Troops line the border, ready for an all-out
invasion. The enemy are mounted on horses with red uniforms. These soldiers may not look threatening, but
they come from a long line of Mounties who grew up in the harsh conditions of the Canadian
Arctic. The signal is given. U.S. soldiers flood across the border. The invasion of Canada has begun. Surprisingly, not only was there a fully detailed
plan for the United States to invade Canada called War Plan Red, but it wouldn’t even
be the first time battles broke out between the two nations. During the period between World War I and
World War II the countries of the world were on edge. It seemed that at any given moment, another
war could break out. Leaders imagined what it would be like to
control more territory or to fend off invaders trying to take their country. This led to both the United States and Canada
coming up with plans to invade each other. The crazy thing is you won’t believe who
planned on invading first. Canada was actually the first of the two countries
to develop an invasion plan. After the First World War ended, the United
States had shown they had the military power to make a difference in the world. Their technology was advanced, and they had
a relatively large population of people to enlist when it came to all-out war. This made Canada nervous as they hadn’t
always had the best relationship with their neighbor to the south. Canada tasked one of their war heroes named
Buster Brown to conduct reconnaissance along the United States/Canada border to identify
main entry points. Brown was happy to help his nation; he put
on a disguise and made his way along the nation’s shared eastern border. What he found raised the hopes of the Canadian
government that defeating the Americans would not only be possible but easier than they
thought. Brown traveled around New England in his Ford
Model-T and a Kodak camera to take pictures. He found that Americans were not all that
scary, but instead, were something else entirely. During his mission, Brown sent back reports
including descriptions like: “If Americans are not actually lazy, they have a very deliberate
way of working and apparently believe in frequent rests and gossip.” He also took a shot at American women when
he wrote: “the women of the rural districts appear to be a heavy and not very comely lot.” Basically, in his official reports to the
Canadian government concerning the invasion of the United States, Brown said American
men were lazy and American women were ugly. In 1921 using Brown’s reconnaissance, along
with that of other operatives, Canada came up with their invasion plan. They would launch attacks across five different
sections of the border to take U.S. cities in the north that had strategic significance. Each city could then be used as a base of
operations to move further south. The Canadians would not be able to carry out
this plan alone using only Mounties and their military. Instead, they would rely on the help of Britain. Canada gained its independence from Britain
in 1867, but they still depended on them for military protection. It’s interesting to note that Canada’s
plan to invade the United States made it clear they would reclaim Maine as their own, which
brings us to the tumultuous relationship that Canada and the United States had in the past. The two countries get along pretty well today,
but that wasn’t always the case. This tense relationship dates all the way
back to the War of 1812 when soldiers from Canada crossed into the United States, marched
on Washington D.C., and burnt the White House to the ground. This was a bold statement by the then British
Colony that they were not afraid to invade their neighbor and ransack their capital. The War of 1812 ended with no clear victor
as the British were able to defend their western territories but could not claim more land
as their forces were split between North America and fending off Napoleon in Europe. Eventually, the British were pushed back to
Canada, but the border was now a hotbed for skirmishes and petty disputes between the
two powers. It quickly became clear that the Canadians
and the Americans were not fans of one another as they would use any crazy excuse to start
a fight. For example, in 1838, there was the Lumberjack,
or Pork and Beans War. It all started over a silly argument about
who could chop down more trees along the border between Maine and New Brunswick. Things got out of hand, and the Americans
claimed that the Canadian lumberjacks were crossing the border to cut down U.S. trees. This seems like a ridiculous reason to start
a war, but the United States apparently took their trees very seriously as they sent 50,000
men to the border to protect their lumber interests from the dubious Canadians. Before war broke out, Secretary of State Daniel
Webster and the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Baron Ashburton, met for talks. They concluded that the dispute was over a
piece of land that really wasn’t worth anything, and Canada ended up relinquishing control
over its section of Maine to the United States. But the peace wouldn’t last long between
the two countries as 20 years later, an altercation involving a pig being shot and the disproportional
response of naval fleets almost led to another war between the two countries. In 1859 an American farmer found a pig eating
potatoes on the San Juan Islands just off the coast of the northwestern territory of
the United States. This area would eventually become part of
Washington state. The Americans decided they didn’t want the
pig eating all of their potatoes, so they shot it. Whether they knew it was a Canadian pig or
not can be debated. However, the Canadians claimed the death of
their pig was an act of war. This prompted both sides to send naval vessels
to confront one another in a showdown that would come to be known as the Pig War. The United States sent the USS Massachusetts
