Occupied Canada

Occupied Canada is a fictional alternate history of the Dominion of Canada since 1863 as described in Harry Turtledove's Timeline-191 series of novels. Though a brief account of Canada before the Occupation is given, the main portion of this page is devoted to the American Empire period in Canadian history. It is also a term used to describe the area close to the border that is inside the U.S., but feels like Canada due to the prevelence of Canadians and distance from other U.S. cities. Living in Bellingham for example is often referred to as living in "Occupied Canada".

Canada before Occupation

1862-1914

Since 1862 the British and the United States had a strong animosity towards one another due to British support of the Confederate States of America. After the American Civil War, the "Great Lakes Navy" was established by both sides, and mines were laid along the aquatic border. The British remained allied with the Confederates. When the U.S. and C.S. went to war in 1881 over the CSA's purchase from Mexico of Sonora and Chihuahua, Britain entered the war on the Confederate side.

Since the United States' strategy depended on capturing Louisville, Kentucky, few troops were stationed near Canada. The British/Canadian forces entered Maine and Montana, and used Canada as a base to launch a successful raid on the San Francisco Mint, resulting in a major humiliation for the United States. The only major victory the United States achieved in the disastrous war was in Montana against the British/Canadian invaders. The American forces, including George Armstrong Custer's regular army and a young Theodore Roosevelt's "Unauthorized Regiment," used Gatling guns to force the British back into Canada. (Custer did not die at Little Big Horn in this alternate timeline.) They were stopped from pursuing when they received word that a cease-fire had been declared. The battle cost Custer his younger brother Tom, causing Custer to develop a strong grudge against Canadians.

While the United States lost no territory to the Confederacy, it lost Northern Maine to Canada, the home state of U.S. President James G. Blaine. The captured part of Maine was annexed to New Brunswick. This humiliation led to the downfall of the Republican Party throughout most of the US and the rise of the pacifist Socialists, led by the still-living Abraham Lincoln, who became the main opposition party in the U.S.

With the Democratic Party, completely dominant in the US of this timeline, developing an outspoken militaristic policy consciouly modeled upon Prussia and Bismarck's newly united Germany, Canada was driven to a militarization of its own, instituting conscription and heavily fortifying its southern border.

This led to a far stronger feeling of Canadian patriotism and nationalism than in our timeline, a nationalism focused on regarding the United States as a threat and Canada's main enemy. Conversely, there was a far weaker tendency than in our timeline to assert Canadian independence from Britain, with the "The Mother Country" across the Atlantic perceived as Canada's main ally and source of support against "The Yankee threat". Previous Canadian history, especially the War of 1812 and the role of such national heroes as Laura Secord, was reinterpreted accordingly.

The Canadian Front of The Great War

When war was declared in 1914 the United States, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire found themselves at war with the Confederate States, the British Empire, France, Russia, and Japan. The United States waged a two-front war on its north and south. In the north, they attacked Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec. The United States encountered fierce Canadian resistance, especially near the strategically important city of Winnipeg. It was unable to cross the St. Lawrence River and was bottle necked around the Niagara Peninsula.

In 1916, the U.S. slowly continued its advance. Sabotage by Canadians in occupied cities was frequent and many Canadians were arrested and shot. The US's already poor treatment of Canadians increased, as did Canadian guerrilla resistance.

In 1917 George Custer unleashed the Barrel Roll Offensive capturing White House, Tennessee. This tactic was reproduced along many other fronts by the United States, including the Canadian one. In May of that year similar offensives with "barrels" (tanks) led to the final capture of Winnipeg. For many, Winnipeg's capture marked Canada's defeat. Toronto was captured in a similar way and the British Empire requested a cease fire along all land and air fronts, which was granted by the USA.

Occupied Québec was declared an independent nation by the United States. It was recognized by all of the U.S.'s allies as well as the neutral Netherlands. While the Republic of Quebec was a puppet government, it spared the Quebecois the fate of English-speaking Canada.

Eventually the Great War came to an end on all fronts. For the Confederacy and its allies (excluding Japan, which withdrew) it meant humiliation and hyperinflation. For the English speaking Canadians, it meant occupation.

The Occupation

Arthur McGregor's Campaign of Revenge

The United States set up occupation headquarters in Winnipeg, headed by Custer. Custer still harbored hatred for Canadians, which made those under his occupation worse off. One Canadian farmer named Arthur McGregor decided to fight the occupiers. Occupation authorities had executed McGregor's son in 1916 on unsubstantiated charges of spying, and McGregor had since then been creating bombs and murdering Canadians he deemed collaborators as well as several American officers. McGregor decided to assassinate Custer in an attempt to free Canada.

