This country is at war with Germany.

We shall go on to the end.

I remember the sheets of flame which came up and almost blinded us from our guns.

In recent years, I've touched upon aspects of Canada's experience in the Second World War,

but without really exploring Canada as a military power in its own right. We usually frame the conflict as Axis versus Allies, but the Allied story is all too often told through an Anglo-American

lens. Canada's contribution, however, was tremendous. In this episode, I want to step back and

examine the Canadian military in context, how a country not typically regarded as a military

power approached the Second World War, its role in the conflict,

and how that contribution is remembered today.

Joining me today is David Borees.

David is a Canadian academic who has published widely on Canadian military history.

His last book, Punching Above Our Wights, the Canadian Military at War since 1867, came out

last year. He makes regular guest appearances on TV and is the host of the Curious Canadian

History Podcast. And his new podcast is Conflict and Culture. We'll get to that at the end. David, it's nice to see you again.

I was going to start with, before we get to the military history, because I think it's

interesting. It's interesting. I seem to have done a lot of Canada in the last 18 months.

And Canada isn't used to remember as a military power, which clearly when you read about Canada

and its First and Second World War contributions, it is a significant military power.

But I wonder how is it, how is Canada's military perceived or remembered today before we actually

go through the history?

Yeah, that's a really good question.

And it's a complicated one, actually, because I think there's a lot of military historians and defense analysts who

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