and 500 troops to the area. In turn, the governor of Vancouver responded
by sending five warships and 2,000 British troops. Luckily before any blood was shed, Royal Navy
Rear Admiral Robert Baynes realized how ridiculous the whole thing was and called off the attack. Baynes had decided “to engage two great
nations in a war over a squabble about a pig would be foolish.” However, it wasn’t foolish enough for both
sides not to leave 100 troops on the island to make sure no more funny business regarding
pigs happened until the official borders could be drawn up. War Plan Red was just on the horizon. But the United States may have been thinking
about invading Canada long before these plans were ever drawn up. During the Civil War in the United States,
two Confederate diplomats tried to flee to Canada on board a British ship called the
Trent. The British claimed the U.S. had no right
to search their ships or seize anyone on board since they were not officially taking sides
in the war. The governor general of Canada then sent troops
to the border in case war broke out between Britain and the United States. The British and Canadians were sure that the
U.S. Secretary of State was trying to use the whole dispute as a reason to invade Canada,
and they would have none of it. Lincoln realized that there would be no way
to defend his Northern border from the British while simultaneously fighting a war with the
South, so he decided to let the Confederate soldiers go and sent the British ship they
were aboard on its way. This averted a war with Canada once again. But would the peace last? This brings us to the United States’ plan
to invade their neighbor to the north. By the time War Plan Red was conceived, there
had been relative peace between the two counties for almost half a century. But the world had just come out of the chaos
that was World War I and the U.S. knew anything could happen. Military leaders came up with plans on how
to defend the country if Canada decided to invade. However, they also tossed around the idea
of claiming the Canadian territory for themselves as well. It wasn’t so much that the United States
wanted to attack Canada for its territory, but it was seen as a way to weaken the British
Empire as a whole. Everyone at this point was afraid of another
nation gaining too much power and using it to take over the world. After the first World War, Britain was deeply
in debt to the United States. They had provided resources, men, and money
to help defeat Germany. The U.S. wanted their loans paid back in full,
which the British could not do at the moment. This got U.S. military leaders thinking that
instead of paying back the money they owed, Britain might decide to wage war on the United
States using Canada. The best way to stop this from happening would
be for the U.S. to invade Canada first, thus removing Britain's foothold on the continent. As a result, War Plan Red was born. One of the craziest things about War Plan
Red was that without knowing anything about Canada’s plan to invade the U.S., the military
strategists came up with a mirror image of what Canada had already created. The plan called for all invasion forces to
proceed simultaneously to ensure that the Canadian defenses were spread thin. The United States outnumbered the Canadians
in every way, but there was someone else they had to worry about. In order for the invasion of Canada to be
successful, the United States needed to make sure that Britain couldn’t interfere. To do this, it was imperative that the cities
along the Atlantic coast of Canada were secured. This would be done by launching a naval fleet
from Boston to Halifax along with an invasion force crossing through Maine. The plan was for U.S. forces to occupy Nova
Scotia and New Brunswick before the Canadians knew what hit them. The key was to take Halifax first and to hold
it as this would be the main port the British would use to resupply Canadian forces. The U.S. would set up a naval blockade around
the ports of Halifax but also keep any ships from reaching the rest of Nova Scotia or the
mainland of Canada as well. The only way that Canada could receive the
supplies and support they needed was by ship, and if the U.S. could stop the Royal Navy,
then Canada would be theirs for the taking. The United States would also need to get boots
on the ground in the area as well. Traveling through Maine’s dense forests
and windy, unkempt roads would be slow and tedious. Therefore, the plan was to load up ships with
soldiers and drop them in St. Margarets Bay, an undeveloped landing site near Halifax where
very little resistance would be encountered. Then the soldiers could circle around and
attack the city while the naval vessels were bombarding it from the bay. If all went according to plan, one of the
first Canadian cities to be occupied by United States forces would be Halifax. If the U.S. failed to do this, Canada would
be able to receive supplies from Britain, and a war with their northern neighbor could
end up being long and drawn out. However, there was a backup plan if things
in Halifax did not go according to plan. The U.S. could also occupy New Brunswick and
cut Nova Scotia off from the mainland completely by holding the railway junction at Moncton. By blocking the rail system, supplies could
not be moved from Nova Scotia to the rest of Canada. This would have helped with the rest of the
invasion effort. However, Nova Scotia would be much harder
to take in the long run. In this scenario, there would be an island
stronghold that the United States would have to deal with at the end of the war. The other problem was that from Nova Scotia,
the Canadians and British could launch counterattacks down the east coast of the U.S. While the east coast of Canada was being secured,
a separate force needed to take the larger cities in Quebec and along the Saint Lawrence
