Fighting for Canada: Seven Battles, 1758-1945

Wesley B. Turner is an associate professor of history at Brock
University and the author of The War of 1812: The War That Both Sides
Won and The Military in the Niagara Peninsula. 

In the field of military history, Donald Graves is well known and
respected as a researcher, writer, and editor. In the seven battles
described in Fighting for Canada, he emphasizes “the sharp end, where
soldiers kill and are killed, and where personal leadership, training,
weapons and experience are of paramount importance.” The actions
covered are the Battle of Ticonderoga (Ian M. McCulloch), Queenston
Heights (Robert Malcomson), the Battle of Ridgeway and the action at
Leliefontein (Brian A. Reid), the cavalry action at Moreuil Wood (John
R. Grodzinski and Michael R. McNorgan), the attack and counterattack at
Le Mesnil-Patry (McNorgan), and the fight on Kapelsche Veer Island
(Donald Graves). Two battles are classified as victories, three as only
“nominal successes” because of severe losses, one as a
“humiliating defeat,” and one as “a disaster.”

Among the seven battles, only Queenston Heights was critical to
Canada’s continued existence; Malcomson’s treatment is imaginative,
thorough, and balanced. After each account, certain lessons are
suggested. Those most frequently mentioned are the importance of
intelligent leadership, thorough training, planning, knowledge of the
terrain and the enemy’s dispositions, and trust among soldiers. In his
introduction, Graves dismisses the view of Canadians as an unmilitary
people, arguing that our “nation has been shaped, if not created, by
armed conflict or the threat of that conflict.” Indeed, the battle
accounts support his claim that “when required, Canadians have shown
themselves to be very good soldiers indeed.”

Generously supported with maps, illustrations, a bibliography, and nine
appendixes, Fighting for Canada belongs on the shelf of anyone with an
interest in Canadian military history.