| After the Second World War, the Americanization of Canadian politics, economics, society, and culture quickened its pace, loosening the country's trans-Atlantic ties and shaping Canada into a North American nation. Foreign and military affairs were no different. The contingencies of the Cold War strengthened the diplomatic and military connections the United States and Canada had established during the Second World War. Within this framework, Canadian political and military officials paid heed to American approaches to the growing Soviet ideological and military threat. Consequently, Canada's "British connection" suffered, exemplified by the Canadian government's support of U.S. foreign policy, which opposed that of the UK, during the 1956 Suez Crisis.;Concomitantly, the British-style Canadian Army also went down the "American Road" as it increased its institutional ties to the U.S. military in view of potential Soviet attacks on North America and on allied forces in Europe. Early Cold War Canadian Army staff officer education best illustrated this situation, as it incorporated more U.S. doctrine on amphibious warfare, unit organization, and nuclear and non-nuclear tactics than from traditional British sources. Moreover, Canadian Army educational leaders drew upon American military doctrine for instruction on the Soviet Army. This thesis contends that, in its own unique way, the post-Second World War Canadian Army's development paralleled events in both broader Canadian society and Canada-UK-U.S. relations. The process of the Canadian Army's shift to an increasingly North American identity is demonstrated through a detailed examination of staff officer education at the Canadian Army Staff College in Kingston, Ontario from 1946-1956. |
