War Plan Red: The American Plan to Invade Canada

Hello, everybody. Welcome back to Echoes of War. I'm Craig from the Pacific War Channel, joined here by my co-host, Gerev. How are you?

Hey, Craig. Great to be here. And I think I'll just say it out aloud for the audience. Today, you're taking me hostage. That is a hundred percent. This is, I think it's going to be pretty sensational when people kind of see the title of this episode, especially on YouTube. And for those of you who are listening on an audio podcast platform, please, if you can switch over and go check us out on YouTube, because this one is going to be full of really interesting maps.

And this is going to be a fun one. But obviously, you've read the title. I think I'll title this the American plan to invade Canada in the 1930s, more 1920s, mind you, and vice versa, the same Canadian plan to invade the United States, same time. There existed two plans. But before we jump into the madness of this, if you'd like to further support the channel, please consider joining the YouTube membership or the Patreon account at www.patreon.com slash the Pacific War channel.

By joining either, you get access to the exclusive podcast series, early access to all the content I make, and voting rights for the subjects I will tackle next. And the next episode is probably going to be something I'm already working on. I'll put a poll up, but I think it'll win. It's going to be on the government by assassination. That's a really messed up period in Japanese history.

If you're talking about 1930s japan accurate yeah and the one thing that i'll say here is it's been done to not done to death but there's a quite a few big youtube channels that have covered that topic but every single one of them fails to cover why they just kind of explain the hysteria of it and how it led to militarism but they never look at like why these young japanese officers wanted to do that in the first place and that's something

i'm uniquely capable of doing because I've thoroughly researched that issue. But I desist. Now let's pull up a little map to start us off. Not going to explain what this map is of yet as we jump into this. So, Probably a lot of people here are expecting a comedic episode, and it is funny. But I do want to just say, right off the bat, this was a real war plan, and there actually was an extremely real situation that could have caused it to happen.

They were treating this very seriously, and it's not a complete joke. A lot of people treat it like it's a joke. Okay, I just have one question about this map. Sure. I can see what everything in the shades of red and orange kind of mean, British Empire. Why is Ireland the only thing in Greece? I'll get into that. It has to do with, because we're going to be talking about a lot of things. If they made a full map about all the war plans, it would actually be really interesting.

And the history behind the war plans, it's very hard to get information on this. For this episode, I actually read the real manual that was written by the, I guess you call them the field officers. So it was their survey of Canada, which is really funny if you read the full thing. It starts off with them just doing like a geological study of like, oh, there's Rocky Mountain and there's a tundra is here and there's a lot of rivers. It's going to be hard. We'll need boats.

And it's like just a realist view. And then it's kind of like a survey of, oh, here's all the things that we can steal from them. It's really, it's a really interesting study, but it does, it goes, it goes into like the military aspects quite heavily. And before I start, I also want to mention, we are talking about Canada in the 1920s.

Most of this is written mid 1930s is when kind of the drafts come through it's not the same Canada that we're thinking of today there's a lot of things that aren't even constructed for example the the highway 40 is not finished during most of this so if you were reading the manual you would notice they're actually talking about how it's kind of being built up the railway system is almost finished but there's actually parts that don't connect there's a lot of stuff,

Niagara Falls is completely different for example there's a power plant there which has been gone for quite a while but yeah. Let's start this off by setting the table. After World War I, relations between the United States and Britain were actually not great. This had largely to do with Britain owed a substantial amount of money to the United States because for those who don't know, the United States ended up banking Britain, France, and Russia by proxy. And Britain owed them like $22 billion.

I think they only paid it off in like 2005. That's how long it took. It's a crazy amount. And $22 billion back then is insane today. It's an insane amount. And there was payments with gold and all sorts of crazy things had to happen. A lot of people don't like to talk about this. During World War II, a lot of the deal making between FDR and Churchill had to do with the debt from World War I. There was money kind of being played with there.

So, yeah, it's a very relevant thing. But the United States was also uneasy because they had emerged as the second dominant global naval power, simply because Germany sunk its entire fleet. So you have the Royal Navy, who's been basically the head honcho for forever. And now the American Navy is their second. Not that the American Navy was even close in size or capability to the Royal Navy, but the Royal Navy just had to acknowledge who would be the likeliest

threat to them on the naval stage. Yeah, number two would be America. But America wouldn't last in a conflict there, for sure. Quality of seamanship. Yeah. And it's not just people might look at quantity of ships. The United States had a lot of ships, not a tremendous amount, but the quality was bad.

If you looked at the battleships, it's like on paper, maybe you could argue the United States could put up a little bit of a fight, but no, the British battleships or dreadnoughts basically at this time would have just wiped them out. Not to mention, like you said, the British were battle-hardened veterans on the seas. It would have been like a cat playing with a mouse. That's how bad it would have been. It's kind of like, there's a reason the Royal Navy is the senior service.

Yeah, exactly. And the United States, fully, fully, fully aware of this. They weren't stupid. Now, during this time period... Unlike a certain military leader that would emerge in about 15 years. Yeah, that's very true. Now, the United States, during this period... Actually, it goes even further back. We're talking, honestly, Teddy Roosevelt kind of started the process.

The United States developed these, they're called the coded war plans to prepare for potential conflicts with any given nation that might go to war with the United States or cause a situation where they would have to go to war. You can go on Wikipedia, there's a decent list of these war plans. It doesn't go into depth through all of them, so you should do your own research, but it's pretty entertaining.

Now, of all of these war plans that we're all going to talk about because they're funny, War Plan Red outlined strategies for a hypothetical war between the United States and Great Britain. So actually, the map that you can see behind me, I guess, on your screen, is for War Plan Red. And I'll explain a little bit about it in a bit. So in such a conflict, it was thought that it could have been as an escalation of,

Well, here, I'll get into that a little bit later. But it was thought that this war plan would inevitably escalate into a continental war predominantly fought in North America, with the United States facing off against the British Dominion of Canada at the time. This prompted American military strategists to create a plan for invading and bona fide conquering Canada.

So we're going to be looking into exactly, you know, what was War Plan Red and the other war plans for that matter, because it's a lot of fun. So during the interwar period, the United States Armed Forces formulated the several color-coded war plans. They were developed early in the mid-20th century. Just to give you an idea, War Plan Orange, which dealt with Japan, was immediately done after the Russo-Japanese War.

And it was initiated by Teddy Roosevelt because he felt that Japan would potentially be a threat to the United States in the Pacific. But I think it would be kind of fun to go through some of these war plans. You know, just to give a little flavor to this. So one of the first war plans was known as War Plan Black. It was a contingency plan for a war with Germany, which should come to no surprise.

You know, this is coming off the heels of World War I, who obviously Germany had proven itself to be a formidable force. It's formulated directly after World War I, and it was basically just a precaution measure in case France fell to German forces.

Because for those who don't know, after world war one france kind of just was the dominant like standing army for quite a while arguably land army yes of course an amazing amazing infantry great tanks no radios that's all you have to say about them and horribly out of date general yes unbelievably i mean the british too. The British, like, some of the generals... They were better in comparison. But the French, yeah.

I know I'm just digressing, but I remember reading this at the time of the Battle of France in 1940. Gertrude Rundstedt at, I think, 62 was literally the oldest general in the Wehrmacht. Yeah. And most generals, right, at the Divisional and above were, you could say, between the ages of 48 to 55. So they're still energetic and driven. Most of the French generals were over 65. I mean, it was also Victor's disease. You know, some of these guys made their

names at the end of World War I, so they kept them around. But it was very foolish. And I mean, I don't want to go into it too far, but the French still believed, given what happened in World War I, that the next war was going to be identical. And that big, large armies would inevitably come to a standstill at, you know, for trench warfare, where the Germans took the opposite perspective.

They're like, we can never let that happen. we need direct punches into a weakened area in a line combined arms go through don't allow that well actually the funny thing is the movement and tactics which dominated the blitzkrieg was actually not even a novel concept it was something that even the prussian armies used to do quite well of course you just it's just the means changed but it still was the essence of pincer movement and envelopment in a kettle.

I can't recall Kaiserslaff, I think it used to call it. Like, you get them into the cauldron battle. Yes, the cauldron battle, yeah. So, it was still the same thing. It's also because, unlike the British and the French, the Germans fought in the Western Front. But during World War I, they also fought in the Eastern Front. The Eastern Front, it wasn't trench warfare. It was wide open space, very mobile. So, they got the best of both worlds when it came to experience.