River. This would be done using ground forces, including
armored divisions of tanks from Albany and Vermont. The occupation of Montreal and Quebec City
would be vital to the operation. These cities could be used to manufacture
weapons and supply Canadian forces if left untouched. The ground forces would likely meet only slight
resistance on the way up to the cities. But once there, U.S. forces would encounter
enemy soldiers entrenched at entry points into the cities and within the buildings. This would bring the battle into the realm
of urban warfare, making it extremely costly for the United States. If they didn’t take Montreal and Quebec
City, however, there would be a chance that they could lose the entire eastern section
of Canada. This was especially true if supplies were
allowed to travel from the coast to the cities. What made this section of Canada so essential
to control was that it would allow the United States to stop the movement of supplies from
one side of the country to the other. This would split Canada in two making it easier
for the United States to deal with each half. If the Canadians and British couldn’t move
supplies and men to areas where the U.S. was attacking, every battle would be easier to
win. It would be more important to stop supplies
from moving from east to west than vice versa as most of the British troops and materials
would be landing on the Atlantic side of the continent. If the country’s western half could be separated
from the eastern half, the United States could slowly bleed each section dry of resources. Eventually, the Canadians would have to give
up and surrender to the American forces. The other important reason behind the United
States wanting to occupy Montreal and Quebec City so quickly was because these cities sit
on the St. Lawrence River, which could be used as a supply line for the Canadian and
British militaries. If the United States controlled both of these
cities, they could stop all movement up and down the St. Lawrence and cut off another
transportation route. On top of controlling the main river in the
region, War Plan Red also called for the United States to control the Great Lakes region and
the cities on the Canadian side of these bodies of water. The United States could attack Toronto and
other manufacturing centers by deploying ships into the Great Lakes. This would need to be done during the initial
invasion to protect the United States from counterattacks. Many of the manufacturing centers in the United
States were based in the Midwest or around the Great Lakes. Cities like Detroit, Chicago, and Buffalo
would be easy targets for the Canadians if the U.S. didn’t secure the cities around
the region. One key component to the invasion across the
Great Lakes was to hit Canada’s Niagara Falls power grid. This would shut down most of the area’s
power supply, allowing U.S. forces to fly under the radar, so to speak. It would also slow or stop the production
lines of any Canadian factories that relied on electricty to operate. This would be detrimental to the Canadian
war machine as help from Britain would still be a long way off, and the Canadians would
have limited means of replenishing their supply of ammunition and weapons in the region. Also, by controlling both sides of the Great
Lakes, the United States would have complete control over the waterways extending out from
the area. It would also prevent British ships and aircraft
from landing or traveling in the lakes themselves. Basically, it would create a monopoly for
the U.S. who would then control the vast water resources in the middle of the continent. Although Winnipeg may not seem like a vital
city for the Americans to take, nothing could be further from the truth. The unassuming city was actually the main
depot for the Canadian railroad system running from coast to coas. If the United States could capture Winnipeg
and the surrounding area, they would cripple Canada’s ability to move troops from one
section of the country to the other. The best part about launching an invasion
from Grand Forks, North Dakota, to capture Winnipeg was that there were no obstacles
in the way. The ground forces could travel straight north
and would encounter very little resistance. They would have to pass through some rough
terrain, but overall, the United States saw the capture of Winnipeg as one of the easier
aspects of War Plan Red. There was one final part of War Plan Red that
needed to be executed with precision if the United States was going to successfully take
Canada. Vancouver is about as far as you can get from
Britain in Canada. However, it also housed the naval base that
Britain used for its Pacific Fleet. This meant that it would not be an easy target
to capture and hold, especially by sea. The plan was to attack from Bellingham, Washington,
to try and seize the city and base without having to risk a naval battle. However, if this couldn’t be done or additional
support was needed, the United States planned to launch ships from Port Angeles. If the U.S. could plan it right, they would
wait for either the British Pacific Fleet to be docked with little hope of disembarking
before beginning their attack, or when the majority of the fleet was on the other side
of the ocean. The hope was in this second scenario that
the ships would be so far away that they wouldn’t be able to return in time to help fight off
the Americans. Either tactic would work, but if the United
States tried to strike while the fleet was nearby, it could be a disaster. All the U.S. really needed to do was take
the city and its port, then they could shut down the railways and set up a naval blockade. This would pretty much secure Vancouver even
if British reinforcements from the Pacific were sent back to help. If the United States could get a foothold
in Vancouver, it would be very difficult for the Canadians and the British to retake the
