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On Sept. 28, 1918, General Erich Ludendorff, commander of the German army, admitted that the war was lost. “If we had the strength to reverse the situation in the West, then of course nothing would yet have been lost,” he stated. “But we had... -
Historian Matthew White estimates that 123 million people died in wars in the 20th century, and just 37 million of them were military. The rest were collateral civilian deaths (27 million), genocide and other mass murder (41 million) and consequential famines (18 million). Surely if... -
Early 1942 was a dark period for the Allies in the Second World War. The United States was by now a belligerent, but the situation was bleak. The Soviet Army was hard pressed to withstand the German onslaught that threatened Moscow, and Soviet Premier... -
The thing about Canada and peacekeeping is that while 7 in 10 Canadians consider it one of the country’s signature characteristics, the reality has always been something quite different from the fantasy. Sure, Canada helped revolutionize third-party roles in bringing conflicts to an end—decades ago.... -
It does not require hindsight to criticize Montgomery’s strategy in September 1944. As Allied supply lines stretched farther and farther from the Normandy beaches, the problem of supplying the advancing troops was rapidly becoming unmanageable. With the French rail system still in chaos from bombing,... -
Canada is already among the world’s top military spenders. The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies confirms that in 2016, Canadian military spending was, in absolute terms, sixth highest in NATO—exceeded only by the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy. Globally, Canada...
Face to Face: Is the North Warning System obsolete?
ANDREA CHARRON is associate professor and director of the Centre for Defence and Security Studies at the University of Manitoba. The North Warning System (NWS) is a series of ground-based, unmanned (but contractor-maintained), short- and long-range radar stations arrayed from Alaska to Greenland. The system has always suffered from an identity crisis. Its ability...