And they realized, yeah, what we were doing in the East particularly could be used against the West, and they wouldn't see it coming. And lo and behold. That is where the famous stormtroopers' tactics were developed. Exactly. I mean, proof is in the pudding when it came to the collapse of France. But this potential war with Germany, they thought it probably would escalate somewhere like in the French West Indies.

And that technically is still, you know, it's definitely in the American zone of interest, being in the Caribbean and all. So, you know, they planned for strategies like a naval blockade of Germany. For greater naval development, troop movements to defend, you know, the territories to prevent the Germans from getting a foothold in the Caribbean, let alone if they had the ambition to land in America, that would be pretty wild.

I mean, it's like man in the high castle scenario, I guess. But that was kind of their idea. It was very defensive. There was also War Plan Gray, which was one that kind of changed over time. This one is very bizarre. It's hard to find information on this one, but it focused with a potential conflict in Central America and the Caribbean, anticipating instability in these regions and preparing for direct intervention to protect, you know, to protect American interests.

This is, you know, coming in the time like when Teddy Roosevelt was around and the United States was definitely an empire abusing Latin America for all of its resources, needless to say. And there was a second element to this where they thought it might involve an invasion of the Portuguese Azor Islands, which were seen to strategic islands in the Atlantic for, you know, it's kind of like a, I guess you'd say it's a stepping stone if you have to do operations against Europe.

Very peculiar to think of the invasion of what is just a beautiful whole set of islands. But yeah, there was War Plan Brown, which is one that's pretty relevant. It was basically to just address unrest in the Philippines, which already happened quite a few times to the United States. And, you know, it was basically just a plan how to quell an uprising against the American colonial rule in the Philippines.

Although the United States is not an empire and they definitely did not acquire any colonies like the Philippines, as they always like to say. Completely bullshit. But yeah. Or you could just say, sorry, as Napoleon would say, all you need is a whiff of grape shot. Yeah. Douglas MacArthur was in the Philippines just because he was friendly to them. There's no other reason why he was there for so long, or his father for that matter.

Yeah. Everyone forgets about his father. And God Eisenhower managed to get away from that. Oh my God. Have you ever read about the personal accounts of Eisenhower? He was like, he looks up to MacArthur in the beginning and then he just descends into this like, no, I need to get away from this guy, man. War Plan 10, that's pretty relevant to the United States today. It was for an intervention in Cuba. So the War Plan 10. The opening invasion. Yep. Or the Spanish-American War,

if you want to go further back. War Plan 10 was focused on the potential intervention in Cuba, particularly in response to political instability or threats to American investments in the region. I have no idea what that could be about. I'll ask Fidel Castro. This plan represented, you know, longstanding American interest in Cuban affairs, dating back, like I said, to the Spanish-American War. Because people who don't know their American history, Cuba was like a child

to America. It was not their colonial possession per se, but America really felt that it was like they gave us a protectorate of theirs. And the financial interest in Cuba was immense once upon a time. Quite tragic, the history between those two countries, which is weird as a Canadian because it's one of our vacation destinations of choice. So, you know, we like we go over there. I can buy Cuban cigars, which I happen to really like, by the way,

all the time. But that's like illegal for Americans and stuff. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. But you know what? The Dominican also makes great cigars. I'll say that. And then we come up. I don't just think of cigars. I'm just thinking of like, you know, Tintin and such. Yeah. Yeah. We come up now to the main one, which is Warplan Red.

So if you're watching this on YouTube, just look at the map as I say this, because Warplan Red was intricate and it had a lot of specific subvariants for all the British Dominions. So if you look on the map, the crimson color is Canada, ruby color is India, scarlet is Australia, garnet is New Zealand, emerald is what at the time was the Irish Free State, which has obviously changed now, and each variant outlawed strategies for potential conflicts or defensive measures against these regions.

And it reflected American apprehensions about British imperial expansion and the dynamics of international relations. We're going to go back into War Plan Red, but I want to talk about the other ones. The one I know the most about, obviously, is War Plan Orange, which was a conflict with Japan. It was developed in anticipation of, obviously, a potential conflict with Japan, and it included naval strategies and troop deployments designed to counter Japanese expansion within the Asia Pacific.

And, I mean, it was specifically targeting, you know, areas that were of American interest, which obviously, right off the bat, the Philippines, for example. Now, what's interesting is WarPlan Red and Orange also saw a combined version of this plan called WarPlan Red Orange, which was America. I'm sorry, just, well, great naming. Well, I mean, they wanted to go with their color coded idea here.

But I was just thinking, couldn't someone at the war office just like maybe mix orange and red and just see what? I know. Yeah. But War Plan Red Orange was America's hypothetical two-front war situation. In their analysis, they envisioned simultaneous conflicts with both Japan and the British Empire, because once upon a time, there was the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, a treaty that, you know, was renewed a few times.

And then as we got closer to World War II, Japan cut that treaty with Britain, tragically for them, by the way. It highlighted the logistical challenge to the United States facing a two-front war, and it led to, you know, the prioritization of one front for a fence while adopting a defensive posture for the other. Kind of similar to, you know, the Schlieffen plan for Germany during World War I and a little bit for World War II. And.

To be honest, I don't want to go into it too much, but this plan was the one that had the most changes done to it all the way up till a few weeks before the Pacific War hit because Douglas MacArthur famously didn't like what was called War Plan Orange 3 at the time of the attack in the Philippines. And he had tried to make some last minute changes. And this also has to do with the future Rainbow Plans, which is another thing altogether.

But War Plan Orange certainly went over, it went through a lot of developments. At first, it was directed at defending the Panama Canal because they thought that the Japanese would do a surprise attack on the Panama Canal and ends up changing to Pearl Harbor. They didn't foresee that so much, but yeah. And the Japanese also had always thought they might attack the Panama Canal. If anyone wants to hunt down a book, I forget what year it's written. I think it's in like 1905 or something.

It's called The Great Pacific War. and it was this guy who had this theoretical idea that japan would surprise attack the panama canal and cause a global event and yeah interesting in retrospect and isaroku yamamoto read it so yeah pretty interesting there was also war plan yellow which was again it was directed at china and this was basically in a direct response to the boxer protocol which was the outcome of the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Rebellion of 1899 to 1901.

This was just the United States basically just saying, China again gets what you would call uppity. How would we go over there and quell what is the next little rebellion on their part? Which is just so sad, because, I mean, China was literally carved up by so many different powers and abused.

It's really disgusting. But the United States thought, you know, they would use their military forces that are already in places like Shanghai or in Tianjin and Beijing and just quell it, probably call up the other great powers who would just all gang up on China because everyone was getting financial like payback from exploiting China. It's really a gross situation. Warplan Gold was an engagement with France for its colonial possessions.

For those who don't know, the French, going a long, long way back, still owned a few of the Caribbean islands. And I mean, this was in the sphere of American influence. So if you look at things like... Well, this would be the quickest of the war plans to be completed. Yes and no, it depends on the year. Because France could be formidable. Given, like, I don't know, let's say it was on the cusp of World War I or something.

France could have annoyed the... Okay, I'm kind of just putting in the interwar years. Interwar years, yeah. No, no, interwar years, all the other countries have been so devastated, they couldn't even think about financing a navy. The United States was in a unique position. But like, let's, for example, the United States had to actually occupy some of the Caribbean islands in the interwar years.

And even in World War I, there was some meddling about out because of just fear of, you know, civil unrest and stuff. And then these new nations popping up because the United States was very sensitive about the independence movements in Latin America because so many countries claimed independence from Spain and stuff. And it got crazy and it always led to conflict with American interests, like the, the fruit company, for example, absolutely evil.

Anyone who knows that history, my God, the America. American exploitation of Latin America should be taught more so in schools. It's really bad. I desist. There was also War Plan Green, super relevant. It's a hypothetical war with Mexico. Some would argue it happened a few times, to be honest. It was termed officially Mexican domestic intervention. And basically, it just aimed to eliminate any rebel forces that might spring

up in Mexico who might get too unruly. And the Americans might just, you know, install like a puppet president in Mexico to just quell any such things. And yeah, if you look at the histories of World War I, World War II, there's a lot of tensions. There were kind of attacks over the border. Stuff happened. So simply put anything against Pancho Villa. Exactly. Warplan Indigo was the occupation of Iceland. This actually happened in World War II.