city. There were several main components of War
Plan Red that needed to occur outside of Canadian borders as well. During the extensive war games that were conducted
at the United States Naval War College, it became clear that the U.S. Navy should not
be sent to destroy the British fleet either in the Pacific or the Atlantic Oceans. Instead, all Naval vessels would be used in
blockades to stop the movement of supplies and troops between Britain and Canada. The Royal Navy was an admirable force to be
reckoned with, and the creators of War Plan Red were unsure if the United States Navy
would be able to defeat them in open waters. However, by staying close to land and making
sure allied forces were at their backs, the U.S. Navy could focus on repelling any ships
that tried to reach Canada through their blockade. When looking at War Plan Red, it is important
to remember that all of the invasion forces that were sent by land would likely be successful
in taking their targets. In fact, they probably would meet very little
resistance at all, and the U.S. soldiers would sweep across the border and take their targets
quickly without many casualties. The reason for this was that compared to the
United States military, Canada really didn’t have much to fight with. They were supposed to have the support of
Britain, but their former rulers were really far away, and it wasn’t clear whether Britain
would even bother trying to send troops to fight off an American invasion. Instead, it would have been more likely that
Britain would have given up Canada in exchange for some kind of peace treaty or agreement
between them and the United States. The only viable tactical option for British
and Canadian forces would be holding Nova Scotia and launching counterattacks from the
island. However, it would have been highly unlikely
they’d be able to control the island for very long, especially once the United States
captured the rest of Canada. The United States also had a sneaky suspicion
that they could gain an ally from one of the provinces in Canada to help them fight against
the British if they approached them in the right way. Quebec is a mostly French-speaking province
that identifies more as their own entity than as part of the rest of Canada. Most people in Quebec felt no strong allegiance
to the British Empire or their English-speaking countrymen for that matter. It was a real possibility that once the United
States began their attack, the leaders of the Quebec province may have tried to make
a deal and ally themselves with the U.S. in exchange for maintaining their independence
when the war was over. This offer likely would have been accepted
by the United States as it would provide their invading forces easy access to several other
parts of Canada. They also wouldn’t have to fight for control
over Montreal and Quebec City which would save a lot of time, effort, and resources
that could be used to ensure that Nova Scotia and Vancouver were taken quickly and blockades
were set up to fend off the British Royal Navy. More likely than not, some Canadians would
have welcomed the U.S. as liberating them from the British, while others would fight
to the bitter end. Either way, the end goal for War Plan Red
was to claim all of the Canadian territories and make them a part of the United States. There was no plan of how the different parts
of Canada would be split up, but eventually, they would have been reorganized into different
states. The main goal for War Plan Red was to destabilize
the British colonies in the Americas and the Western Hemisphere. The United States didn’t really want to
invade Canada, but with the way the world was shaping up after World War I, they needed
to plan for every posibility. If you weren’t the most powerful country
in your region, there was a chance that your neighbor might see you as an easy target and
take what they wanted. Regardless of how Canada was split up, Quebec
would likely have been able to maintain its independence if they allied themselves with
the United States during the invasion. But the new Quebecois country would be heavily
reliant on its now enormous neighbor as it would be surrounded on all sides by the U.S.
They also probably would not be able to do anything without the permission of their “liberators.” As the U.S. military developed War Plan Red
they had scouts and agents assess different paths and ways to invade Canada. Interestingly, it was concluded that the Mounties
should not be underestimated, especially in their own forested and mountainous terrain. These Canadian soldiers could have developed
a type of gorilla warfare that would make them a problematic force to fight against
once the invasion began. Even still, it was concluded that a U.S. invasion
of Canada had a high likelihood of success. In order to prepare and improve their chances,
it was recommended that the United States needed more airfields closer to the Canadian
border. In 1935 Congress passed a bill that allocated
$57 million for different assets that would improve U.S. infrastructure while also aiding
in the plan to invade Canada if it ever came to that. This included the building of three airports
near the border which were claimed to be civilian in nature. However, information accidentally leaked to
the press that they were in fact military airfields. This led to questions being asked and the
first inclinations that the United States had developed a plan to invade Canada to surface. War Plan Red actually led to one of the largest
war games in U.S. history when 36,000 soldiers were deployed to Fort Drum to run drills associated
with the invasion of Canada. The crazy part was that the military base
was only 30 miles from the actual border. If the Canadians had been aware that the war
games were happening, they might have contacted their British allies and started preparing
for war. Now watch “Hitler's Actual Plan for Taking
Over America.”.
