Yep. Canada was a Brit possession and rather well slathered with Brit soldiers in both the Revolutionary and 1812.
The Revolutionary War saw Brit troops stomping their way down the St. Lawrence River. The same was planned for 1812 to meet up with the forces landed in Louisianan as they trooped north.
The people in Canada saw Americans as traitors to the British Crown after the Revolutionary War. The former American colonists that fled to Canada helped solidify that sentiment after the war.
During the Civil War, Canada was, in fact, a haven for Confederate symps. There were raids that launched out from Canada into US towns. Americans were killed in those raids. Bank robbery, random terror, attempts to force a redistribution of Fed forces, all that came into play, of course. The banks being robbed? Yeah. Nothing to do with the war, except, you know, to feed the Rebel Cause with the cash it needed so desperately. The raids weren’t all that effective, but that’s not the issue here, is it? The issue is that Canada is not just some innocent victim in all this. Never has been.
The local yokels in Canada were fully aware of the shenanigans and not only didn’t try stopping them, they’d often pitch in and help.
During both the Rev War and 1812, the territory of Canada was fully fair game, rules of war wise. It was Brit territory with Brit soldiery and a staging place for invasions into the US by an enemy that the US was engaged at war.
The really sad part is that the US didn’t have the manpower to do the job justice in either of those wars. Closing with and destroying an enemy is the general purpose of war-fighting and Canada, at both those times, was, in fact, a militarily important possession of our enemy.
During the Civil War, Canada was as close to being an ally of the rebs as possible without actually signing a formal treaty. Informal enemy at the very least.
No innocence there. Not even a bit.
Oh, and on the Soviet missiles in Cuba? Yeah, I’m sure Ontario had something really relevant to say, seeing as how NONE of their cities were at risk.
The oversimplification of views of Canada/USA relationships do tend to be all one way, don’t they? America the bad, Canada the poor innocent victim.
Pardon me, please, for being rude and snide. Or don’t. No real matter to me either way.
That's BS. Many Canadians served with the Union army during the Civil War. Some, because in that era wealthy northern families could pay to have someone serve in their stead (a popular option considering the carnage), others because they felt it was a just cause.