It was in response to Denmark's, you know. when denmark was occupied by like germany for example in world war ii the united states had to execute war plan indigo to take it because it was it's strategic and it could be used as a launching pad against the united states canada and other things it was actually pretty important during the battle of the atlantic and uh to this day i mean yeah i think i think i'll just add since you mentioned

the bath of the atlantic a lot of the escort groups and merchant ships merchant ships which were damaged to escorts that were like, you know, these roving hunter groups of destroyers and brigades that would be not attached to a convoy, but just searching U-boats. They tended to be based in Greenland and Iceland so that they would be quicker to respond to threats in the Atlantic air gap. And to this day, the Americans have a very significant amount of military bases

in Iceland and are right now, as we speak, seeking the same thing in Greenland. Go figure. So yeah, these war plans are kind of relevant. That's why I wanted to make this episode. There's also War Plan Purple, which was an invasion of the South American republics.

And again, it was just if any of these Latin American countries got, you know, uppity, as they would say, the Americans would try to figure out a false flag operation kind of reason and attack or install a pro-american government there was war plan violet which was another engagement in latin america encompassed you know dealings with how to maintain american influence this has more to do with kind of the markets how to enforce american policies on these countries this is more in line with

kind of what teddy roosevelt was doing back in the day kind of what would he call it it was the the carrying around a big stick policy i guess you call it, and giving carrots or beating them up. And there was War Plan White, which was to address a domestic uprising. If you know your American history, think about the bonus army situation. That adopted some War Plan White. Or let's say there was a communist insurrection in the United States.

They had plans for how to go against their own citizenry and to maintain public order, issue martial law, everything you can imagine. And War Plan Blue, Blue being the United States of America, it was basically just your regular defensive preparations in peacetime. So this was what was always going on. Yeah. I was just about to say it was more. Yeah, exactly. I mean, it's feasible for War Plan White. There could be another Civil War situation.

War Plan Red laid out, as I said, strategies for dealing with the United Kingdom. And it was complemented by the other countries. So Crimson would be codenamed for Canada. There was, like I said, it was Ruby for India, Scarlet for Australia, Garnet for New Zealand, Emerald for Ireland, Pink for all the other colonial possessions. Because if you look on the map I'm showing, you've got parts of Africa that are pink, some of the Caribbean islands.

There was a lot going on. This is kind of World War I, post-World War I, Britain. So Britain is still a major empire, has a lot of assets around the world.

At the at the closer to world war ii however all the color-coded war plans were officially withdrawn and if you're watching me that's like with quotation marks they weren't they were just not being shown to the public or anything and they've been maintained secretly as kind of backups but now they're being replaced with what we call the the five rainbow plans and for example war plan orange was incorporated into one of the

specific rainbow plans and it was like 80% was war plan orange with some changes and modifications. Notably, Douglas MacArthur's idea to add bombers in the Philippines to preemptively strike Taiwan, which was called Formosa back then. And despite the fact he fought so long to put that into the plan, when the time came to do it, he didn't, because he's a, I won't get into it. He's an idiot. But yeah, he screwed that up.

Japan. What plan for that? Five. Five fundamental questions, yeah. Rainbow Six. Yeah, of course. Have you read that book, by the way? No, I just know the game. I've read the book. It's good. I'm a Tom Clancy fan. I've read a few books of his. I've read a few books of Tom Clancy's. I mean, you can make fun of Tom Clancy because it's like, they used to say back in the day, there was like an AI system where it was input, terrorist, whatever group.

Something happens to America. America gets hit a bit and then they just come back and win and that's like every single Tom Clancy book it's kind of true but yeah, I've actually read a lot more I think Dale Brown compared to Clancy similar, that's true I mean Tom Clancy he not that he was young when he died but. Pretty young for an author to assist. Japan had seized the opportunity presented by World War I to emerge as a significant strategic power in the Pacific Ocean.

And, you know, at that time, many officials, military planners viewed a war with Japan as highly likely. And although tensions eased temporarily when Japan's civil government passed some military expansion efforts, these programs would resume until like 1931. So War Plan Orange, which I keep talking about, basically was the most comprehensive plan and the longest of the color-coded plans to be developed by the military.

The other one's kind of faded to obscurity, but the United States always kind of was tinkering with that one. It was the most likely one. You know, after the Japanese invasion of China certainly pushed things.

And then when you're looking at things like in Europe, when Germany began, you know, the Anschluss, the taking of the Sudetenland with the Munich Agreement and things, the pact it made with the ussr this kind of like changed the war plan black so in response to all these things the united states basically had to adopt these rainbow plans i'll talk a little bit about them so rainbow plan one outlined a defensive strategy aimed at protecting the united

states in the western hemisphere defined as the area north of like 10 degrees south latitude assuming the united states would have no significant allies so if the united states was by itself being attacked the second rainbow plan mirrored the first but accounted for the united states being allied with France and the United Kingdom. The third Rainbow Plan reinstated the objectives of War Plan Orange.

While emphasizing the need to secure hemispheric defense first, as stipulated by the first Rainbow Plan. Excuse me. The fourth Rainbow Plan maintained the same assumptions as the first Rainbow Plan, but brought in the mission to encompass the protection of the entire Western Hemisphere. And last... It kind of reminds me of one comic I read. I don't remember the series, but it was like.

Fictional sci-fi kind of thing but there's like east for east and west for west and you have like this pan-american republic in that book and you know that time literally the entire eurasian plus african landmass right yeah it's dominated either by the chinese or the abyssinian empire which ultimately sees the chinese win and then you know reconciliation or whatnot oh yeah what was the name of that. I remember that. I don't remember the name, but I've read that comic.

I think Alternate History Hub covered that at one point. That's where I think I remember hearing about that. That's an interesting scenario. Yeah. Last was Rainbow Plan 5, which was ultimately the one the United States adopted during World War II. It assumed the alliance system with Britain and France and had provisions for American forces in Europe, Africa, or the Pacific.

Europe first came about through ideas with this one and basically the rainbow plans just took over everything but to get back to what we're talking about this episode to I'll just say one thing though the, reason they probably also had to be delicate with these plans is the isolationist grip was very strong yeah of course right until, probably like mid 1940, that's when you know during the Battle of Britain it slowly started to get away at a pace yeah so that was definitely the

case so i think there was also that debate right whether the united states should use its industrial might to send assets to britain and france which is i think the preferred strategy of some of roosevelt and his key advisors so that where they are saying okay if we give it to our allies it's going to be far away from us we don't have to worry about our our men being killed yeah it's true, and the isolationists would obviously counter that we need to keep it for our own defense.

Yeah. I mean, that was the argument that went on for years and years. And it was just FDR struggling to come up with a rationale to get into the war because he had been in conversation with Churchill for a long time, trying to just figure out how it would happen. And he gave guarantees to Churchill. He's like, it's going to happen. We just need a rationale to justify it.

It's ironic that the United States, both on the cusp of World War I and World War II, faced the situation where they had presidents who basically had policies not to enter a war and then they had to. But yeah. So for War Plan Red, and I really want to emphasize this because a lot of people laugh at this. Like this is like a plan for something that couldn't happen. Absolutely could have happened. And they had a good rationale for why they had to have the war plan.

So American military strategists at this time, they believe that a conflict with Great Britain would likely arise from disruptions in foreign trade relations. Probably you're thinking to yourselves, why the hell would these two go to war over that? I'll get to that. Britain asserted something called belligerent rights status during wartime. And basically what this means is if Britain is at war with, let's say, France, they want to stop France from receiving or doing any trade.

So they'll do a naval blockade of France. What if the United States is trading with France and the United States wants to continue trading with France. Britain, based off of the belligerent rights idea, states that they can take the American ship aside, confiscate their stuff, maybe even attack them. And during World War One, during the naval blockade of Germany, this situation actually occurred, not with just the United States.

I think it happened with the, not with the United States, but a lot with more with the Scandinavian merchant fleets. Yeah, it was Sweden and Norway particularly because Sweden and Norway, they had iron that Germany could not get by without. Germany has resources, but not enough for the wartime. And the British ended up like trying to respect the neutrality of a neutral country, like let's say Sweden, while stopping them from trading.

It was a really tricky thing. And that's why Bryn adopted this thing called belligerent rights, because they wanted everybody to know that's what we're going to do. And by the way, what's kind of funny about this is there was no legal precedent for it. It was just Britain saying, hey, this is what we do and this is the justification. No one else was really acknowledging that it was okay to do this. So the legality of it's kind of interesting too.

But given the experiences of both the United States and Britain during World War I, American planners expected such a war between them to be a prolonged conflict and that it would be fought primarily in North America. Yeah. And it would be all over, basically, disruption of trade, which is understandable because both of them were competing and both of them had naval assets. And they weren't identical when it came to maritime trade and their networks, but they were very comparable.

