Skip to main content Skip to search Skip to search

History Canada

Punching Above Our Weight

The Canadian Military at War Since 1867

by (author) David A. Borys

Publisher
Dundurn Press
Initial publish date
Sep 2024
Category
Canada, Post-Confederation (1867-), Canadian
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781459754140
    Publish Date
    Sep 2024
    List Price
    $16.99
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9781459754126
    Publish Date
    Sep 2024
    List Price
    $42.00

Add it to your shelf

Where to buy it

Description

Punching Above Our Weight takes readers on a riveting exploration spanning one hundred and fifty years of Canadian forces.
This photograph-rich history of 150 years of the Canadian military traces the evolution of the country’s armed forces from a small, underfunded, poorly trained militia to the modern, effective military it is today. From the Red River Resistance and the Boer War through the world wars to modern peacekeeping and the long war in Afghanistan, David A. Borys details the conflicts and operations that Canadian soldiers have served in. He highlights the key battles, among them Amiens, the Scheldt Estuary, and Operation Medusa; the significant people, including Louis Riel, Arthur Currie, and Guy Simonds; and the decisive moments, such as the passing of conscription in August 1917, Canada’s declaration of war in 1939, and the peacekeeping crises of the 1990s, that came to define the scope of Canada’s participation in international conflicts and cement its global reputation.

Borys also explores the challenges that the Canadian nation and its military have faced over those years, including major cultural and demographic shifts, a continual struggle for resources from generally disinterested governments, battlefield failures, and notorious and shocking scandals, along with ever-changing global threats. Punching Above Our Weight brings to light a new perspective on the Canadian military and its place in the world.

About the author

David A. Borys is a Canadian military historian and faculty member at Langara College in Vancouver. He has been seen on such history programs as APTN’s Nations at War and National Geographic’s Hitler’s Last Stand, and is the host of the popular history podcast Curious Canadian History. He lives in Vancouver.

David A. Borys' profile page

Excerpt: Punching Above Our Weight: The Canadian Military at War Since 1867 (by (author) David A. Borys)

INTRODUC T ION

Canada is not a nation of pacifists. It has never been a country that decried war as some unthinkable policy. Yet, for some reason, many Canadians are uncomfortable with the idea that we have been and can be a military people. Some find it surprising that Canada has gone to war many times. Some even find it distasteful that we still commemorate those wars. True, Canada has not participated in war as often as some of our strongest allies, especially our neighbour to the south, yet our history is rife with conflict. Despite that, common misconceptions exist within Canada’s public and academic spheres. One of these is that this nation has no discernible military history to speak of. Another is that our military has had no significant impact on our development as a nation. A third is that our military history is easily defined by only a few key events or ideas from the 20th century — Vimy Ridge, the disasters at Hong Kong and Dieppe, the liberation of the Netherlands, peacekeeping, et cetera. And finally, that our military history is simply not important. The fact is that the record of Canada at war is an account of the country itself, and the social, political, and economic developments throughout our history cannot be easily, comfortably, or accurately separated from the military chronicle of this nation.

The history of conflict in the land that came to be known as Canada is, of course, much older than the nation itself. Before Europeans arrived, large Indigenous confederacies dominated huge tracts of territory coast to coast, competing with one another for trade, resources, and power. When the first Europeans appeared along the east coast, they encountered the powerful Wabanaki Confederacy, which had been formed due to the threat posed by another mighty coalition to its west — the Five Nations Confederacy. After the first Europeans disembarked on the St. Lawrence River, they found themselves in the middle of a desperate conflict as the Indigenous communities along that river attempted to hold back the growing strength of the Five Nations. For much of the 17th century, this confederacy posed the greatest threat to the French presence along the St. Lawrence. The Europeans who arrived in North America were co-opted into these long-standing conflicts, and the technology these newcomers brought with them was sought after to tip the scales.

As more and more Europeans arrived, the First Nations became caught up in the intruders’ dynastic conflicts in North America. Despite the ravaging effects of disease in tipping the power balance toward the European colonizers, the First Nations continued to play a role in all the major clashes on the continent, even as their powerful confederacies declined.

Editorial Reviews

Punching Above Our Weight offers an excellent summary of Canadian military history since Confederation while providing a timely, non-partisan warning that punching above should not mean doing more with less.

Alex Fitzgerald-Black, Executive Director, Juno Beach Centre Association

Quick paced, well-researched and well-illustrated, this is the first new history of Canada’s armed forces in decades.... a book Canadians need to read and ponder.

J. L. Granatstein, author of Canada’s Army: Waging War and Keeping the Peace

Punching Above Our Weight brilliantly sums up our place in both history and the current world, succinctly yet thoroughly, reading almost like a gripping adventure novel, but one with a very important message: will we be prepared for whatever the future throws at us?

The Seaboard Review

Other titles by

Related lists