army decided to intervene by pushing them back to the North/South Korean border. Therefore, the war started there, and ended there.

 

       In my opinion the war was pointless. What Kim II-sung did was not a wise thing to do. There was no good reason to invade South Korea other than just doing it for power. The lost lives of troops were not worth this meaningless war, because at the end of it, everyone was right where they started. North Korea could have simply left South Korea alone. There was no benefit to the war whatsoever. Kim II-sung was just hungry for power.

The Suez Crisis

    The Suez Crisis took place on July 26, 1956. It was when Nasser, the leader of Egypt, nationalised the Suez Canal. During a speech in Alexandria he announced that the Nationalisation law had been published. This law stated that all share-holders of the canal would be paid based on its current worth and that all assets of the canal would be frozen.

   The Suez Canal is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt. It connects the Mediterranean Sea and The Red Sea. The only problem was that the canal was owned by French and British companies. So when France and Britain heard of the news, they quickly launched a military operation to secure the canal. Paratroops (parachute troops) landed to to take control of the canal. Britain and France made a secret agreement with Israel. The agreement was that a portion of the Israeli army would invade Egypt to divert it's attention from the French and British troops that were securing and repossessing the canal.

    At first, the British and French governments turned to the US for military assistance, but the US politely refused stating that they did not want to get involved. President Eisenhower was strongly opposed to any of the military action against Egypt that France and Britain were involved in.




















    In my opinion, what the Egyptian government did was not justified in any way. They had no right to nationalise a canal that was not theirs in the first place, especially without the consent of the owners. This was  a situation that could definitely have been avoided. Some sort of compromise or deal could have been offered other than simply taking it.

The October Crisis

  The October Crisis took place during October (hence the name "October Crisis") in 1970. The October Crisis was a series of events. These events were caused by two kidnappings of government officials. The kidnappings were done by the Front de liberation du Quebec, also known as the FLQ. They were a violent Marxist group that were responsible for over 200 bombings and several murders all in which they claim "the name of Quebec". The FLQ's demands were broadcast on CBC radio.The Quebec was not certain what to do, so they demanded the help of the army on October 15th.

The next day, Pierre-Éliott Trudeau released the War Measures Act. As a result Canadian Armed Forces guarded several Quebec cities. Pierre Laporte was assassinated the next day, on October 17. Nearly 500 people were arrested. Most of the people were artists, unionists, and just people who supported Quebec nationalism. The crisis finally came to an end in December. It was a series of hectic events.    Personally, I think that the action of the FLQ were not justified. They were harming people more than they were helping them. They were fighting for Quebec nationalism, but at the same time they were destroying it by making Quebec look bad with their acts of extremism. If they really wanted Quebec to be respected and looked upon as solely independent, bombings and kidnappings were not the way to go.

Cuban Missile Crisis

              During the Cold War, Cuba was abandoned by the U.S. due to the harsh leadership of Fidel Castro. All connections were dropped between the two countries. This left Cuba in a desperate situation. Cuba's top buyer of their number 1 export, which was sugar at the time, was the US. Cuba's economy replied greatly on the US. So when this happened, Cuba decided to turn to Russia for help. Russia agreed to give Cuba oil and buy their sugar at a guaranteed price if they would allow them to build a military base on their island to spy on the US. Cuba quickly agreed. Things were working out quite well until Russia decided to plant nuclear missiles that were cable of destroying 75% of the US, in the military base.

                

              US president John F. Kennedy was immediately notified and pleaded with the Russian premier Nikita Khrushchev to remove the missiles. Nikita refused at first stating the fact that the US had nuclear missiles planted in Turkey which were capable of destroying all of Russia. However, after many American protests, and please from JFK, Nikita decided that he would remove the missiles from Cuba as long as the US promised never to invade Cuba.         

       

           - Was the abandonment of Cuba justified?   

             Personally, I think that it was wrong for the US to leave Cuba in such a hard situation just because their leader ruled with an iron fist. They could have simply come to a compromise with Fidel Castro so that the people would not have to suffer from the financial devastation. Many ways could have been thought of. In my opinion, the US sort of jumped to conclusions.      

Japanese Internment In Canada

In December 1941, the Japanese launched an attack on the US fleets at Pearl Harbour. This was due to the fact that they were enemies. After a while people started to question the Japanese people in Canada. Some Canadians assumed they were also enemies or "spies". This caused various rumours to spread throughout Canada. The people began to faithfully believe that the Japanese-Canadians were also enemies.The government was then pressured to round them up and send them to internment camps.

These internment camps were not a holiday whatsoever. At first just the men were sent. Extreme labour and little care were put on them. Soon after, ALL of them were sent to these camps (women, children, etc). They were told that this would soon pass and that they would be able to go home. Almost within days after they left, the government auctioned off/ sold their property and they were homeless and left with nothing.

I personally think that this was sickening. The government, who is supposed to be ensuring the well-being of the people is causing their pain, for no reason! They had no evidence that the Japanese-Canadians were doing anything wrong. It was simply prejudice behaviour. They were lied to and taken advantage of. They were not treated like humans. All for foolish reasons.

Attack on Hiroshima & Nagasaki

   On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped a massive atomic bomb on a city of Japan called Hiroshima. This atomic bomb flattened the city, killing tens of thousands of civilians. While Japan was still trying to recover from this devastation three days later, the United States struck again, this time, on Nagasaki.

   It has been debated in class whether these attacks can be justified or not. In my opinion it can. The alternative was much worse. What many people don't realise is that the USA was at WAR with Japan. WWII was a total war, not a small argument. In total, about 70 million people were killed. This war was serious.

   By the end of 1944 Japan knew they would lose, yet they still fought as hard as they could. Before the bombings had taken place, plans or an invasion of Japan were discussed called "Operation Downfall". If the planned invasion of southern Japan and Tokyo Bay had taken place, the estimates of the attack put casualties of 1,000,000 on the Allied side and 10,000,000 on Japan's side.


   In my opinion, going by the facts, I think that this bombing was completely justified. It saved many lives from the allied side from being lost. It saved money and other resources. However, I do believe it was wrong that they killed innocent people such as children, but it was a war. If Japan had those two bombs they would have done the same thing. Morality didn't really exist in that time period. Hence the term "war" ...

The Great Depression

    

          When the depression hit Canada, the quality of life changed drastically for many Canadians. Children went hungry, families were homeless, and many lives were lost. This was also the case even with wealthy families. Some lost their cars, homes, and investments.

           This was due to the fact that many of Canadians at the time were playing with the stock market. They would buy and then sell constantly which would “over-inflate” the stocks causing them to be said to be worth more than they really were. On October 2, 1929, the stock market had a major crash. This caused many Canadians to lose a lot of what they had because most of them had been using large amounts of their money thinking that they would be making more money, but that is not how it turned out to be.

          PM Mackenzie King wanted to give the citizens a sense of hope. I think that there was nothing he could really do to stop it except for wait until it was over. If he has made any sort of promise to the people, he would not have been able to keep it. This would cause even more problems (riots, violence, etc.). He wanted to keep the people as calm as possible. After all, what would be the difference between panicking and staying calm? There’s nothing they could do to stop it, so why not spend time persevering through it instead of causing even more harm trying to get  the government to try and stop it? There was not much the government could do in that predicament; after all, they were broke too.

        The Great depression was yet another tragedy in the book of Canadian history. It claimed many lives and made a brutal mark in the history of Canada.