So the United States hoped that given conflict would arise, that Canada would simply align with Britain, thereby allowing the United States to have justification for attacking and occupying Canada. If Canada said they wanted to be neutral, the U.S. Planners would refuse to acknowledge it unless Canada allowed them to occupy key ports like Halifax and other strategic locations until the war's conclusion, which is ridiculous, but, you know, whatever.

Sorry, I'm a little bit sick. I've been sick for a while. So I just want to reiterate to people, this was like a very real scenario.

The let's say like britain was at war with i don't know one of the caribbean islands or something in latin america like the united states would definitely think that this is impeding upon their their trade maybe even the monroe doctrine and the united states would escalate things and as we all know even if you don't want to go to war with the country if you let things escalate and keep escalating, you inevitably kind of get forced into it.

So I just, like, it's definitely, it was plausible and, plausible is a good word to use highly unlikely plausible but yeah because i think a lot of people find it comical the idea that the united states would go to war with britain but you know after world war one like you have to put your head back in time before we think of them as like these countries that have been all that are great friends there was no other enemy on the world stage germany was neutered by 1921 they didn't look

like they were coming back there was the USSR, but they were... And I might add, thanks to France, insisting on those pretty harsh terms. Draconian, yeah. Which Britain, the United States, I might add, wanted to not impose. Obviously, they wanted to impose penalties, but nothing to the extent what France proposed. So, put yourself in the United States' shoes. You are owed just by Britain alone. We're not even talking about the other countries that owed so much money to

the United States. $22 billion. And then you get into this escalating... I'll just tell this. That's about half a trillion in today's dollars. Yeah. And then Britain, I don't know. Britain goes to Portugal, of all places. Who knows? And the United States, for some reason, has vested interest in some trade with the Portuguese over port. Porto, I guess. I don't know. And then Britain starts messing with the American merchant fleet.

And they're like, yeah, we're confiscating your stuff. And if you don't stop, we're going to fire upon your ships. because the British are taking this very seriously. The United States would be very angry about this. This would not go down well. And, you know, one thing could lead to another and it just takes one merchant ship going down like the Lusitania. And then you got yourself a war. It could happen. So, anyways.

Well, it did not happen in World War II, technically, because the Reuben James was sunk like five, six months before Pearl Harbor. Very true. Very true.

But I think one more thing that I'm pretty sure at least antagonized the United States more so their president Woodrow Wilson was he was the pioneer and champion for the League of Nations idea and he really set out that thing which if you really look at it in the points while it sounds great it definitely was like rubbing Britain and France the wrong way because of removing these imperialistic ideas which I'm pretty sure even Japan did not want of course and it was also a little hypocritical

the United States because they definitely were an empire these weren't saying it yeah true enough and. Regardless Britain and France just outright just did not even accept his proposals and I think if I got this they could during like you know the negotiations after the surrender of the central powers when Italy gave asking for you know what all it was promised yeah they kind of like just delegated it to Wilson and,

And he could not do much. I mean, I don't want to get into that, but I wrote scripts specifically on the rationale for why Italy did what it did after World War I, why Japan did, and why Germany did. Everyone forgets why Italy had grievances during World War I. It is kind of funny. They were promised stuff, and then it didn't happen, and they got so uptie about it. But yeah, let's change up. So here we are. This is the actual war plan map itself with a lot written down in the corner.

You can let the audience who's watching us read that, but I'll get into this. The development of War Plan Red by the U.S. Army commenced after. I mean, it commenced before, but anyways, fundamentally in 1927 after the Geneva Naval Conference. The plan received official approval, quotes, official, a lot of people say it's not official, in May 1930 from both the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy.

By 1934, it was revised to permit the immediate use of poison gas and strategic bombing aimed at capturing or destroying Halifax. You heard that right. And I will get into specifically how that came about, because Halifax is the most vital target in this scenario. A lot of people who are from Canada would be like, what the hell? Halifax of all places. I'll get into that. You have to again, 1920s Canada, not today. Very different Canada back then. So in February 1935, the U.S.

War Department allocated $57 million for the establishment of three air bases along the border to facilitate a preemptive strike on Canadian airfields. One of these bases was disguised as a civilian airport. And I can't remember the full story about this, but the actual plans and the rationale for why these airbases were being made covertly got leaked to a journalist in Canada. And we found out, I'm Canadian, by the way, I don't know if I've said this, I'm Canadian.

We found out that that's what they were for. And it was a huge scandal that got brushed under the rug. But yeah, the Americans got caught doing this. It's pretty funny. In August of 1935, the US even executed the largest peacetime military exercise, mobilizing 36,000 troops near the Canadian border south of Ottawa, with an additional 15,000 troops held in reserve in Pennsylvania. This was to simulate a motorized invasion of Canada.

Yep. Absolutely happened. The final iteration of the plan was submitted on December the 18th. I think I'll just add one little thing. Yep. The mobilization of about 50,000 personnel of the United States Armed Forces at this time, of the Army at this time. Very significant. That's a That's one quarter of the entire military strength. Yeah. Because at this time, the United States' total military strength in the army was about 190,000 to 200,000.

Yeah, that's very significant. And it was done covertly, and it was actually really, it was pulled off quite well. The final iteration of the War Plan Red was submitted on December the 18th of 1935 by the G2 Intelligence Division of the U.S. Army War College. So, War Plan Red presumed that Britain would initially gain the upper hand due to the Superior Royal Navy, leveraging Canada as a launch point for an invasion of the United States.

The primary goal for the United Kingdom in this scenario was expected to be the elimination of the United States as a significant economic competitor. Something people need to understand. No illusions the United States is going to be invaded and conquered. They're impossible. As I think Aissaroku Yamamoto said, if we invaded the United States, behind every blade of grass would be a guy with a gun. So the British, they weren't up for Revolutionary War 2.0.

They wanted to eliminate the United States' capabilities as an economic power because that in itself was a victory because then Britain is the bona fide leader of the world. And right now they are, because even at this point, the world's, the predominant trading currency in the world is not the United States dollar, it's the British pound. Exactly. It's only close to World War II when the United States becomes basically the monolith we see today.

The conflict was anticipated to be prolonged, given what happened in World War I. and it was expected the longer it went, the British Empire would, you know, rally their troops from all their colonial possessions. Let's look at Gerov at India during World War I. The lion's share of units coming from there, not to mention you have ANZAC. Other than that, I mean, I wouldn't expect... I have a question. Yeah? What if the Australians got the kangaroos?

You have to counter that with... We have moose here, okay?

They're actually very dangerous. they'll break you but the kangaroos are going to be fighting with the moose, oh dude have you ever seen a moose people freak out a moose is like double the height of a person and if your car if you hit a moose your car is done the moose is getting up and walking away you're dead if you hit it like don't mess with a moose oh we also have wolverines, yeah they're pretty nasty see right now there are two kinds of wolverines in my head,

one is obviously the x-men yeah, and the other is. And the other is from Command and Conquer oh my god yeah oh man do an episode on Command and Conquer would be interesting alternate history the Command and Conquer anyway I won't get into it oh I'm down I'm down yeah generals, Hey you, you ever hear me talk about some great pacific war movie or documentary like Pearl Harbor minute by minute over on Netflix and feel the urge to watch it for yourself?

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The conflict, obviously, so it's going to be prolonged. There also had to be the acknowledgement that there is potential for intervention by Japan or Mexico. By the 1930s, the United States gradually believed that this was less likely because Japan was very isolated from the rest of the world and Mexico was not doing well. By the 1930s, Mexico was really struggling. Yeah, they kind of lost the ability to be a real key player. They were involved in World War II, but very not significantly.

So to counter these threats, the United States intended to refrain from engaging forces beyond the Western Hemisphere, or from confronting the Royal Navy in a decisive naval battle. That was like, at the beginning, they're like, no, we're not doing that. Instead, their strategy centered around defending against a British-Canadian invasion, while simultaneously trying to blockade, invade, and ultimately subjugate Canada.

The objective was to capture essential ports, airbases, railways, strategic territories, deprive the Canadians of crucial resources they could use, you know, for the production. And North America, once it was conquered, would be fortified as, you know, a continental defense system. Like, think of Hitler's Atlantic Wall, but on the other side... The North American Wall? Yeah, the North American Wall. And then if the British attempted, you know, to get a foothold,

they would just... Well, actually, it would actually be the Atlantic Wall still. Yeah, exactly. It would be the Atlantic Wall still. And to stop the British from ever attempting a foothold for the invasion. By the way, if Canada is taken, Britain is not landing anywhere in the States. That's just ridiculous to even think about. That would not go well. I don't think they would even be dumb enough to give that consideration.