McGregor's first attempt on Custer's life was in Winnipeg. He destroyed a steakhouse Custer was dining in, despite the presence of many Canadians McGregor did not deem collaborators. Custer was saved when he left before the explosion due to damage to his false teeth. McGregor attracted the suspicion of Custer, but when American troops searched the McGregor farm, no incriminating evidence was found.

McGregor lay low until 1922. That year, Custer announced his (forced) retirement from the military and held a series of parades. When McGregor learned his hometown of Rosenfeld would host a parade, he decided to try another assassination attempt. McGregor, amongst the crowd, threw a bomb at Custer. The aging general was saved by two things. The first was that he was already paranoid about McGregor and was ready to catch the bomb when he saw it had been thrown. The second was that McGregor had cut his fuse a little too long. It took longer to explode than intended. Custer reflexively threw the box back toward McGregor, at whose feet it exploded. Custer was unharmed, though many Canadians were killed, including Arthur McGregor.

Resistance and War with Japan

In the inter-war period, the American political system adopted a bi-partisan policy of keeping Canada under a permanent military occupation, offering Canadians no prospect of regaining their independence but also not seriously considering the option of annexation and of extending civil rights and the protections of the US Constitution. This was justified with the claim that an independent Canada posed a danger to the security of the US, and that there must never again be a situation of two-front war. Instead, Canadians were reduced to living as effectively second-class citizens in their own country, subject to harsh repression if they tried to resist. The policies of the occupation military authorities seem virtually unchanged by the identity of the administration holding power in Philadelphia, even during the administrations of otherwise humane and well-meaning presidents such as Upton Sinclair and his successor Hosea Blackford.

In a particular aspect of the above, following the war Americans dominated the Canadian justice system. Their rulings were often unfair and their defense of clients was rather poor. An exception was an American lawyer named Jonathan Moss, a former fighter pilot who flew against Canadians during the war. However even Moss was ridiculed, as was his Canadian wife Laura Secord (named for her ancestor Laura Secord, a Canadian patriot in the War of 1812). Canadian hatred for Americans in Canada led to a revolt in 1925-1926. While the revolt was easily put down, it led to even more hatred.

Many Canadians carried out guerilla actions against Americans similar to those of Arthur McGregor's. Many more were contacted by Japanese agents. The Japanese had reached an uneasy peace with the United States at the end of the Great War, and were hoping that if the Americans were too busy with Canada, they would pay less attention to the growing Japanese Empire. In 1931 a traffic accident in Vancouver revealed to the United States the vast smuggling operation. The next year, the "USS Remembrance", while patrolling the British Columbian coast, caught the Japanese red handed. The "Remembrance" was attacked by the Japanese but managed to stay afloat. The resulting Pacific War was fought mostly around the Sandwich Islands and ended in stalemate.

Canadians found other ways to resist without Japanese help. Arthur McGregor's daughter Mary (McGregor) Pomeroy was responsible for several bombings of American property in Canada, even against non-military personnel. In 1940, Mary sent a mail bomb to the Laura (Secord) Moss, killing her and her young daughter Dorothy. Jonathan Moss left Canada soon after to renew his career as a fighter pilot in the United States Air Force.

World War II

Shortly before the outbreak of the 1941 War, US forces across Canada were withdrawn for duty against the Confederate States; their replacement with soldiers from the Republic de Quebec outraged Canadians. The Quebecois, who had prospered since the Great War, were an unpleasant reminder of Canada's own problems; linguistic difficulties added to the Canadians' sense of being a conquered people.

The Canadians spent 1941 and most of 1942 as a sullen but acquiesent population. Confederate attempts to spark off an uprising were unsuccessful, as the Canadians viewed both the CSA and USA as tyrannical states. Still, the weakened position of the US and the arrival of Confederate forces at the southern shores of the Great Lakes might have enouraged the Canadians. Confederate president Jake Featherston eventually talked Winston Churchill into kicking off a revolt. Though Britain was bogged down in western Germany, some supplies and arms slipped through the US blockade. The widely-publicied execution by firing squad of the bomber Mary Pomroy - mother of a young boy who rejected offers to ask for the occupiers' clemency and preferred to "die for Canada" - might have been the final spark setting off the revolt.

The uprising began just as the CSA launched Operation Coalscuttle in Ohio. The Quebecois garrison largely proved ineffective in containing the revolts, and Winnipeg was in the hands of the rebels by the end of 1942. In the later parts of the series there is, however, no Canadian viewpoint character and events in Canada get only a marginal attention.