No, no. And I will be talking about what the Royal Navy thought about all this. They had their own idea of a war scenario. Now, the overarching hope was that a successful conquest of Canada and economic pressure against Great Britain would just lead to a negotiated peace, which, very reasonable, that definitely would be the outcome of this, for sure.

During the initial stages of the conflict, U.S. outposts in the Philippines, Guam, and American Samoa would just be abandoned to the British and ANZAC forces. There's nothing America could do. They knew that that was done. And it's kind of like how France was in the gunpowder age conflicts with Britain. The idea to win in the continents of Europe. Colonies have to defend themselves. And we'll barter the gains.

Exactly. And let's be honest. If this actually, this war broke out, the Philippines would suddenly be like, Japanese citizens are under threat. Something's happening. Japan needs to just occupy the Philippines. It would have been a free-for-all in the Asia-Pacific. Everyone would be taking chunks out of everybody. So we're just talking about a Royal Rumble, but in the Pacific with actual guns and weapons.

Oh, yeah. After conducting extensive war games at the Naval War College, the planners of War Plan Red opted not to attack British shipping or engage in a decisive naval battle initially. Instead, the U.S. Navy aimed to concentrate all of its efforts in the western North Atlantic to try and obstruct British-Canadian ship movements. Following the conquest of Canada, if the opportunity presented itself, the U.S.

Navy could try to engage the Royal Navy, aiming for a decisive victory that could disrupt British supply lines and facilitate invasions of British colonies in the Western Hemisphere. Any territory obtained from Britain or Canada would be annexed immediately and integrated into US states or territories. Yeah, so that's something that people need to know. The invasion of Canada plan, absolutely, they were going to conquer Canada and take it all.

What's funny is if you read the manual, they actually acknowledge what happens if they lose. So amongst all the things that Britain will do, the United States, like take all their colonies away, cancel the debt from World War I, huge. And probably cause reparation payments, they acknowledged that Canada would just take Alaska for itself because, I mean, look at a map. It kind of makes sense if Alaska was taken. So yeah, that would have been a funny scenario.

But yeah, so the military forces involved in this, and this is all estimations by G2 intelligence in the 1920s, early 1930s. So G2 intelligence and their divisions carried out thorough reconnaissance of Canada, analyzing its geography, resources, and military capabilities.

Notably, and I really got to say this because I found this to be incredible, the famous and esteemed American pilot Charles Lindenberg undertook covert reconnaissance flights over Canadian airspace for this, reaching as far as the Hudson Bay to identify strategic targets. And he was one of the first people to say that they should use poison gas against Canadians in the event of a war. Charles Lindbergh. Son of a bitch. Biggest isolationist. Yeah.

Yeah. So, yeah. Really, you got to look at the history of this guy. Because, yeah. I think I'll just say one thing ago. Did they not realize that the Canadians are immune to poison gas? I mean, we were the ones that kind of came up with the anti-gas measures first. When we were being gassed to shit in World War I. I think, was it the Canadians who figured out how to piss on a rag?

I can't remember if it was the Canadians or the British. I do know that the Canadians, whenever the Germans ended up gassing the Allied lines, and you have the withdrawal, they still find the Canadian battalions manning their lungs. Yeah, well, that's why we had the nickname that we received in World War I from, I guess it was the Germans had given it to us, was the Crazy Canucks. Yeah.

So one of the things that you'll find in the manual is how the United States divided Canada and it was based off of political subdivisions. So at the time, there was the Maritime Provinces, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick. There was Quebec, Ontario, the Prairie Provinces in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta. So Greg, that's home for you.

Yeah, Quebec, British Columbia. And at this time, Newfoundland was a part of Canada, but they acknowledged it would definitely be involved in the war. So Newfoundland is kind of another British acquisition there. And it would be considered red crimson, I guess. Can I just say one thing? If they invaded and they defeated them and destroyed Montreal Canadiens, I'd be happy. I mean, it wouldn't change the outcomes for the Canadians.

I mean, of course, they're going to win the Cups in the 20s and stuff, but it's been a long time. It's just depressing. Look, I support the Leafs. I know that even more. That's pathetic. Yeah, you can't make fun of the Habs if you support the Leafs. The Leafs are much more depressing. I'm super sorry. I'm used to depressed. Even my football club used to be like waiting for titles. So I'm used to this. Actually, my friend had messaged me. I don't know if I can find the text.

The betting right now is like if you put five bucks on the Canadians winning the playoffs, it's like a thousand percent increase in your bet or something. It's like ridiculous. But yeah. I can remember some guy he bet for $1.4 million on an NFL game with the team that he bet on was leading 28-0. These were the Chargers against Jacksonville in the playoffs. And this was during the second quarter and Jacksonville just rallied to beat and he just lost. Nice.

And guess what would have been his profit if it had come 10k? Ouch don't do sports betting folks i i used to work in bars and kitchens oh my god the people i used to work with like degenerate sports gamblers lost so much money one guy with, one guy was a dallas cowboys fan and you just bet on them. He would bet on the team he let me cowboys come on and he would just get crushed every week he It was so, so sad.

Yeah. I'll admit one of my favorite things in the NFL postseason or end of regular season is the Dallas Cowboy fan reactions. Yeah. Okay, I'd assist. A census was conducted in June the 1st, 1931. Reported that Canada's total population was about 10,376,000. With of those being about 5.3 million males. Concentrated along a narrow strip south of the 56th parallel, west of Lake Winnipeg, and south of the 49th parallel, east of Lake Superior.

No surprise to any Canadian audience members, we live on the border. It's really cold. So just talk about the border with the United States and kind of between Winnipeg to Halifax kind of area. If you are looking at the map right now, where the arrows kind of go and lie, that's 90% of the population of Canada. Yes, we all live on the border because the further north you go, the more it really, really sucks. Like, oh my God.

So yeah, obviously, the Americans, when they were surveying Canada, said the climate in southern Canada was found to resemble the northern regions of the United States. Like, I don't know, Vermont, for example. Due to the harsh winter conditions, war planners recommended avoiding attacking Canada between November the 1st and April the 15th. That's our dense winter. Yeah. And yeah, don't attack Canada in winter. It would be like the Soviet Union. It wouldn't go well.

In 1934, G2 intelligence estimated... Unless you're the Polish. Yeah, true. Sorry, losing my voice from being sick. In 1934, G2 intelligence estimated the Canadian army consisted of 3,760 permanent personnel and about 135,000 non-permanent personnel. They projected that 60,000 troops could be mobilized within about 15 days of a war. This would increase to about 126,000 within 30 days. And after about six months, Britain could potentially contribute about 50,000 troops per month going forward.

So again, like, yeah, the British, quite a lot of reinforcement. Yeah. I actually, I have a table. Maybe I'll edit it later, but table just shows like the escalation, like the longer the conflict would go if the British were allowed to ship men over because of the, I mean, look, look at the empire. There's all, it's like World War I. At first, you know, Britain was on like the small feet there.

You know, they're having trouble. But once the African troops, Indian troops, Anzac forces start hitting the front, I mean, it got ridiculous for the Germans to. Well, I think that maybe you can put this in the video later, but, just for the audience's benefit. They initially expected that there would be five divisions worth of soldiers that they would need to face. Yeah. And by month six, they estimated there are going to be like 22 new divisions. Exactly. Under certain conditions, this

force might be landing in Canada by like 30 minutes. Yeah, it's a lot. The Royal Canadian Navy had about 104 officers, 812 personnel, with the possible assistance of local British Royal Navy members. So I could be like another hundred or so officers, about a thousand men that could be added. Basically, that would be like probably forces already in Newfoundland, for example. The naval fleet of Canada at this time included like four destroyers and three

minesweepers. It's kind of comical to think about. But remember, Canada didn't build a real fleet till World War II. The Canadian fleet was much better. Yeah. Yeah, but you've got to really give it to them. This puts them in context, like how much work the Canadians hold in the Battle of the Atlantic. People never talk about this, but pound for pound, like because of the small population of Canada, we output arguably more aircraft than Americans.

Like it was insane how much aircraft that we were putting out and frigates and smaller destroyers, for example. That's what we were specializing in World War II.

But you know i remember this one thing of the atlantic battles is the british were kind of like before america entered the british were kind of pissed off with the canadians are like you guys are not doing enough even though most of the ships of the royal canadian navy, were out at sea for like 90 to 95 percent of a standard voyage time which is absolutely insane Yeah, the escort duties for the convoys, it really, like, we unsung heroes, Canadians,

like, it wasn't large vessels that were escorting the convoy successfully. It was literally, like, frigates and destroyers, and that's why Canada... Corvettes. Canada exclusively went into building these smaller ships. They streamlined it for the convoy duty. And no one talks about that, but yeah. The Canadian Air Force, a little bit more robust, had about 1,000 personnel, 84 combat aircraft, alongside about another...

Like for a total of 189 like aircraft, but, um, I mean, it's not great, but you know, and, uh, they could probably pull in about 20 plus, like every month of the war that can build up. It was expected, for example, within the first 10 months of the war, they'd have 13 squadrons by much more time. This could be built up to 74 squadrons, given the Britain, you know, Britain's bringing over theirs.

Following World War I, on the other side of this, the United States Army had downsized to an army of about 135,000 active personnel, but they had the capacity to just bring up about 4 million. So, again, Canada has almost 6 million males, total population. The United States is like, yeah, we could probably field about 4 million. It wouldn't be great for Canada. The U.S.

Navy consisted of 100,000 active duty personnel, and by 1935, this would include 15 battleships, 4 aircraft carriers, 25 cruisers, 104 destroyers, 52 submarines, and hundreds of additional vessels, totaling like 320 warships, so pretty big disparity between them and Canada. By June 30th of 1932, the American Air Corps had grown to about 1,305 officers and over 13,000 enlisted men, including cadets in that.

They possessed about 1,709 aircraft distributed amongst four attack groups, 12 bombardment groups, 16 pursuit groups, 13 observation squadrons. The Corps possessed at the time also two airship and two balloon squadrons. This is, you know, after World War I. And yeah, that was still a thing. G2 intelligence estimated that Great Britain could deploy approximately 2.5 million troops to Canada from its colonial empire.

During this period, the Royal Navy was recognized as the world's most powerful navy, significantly surpassing the United States. They had roughly at that time like 20 battleships, including battlecruisers in that list, 12 aircraft carriers, 90 cruisers, 100 destroyers, 70 submarines, hundreds of other warships.

232 naval aircraft because britain had like a naval arm too the united states is just kind of starting this out as a concept uh the royal air force had 48 squadrons each comprising you know like 12 aircraft ready to deploy to canada on a whim and uh ongoing shipments were expected to increase that strength like i said to 74 squadrons within the 120 days of the potential war so just Just like the men coming over, airplanes too.

Yeah. And I think one reason Britain also has significantly more capital ships. Yeah. Right. That is cruisers and above. They actively did that in the interwar period. Yeah. During the time of peace, they built quite a few of these cruisers and battleships and aircraft carriers. And the logic was sound. These things are not going to be replaced for 30, 35 years if all things go well. Mm-hmm. And it takes years to build one.

So do it now and then let our shipyards during the war churn out destroyers and smaller ships, smaller numbers of the bigger ships, more practical use of your manufacturing capacity. It was clear that Canada would struggle to defend its territory against the United States.

The country would likely focus on defending Halifax and the Montreal-Quebec territory to maintain operational bases for the United Kingdom, while secondary efforts would, you know, concentrate on protecting vital supply routes in industrial areas. The success of War Plan Red hinged on the seizure of Halifax, the largest ice-free port in eastern Canada. Because again, everybody, this is 1920s. A lot of changes have happened since.

The United Kingdom was expected to utilize Halifax as its primary naval base, and capturing it would basically cut off the United K's ability to supply troops to Canada, or resources alone. Given its strategic... I see port. Yeah. That's exactly why Russia and Japan went to war. Exactly. Yeah. Excuse me. Fort Arthur, while Russia also had places like Vladivostok, but that wasn't ice-free. So it wasn't as strategically important.

Because Canada, we have the Montreal Dock, of course, but it's actually not ice-free at this point in history. So that's why it's of secondary importance. Given its strategic significance, the US sanctioned the use of poison gas and strategic bombing to facilitate a swift conquest of Halifax. Following the taking of Halifax, the next most important thing was the hydroelectric power plant at Niagara Falls, which doesn't exist anymore, but back then that was a big deal.

It was definitely the number two key target, as it generated most of the region's electricity. Securing this facility would significantly disrupt Crimson's operations, Crimson being Canada. Once these objectives were accomplished, the plant envisioned a full-scale invasion on three fronts, advancing from Vermont towards the Montreal-Quebec area, moving from North Dakota to capture the Winnipeg Railhead and launching an assault from the Midwest to seize critical nickel mines in Ontario.

Concurrently, the U.S. Navy aimed to dominate the Great Lakes and establish a blockade of the Canadian Atlantic and Pacific ports. Now, in the maritime region, the U.S. would initiate an amphibious assault on Halifax from Boston and New York. Anticipating strong fortifications, if a direct frontal assault failed, which was definitely possible, Halifax is well fortified, Forces would then land at St. Margaret's Bay to besiege Halifax.

Should conditions prove unfavorable there, the U.S. would shift to an overland advance from eastern Maine. After capturing Halifax, its undersea cables would be cut to sever the Canadian communication with Britain. Subsequently, U.S. armed forces would be... Can I just add one thing? Sure. Wouldn't they be considering, like, if they go to this third option, right? That means their first two options have failed, right? Yes.

I'm pretty sure if it would have failed, it would also be having a casualty butcher's bill. Yeah. Wouldn't that start to stop morale? The third option was not viable. They couldn't go through with it. Excuse me. The British would be able to easily fortify the region. If the amphibious assault failed, they were done. The United States was screwed. It would not go well. Honestly, the whole plan, if they don't get Halifax immediately, they're done. It's not going to go well.

Oh yeah, this is a rapid attack. So yeah, the... You've got Heinz Guderian, he would have invented a new... He's the inventor of these great tactics. Of course, yeah. Subsequently, U.S. Armed Forces would target afterwards ports like St. John, Moncton, other vital airfields, railway junctions and such. In the St. Lawrence River area, American forces would advance via just the roads. Do you mind showing where it is on the map? Yeah, I'm someone who doesn't know the geography, so. Oh, geez.

Which area? The St. Lawrence River. So the St. Lawrence, okay, can you see this? Yeah. Okay, so this that goes into the ocean is considered the St. Lawrence River, and the valley is on the sides of it. It's all trade, the foundation of the founding of Canada, all was this river network that goes deeper into the Great Lakes, for example. So the main trade route for Canada for most of our history was through this. All of the development was along the St. Lawrence.

So that's why you were mentioning like Quebec still was not ice. Yeah, exactly. So for Quebec, can I erase? Still a controlled C. I'll just leave it there. Anyways, I'll just leave it there. So Quebec City, that might be confusing for people, the capital of Quebec is Quebec City, has a port which was historically the most important port Then a port was developed in Montreal, which became the biggest port, but they're not ice-free till later in history.

It's actually kind of, I think it's by World War II to be, they end up being ice-free. So because they do freeze over for the Americans, they are secondary targets because obviously Halifax is the most significant. But, excuse me, the Americans are going to be invading the St. Lawrence River area just via the road networks that you can travel today upon. And there's also railways from New York, New Hampshire, Vermont,

Maine that go directly to Montreal and Quebec. They can easily use most of these. After capturing those ports, which were icebound for about four months of the year, this would isolate the rest of Canada from the eastern seaboard, disrupting the flow of supplies from the Atlantic completely. And it would deny Canada and Britain access to all of Eastern Canada's industry and agricultural resources, as well as their airbases.

So back then, you have to think of it, most of all the important stuff is kind of in the Ontario-Quebec region. That's the lion's share of what needs to be conquered. Everything in the West is, not that it's not important, but it's less important. And it's probably a lot of... I'm pretty sure people in Vancouver would still be happy to hear this. People in Alberta are like, shut the hell up, you guy from Quebec. You see Quebecois. But yeah, for the invasion of the Great Lakes region.

So I'm going to go back to my little pencil. So here we have our Great Lakes. And they are great. They're very big. Almost like oceans. A lot of trade, a lot of stuff going down there. Honestly, at this time, crucial to not just Canadian economy, but the American economy.

For that the united states would coordinate simultaneous assaults from buffalo into niagara via the peace bridge the peace bridge ironic ironic as hell was if you're going to because the united states and canada we share niagara falls uh the united states has a shitty like their their side sucks i'm sorry americans your side is terrible to look at it sucks compared to can anyone but there's a bridge that you can take it's one of the main borders between our countries

So the Americans would invade us over the Peace Bridge. And after securing Niagara Falls, the U.S. would control the Sulawks and all the essential bridges over the Niagara River and the Welland Canal. Basically, it's just a giant bridgehead for the subsequent invasion of other Canadian areas. These maneuverable...

I get off my little pencil. These maneuvers would not only streamline the invasion, but they would cripple Canada's industry by disrupting, you know, the transportation of iron ore, grain, and coal, everything it needs for wartime. Now, within the Winnipeg area, U.S. forces would advance from North Dakota through the Grand Forks to capture the Transcontinental Railway's nerve system. The Transcontinental Railway is the foundation of Canada.

It's just, think of a railway that It just travels from one side to the other over the border. Is this where the Canadian is? Yeah. All right, I need to go there once. In taking this junction, it's like cutting the country in two, basically, for supplies. And again, coal, grain, meat, oil, nothing's going east to west if you cut it there. For Vancouver, which is really the last thing on the list, I can't stress that enough.

It's not a big thing at this point. the americans would invade vancouver and victoria u.s troops would advance from bellingheim along route 99 exists today into british columbia they launched an amphibious assault to vancouver island from saying i guess yeah port angeles and they would also capture prince rupert its railway the naval base at esquimalt preventing the united kingdom from maintaining a foothold in western canada which wouldn't matter

it would be the last thing on british minds at the time to further week in Britain, strategic plans also included inciting revolts for the home rule in Ireland, which we see that in World War I, World War II, it kind of works. Get the Irish uppity, you know, start pumping the IRA with money. And then Britain will send in Arthur Percival. And who better to support an Irish uprising than, you know, get some guys from Boston to go over there. It would actually work out really well.

They would also try to, you know, strike. Yeah. Considering it was Sicilian mafia ties of New York that helped with asking. Yeah, I can buy that logic. Gherav, there was plans to incite revolts in British India, too. Because that was seen as a second weakness. I don't know how they would do it. You know, Katta, I think I have very strong views about this topic, which is funny. Don't talk about this. I know. That's the no-no stuff to talk about.

But somehow the Americans would do something, and I don't know. I couldn't find anything on what they would do. I was actually interested. How would they deal with India? Because they say that they have a plan called Ruby.

What were they going to do? I don't know. it's like it it seems really weird even i should try to think what would they do like would they talk to like you know the founders of the indian national congress right like nehru and gandhi or yeah maybe i'm just thinking out loud on the fly or are they going to say because for example, well it's not going to be like a military invasion because thinking like in world war to when they landed in Torch, right?

They got a lot of gifts for, you know, the local population in North Africa. I think it has to do with America's message, and quotes, bunny ears here, about anti-imperialism. It'd be like, look, we're Americans. We don't colonize places like the Philippines. We are against Britain and what they're doing to you. You should rise up and you should form the United States of India. I guess that's what they would do. That's pretty much what we are anyways. Yeah, so I guess they would just try

to incite that. And you know what? If anybody could pull it off, I guess it would be better the United States than what Japan tried. That didn't go so well. Considering no one joined their Mutaguchi's divisions. Hey, I mean, like, you go over to India and you're like, hey, we're a country that violently broke off from Britain. And we did it. We're going to show you how to do it. Maybe. I don't know. Maybe they would do something.

Pretty crazy. Additionally, America aimed to disrupt Britain's trade access, you know, through the Asiatic areas, Hawaii, the Panama Canal. There's a real big one the United States has to deal with because, you know, Britain's going to seize the Panama Canal for sure. It's also the Alaskan theater, definitely not a priority, but it's there.

And, you know, ultimately, it's just you're trying to cut into Britain's trade because hurting Britain economically is what's going to win the war in the end. Now, that's the American strategy. I want to talk about what Britain thought because Britain did not actually have or we don't know had an official war plan. But there were minds, certainly in the Royal Navy, that thought about it.

Overall, the Royal Navy and their officer corps believed that if a conflict would arise, their primary objective would be to transport troops and supplies to Canada to defend against what would inevitably be an American invasion of Canada. Everyone could kind of see that's how it would go. A full-scale invasion of the United States was deemed far too unrealistic. A naval blockade would be possible, but very slow to do. It's just, America's too big.

So the Royal Navy would adopt a defensive strategy and rely on, you know, waiting for the American fleet to try and leave safe waters in the Atlantic and just pounce upon them. But... And it would... ABC tried with the Italian fleet. Exactly. The only problem with this is it kind of leaves the British maritime fleet vulnerable because they're almost baiting the Americans to come out at that point.

Royal Navy officers recognized Britain was susceptible to supply blockades and they feared should a larger American fleet approach the British Isles, because, you know, maybe America could build stuff, who knows, the Isles could quickly capitulate if they were blockaded. As, you know, we saw in World War I with the submarine fleet of Germany.

So instead, the officers devised a plan to launch an attack upon the American fleet from, you know, bases in the Western Hemisphere, like Bermuda, for example. In parallel, ships stationed in Canada and the West Indies could disrupt American shipping and safeguard, you know, them bringing over their troops. The British strategy also included bombarding coastal installations, conducting small amphibious assaults, which would be really wild.

I mean, I'm thinking Revolutionary War, you know, stuff in Florida that happened. Like, that would be interesting. I don't think it would go well for the British. Okay, just hear me out. But what if you had Jack Churchill leading the rings? Jack Churchill?

That'd be fun. But I don't know. If you have a commando playing the bagpipes and charging during a commando raid and chucking grenades or saying he needs to, an officer needs to have his sword going into battle oh my god imagine him showing up on an american on a beach in florida he has his freaking sword and his bow it's a broad sword like you know that's scottish like yeah not a broad sport but whatever the you know that famous sport that the scottish highlanders use

it wasn't a clay i don't think he had a claymore i think it was a bastard sword i think it was a bastard sword he had i'm not sure i've always read it as the claymore and all the sources i've gone through i know you had a longbow as well apparently, successfully used in france i have a claymore uh it's in my closet anyways i can't bring it out right now it's a fake it's made in uh i think it's made in pakistan actually of all places.

Yeah i don't know i didn't buy it so we'll buy it for me for some reason my parent my my ancestry's from scotland but yeah they would do you know assaults uh there was plans to just completely take over everything in the Philippines, Guam. Britain was afraid that the Americans might try to attack Hong Kong, which would be bold. I don't think that would happen. But yeah, they had plans to defend their assets in places like China.

Actually, I take that back. Given the American Marine presence in Shanghai, it's not unreasonable to think they might make a little jab at Hong Kong. The American Marines were significant in Shanghai. How many were doctors involved. I guess where I'm comparing it is when Japan invaded, right? There was a border division's worth of troops. This is going to kill me. I interviewed the granddaughter, General Rupertus, because he was a China Marine in the 20s.

I want to say it's something under 20s. It has to be 10,000 or less. There was a significant amount of troops that by the 1930s, it escalated more. And there was all these things that had happened because there was like, for example, the first battle of Shanghai in 1932, a lot of American Marines ended up coming over and they had to help protect stuff because the French and the British didn't have significant forces. But anyways, I'd assist.

There definitely, there is American Marine presence there. Now, that covers everything for the British point of view, but I want to talk about the Canadian point of view. So, is the red writing still there? One sec. Can I? Yeah. Sorry. So I'll get my pencil back. This individual right here. His name is at the time he was Brigadier James Buster Sutherland Brown. Brigadier General, excuse me. I'm just going to now erase this annoyance. There we go.

It's kind of annoying using Zoom for this. So he came up with a lot of defensive plans, and some of them had to do with defending against the United States. These were known as defense schemes numbers one to four. And every single one of them relied on British intervention. This is scheme number one over here. Do I have to zoom in a little? Oh, okay, there's a little bit more of a zoom in. There you go.

Looks almost identical to the other map, by the way. They're made by the same guy. It's just literally like... It's the opposite. It's the, yeah, I know. It's funny because you look at it, it's almost the opposite. Yeah. So that's defense scheme number one. So Brigadier, Jarl Buster Brown's defense schemes, they all relied on British intervention. Like, no shit. And they were designed from about 1921, 1922, that time period.

They went on almost to the 30s, but anyways, he had to like stop doing this stuff. And what they emphasized was the direct defense of Canada against a U.S. Invasion, a stance of aggressive neutrality if the United States engaged Japan militarily, because Canadians were thinking about that, the formation and expansion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, they would be deployed domestically or even internationally.

And all of these scenarios were based on American military records, dating back to the American Civil War, by the way. Yeah so they're going to maybe assume that these guys also have like you know 12 pounder guns breech loading sorry muzzle loading cannons.

Yeah hey they had notes you know going like I said to 1865 they even were like looking at the war of 1812 you know the aristoke war and other engagements between the United States and Canada I mean they were just looking at the relevant data I guess, additionally defense schemes you know number one and three. They relied on British allies specifically for support, like the most.

In the document, Brown points out that Japan and Mexico, who at that time in the 1920s were allied to Great Britain, could side with Canada if a war broke out. France, once an ally during the American Revolutionary War, seemed that they weren't supporting American ambitions any longer. So they weren't, Canada wasn't too concerned that France would jump in. I don't know. I actually don't know what France would do. I think they wouldn't jump in this one.

Consequently, Canada... I don't think they would because they would be too busy fighting their internal political battle. Yeah, exactly. Consequently, Canada could resist American domination by leveraging its, you know, loyalist connections, I guess you could say. They're like trying to appeal to everything they could. Unfortunately, even Buster Brown acknowledged by 1921... That the speed and decisiveness of Britain's response to American provocations were in question.

Canada's concerns about the diminishing British influence and the rising power of the United States really reflects in his work. If you read the manuals, he concluded, sorry, he conducted a reconnaissance in 1921 until 1926.

He went a few times and, excuse me, this is really comical stuff his reconnaissance work is hilarious so he alongside some lieutenant colonels they all just dressed as civilians and they like went to places like vermont basically just doing surveys and the historian pierce burton captured this in his book describing one of the investigations where like what the historian says is he found that after reading the notes from brown he found it was like it had a really zany flavor to it and it

was reminiscent of like the silent comedies of the day and basically what he was like saying is he found some quotes as to the observations brown had when brown was like just taking guys into bars in vermont that's like that was his reconnaissance and yeah so reconnaissance yeah so and i read it myself it's hard to get your hands in some of this but brown basically he went to like burlington and vermont great place to go shopping, by the way.

And he went to some like pubs. And what he said was that the Americans consume less alcohol in Canadians. And he said, this must've been because of prohibition. And he mentioned that like, here's a quote, my God, I'd go for a glass of beer. I'm going to Kennedy to get some more. This is like kind of things that he would hear from Vermonters and stuff. And he said that overall, the Americans were kind of like on the fatter side, even then. And he didn't think that they would.

He basically, he had this assumption I read somewhere that if the Americans invaded, the Canadians might be able to bribe them with drinks, which is just like a weird thing that he wrote. Yeah. Yeah. Brown, it seems that he was inspired by Buster Keaton, as he and his four fellow officers under his command were donning disguises. They loaded into their Model T, and they began an espionage mission along the Canadian-New England border.

And Brown took pictures while he was doing this. After learning more about the men of Vermont at bars, he had this quote to say, they are fat and lazy, but pleasant and congenital. Also, the rural American woman Appear to be heavy And not a very commonly lot.

So yeah And it was his belief that If Americans are not actually lazy They have a very deliberate way of working And apparently believe in frequent rests and gossip So That was his opinion of the Americans When he went over And Vermont Which yeah, pretty laid back Vermont, The closest thing you get to a Canadian United States, by the way, Mr. Bernie Sanders, of course, is there.

The most ambitious strategy of all the ones he came up with was defense strategy number one, which he had brought about in April the 12th, 1921. I think that's when he started. And it was based on the principle that the best defense is a good offense. Sounds wild in this circumstance, but yeah. So in the event of a conflict, Canada planned a surprise five-pronged offensive into the northern United States, anticipating that the U.S.

Would eventually invade the Montreal and Ottawa areas, followed afterwards by Hamilton, Toronto, the Prairies, and British Columbia, in that order. To counter the threat, Canadian forces aimed to swiftly occupy Seattle, Spokane, Portland, from the Pacific Command, while the Prairie Command troops would strike at Fargo, Great Falls, Minneapolis. Forces from Quebec... They could have got the Lakers quite early. Yeah. Yeah. Forces from Quebec, which would definitely, this would not work

out. Forces from Quebec were tasked with targeting Albany. Maritime troops would invade Maine. Yeah, that wouldn't go well. Concurrently, remaining Canadian forces would retreat to defensive positions, demolishing crucial bridges and railways to hinder the U.S. advance. The entire goal was to temporarily secure these positions to divert U.S. Attention from the Canadian defenses, providing more time for British reinforcements to arrive.

And if you heard everything I said, there's a glaring missing element to this. Brown's plan didn't even acknowledge Halifax at all. The only thing the Americans thought was important. Because apparently supplies don't matter, right? Yeah, so Brown, and I tried to research this, there's very little accessible information.

My opinion is that Brown over-emphasized the role of the ports of Montreal and Quebec and believed that because they were closer to the immediate action that the British would make a stand and make the naval base there, which is ludicrous. If you know the territory, the United States literally can walk up to the river area, set up artillery, and just destroy the entire... It wouldn't make sense.

Halifax was the only port that could have been secured immediately and safely been the place where British troops could come over. Brown doesn't even acknowledge it, and he has no plans for such a thing. So Brown's plan is really, really bad. Yeah. If you see what happens to Halifax during World War II, like how it develops rapidly. Of course. In terms of infrastructure for housing, like literally multiple convoy escort groups and.

Merchant fleets it's quite impressive i remember commander donald mcintyre when he was there and one of his ships needed like urgent repairs and the nearest one coming from britain was like you know four days away and then he's like worried about not having the ship and the americans are like just they just give him a random another equalizer like yeah take this off you go and i actually i had one more map this was i i'm sorry

i don't know who made this one obviously it could have been like another youtuber but excuse me this emphasized the possibility of the japanese and mexicans coming into it so this is brown's plan 2.0 as you can see so apparently the royal navy is going to be super chummy with the mexicans which is like that one's weird and they're going to assault galveston texas new orleans block the mississippi they're gonna block the mississippi River?

Wasn't that like the human strategy in the Civil War? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, basically. And the Japanese are going to invade California, just like Man in the High Castle. I... Okay, I have a suggestion. You can have your moose divisions coming between the Pacific and Prairie forces. Yeah, pretty much. And there's going to be a double pincer attack coming out of Quebec to converge on Albany.

That just doesn't work the Great Lakes area with what naval assets I don't know, the Canadians are going to somehow have an influence there, it doesn't make sense but yeah, not to shit on my country you have like, four destroyers and three minesweepers, Matt. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry, two brigades and four minesweepers, Matt. Yeah. The only thing that's significant in this map, I have to say, is the Mexican army would definitely be a huge threat to the United States.

It is a two-front war at that point. Especially if the British could make... If the British could deploy troops, I don't know how, it would be not as safe to Mexico. Oh my God. If you had some British officers amongst the Mexican regulars, some training. Yeah, if this war went on for a few years, the Mexicans would become trouble to the United States. But yeah, Canada is not going to come out very well on that one. So to end all of this craziness off, War Plan Red was declassified in 1974.

It's fully available online. Anyone can go and look at it today. Also, if you go to the Library of Congress, I don't know, I think it's under a glass thing. You can actually look at it, the original copy. So yeah, big uproar, 1974, when Canada found out, by the way, that was a thing. And a lot of journalists in Canada kind of poked at this over the years and made fun of it. And obviously, the reason why I'm making this episode is it's kind of relevant today.

I just, I say it's not going to invade, but you know, come on. It's funny. So ultimately, the color-coded war plans were officially withdrawn in 1939 with the outbreak of World War II. and the five rainbow plans, you know, were actually used in reality. However, the color-coded plans were secretly retained. Most of their contents were incorporated, like I said, into future war plans.

Like War Plan Orange 3, as I kept bringing up, was put into Rainbow Plan 5 and followed almost to a T. And additionally, War Plan Red Orange originally envisioned a war against the Anglo-Japanese alliance, and that war plan was used during World War II. It was just changed for Germany and Italy. That's actually what happened. They took the exact same war plan, the concepts, changed the territory to just be Germany and Italy rather than Britain and Japan. So yeah, really relevant.

And that's WarPlanRed. Well, it's quite an interesting and fun episode for me. I hope people find this kind of funny and stuff. And I wanted to just emphasize, like, it was real. Like, there was a reality to this. They actually feared that a stupid trade thing, because Britain was abusing everybody at the time, might occur. And yeah.

Before I let the audience go, I want to say again, please consider joining the YouTube membership or the Patreon account over at www.patreon.com slash the Pacific War channel. I mean, at this point, we're getting up there. I'm getting like at 70 patrons at this point. I'm making content every single month. And, you know, I really hope to build it up. By joining either of these, you get access to the exclusive podcast series. You get early access to all the content I make.

Yesterday, I uploaded my next episode looking into, it's like a retrospect into Call of Duty World at War, which I did with some with another YouTube group that I'm friends with over here in Quebec. Also, you definitely get voting rights for the subjects and we'll tackle next. Gerov, thanks for joining this comedic episode. My pleasure. And until next time.