A war would be disastrous for both countries. Especially the US.
As President Donald Trump relentlessly threatens to annex Canada, some Canadians are worried that an American invasion could one day become a reality.
How would that scenario play out? Looking at the sheer size of the American military, many people might believe that Trump would enjoy an easy victory.
That analysis is wrong. If Trump ever decides to use military force to annex Canada, the result would not be determined by a conventional military confrontation between the Canadian and American armies. Rather, a military invasion of Canada would trigger a decades-long violent resistance, which would ultimately destroy the United States.
But in this nightmare scenario, could Canadians successfully resist an American invasion? Absolutely. I know this because I have studied insurgencies around the world for more than two decades, and I have spent time with ordinary people who have fought against powerful invading armies.
This is a hopeful expression,but it’s written from a dreamers perspective.
Canadian civilians don’t know what this means. Canadians don’t have a culture of resistance, there is only a dream that rights and values are immutable.
Compare that to the Finnish, or to the Baltics. Ask a Finn what they will do when the Russians come, and you will get a detailed response, with both vigor and realism. Balts will either stand or falter, but with a true understanding of the reality of their situation. Those people have been defending their sovereignty for decades - like the Ukrainians.
I’d love to see the Canucks resist, like I’d l9ve to see the Yanks hold … but they haven’t even seen the examples of Belarus and Hungary- they don’t even u.dersrand what they are fighting.
In a fight, the Americans will roll in and take Toronto, and Montreal, they’ll bomb a few bases, they’ll blockade Victoria and Vancouver and the block the passes, then they’ll blockade the Eastern shipping lanes. The prairies will cheer, poorly treated migrants will shrug, sofa warriors will fizzle … them what is left? US supply routes will be stable and simple, and they’ll attack without risk. What can guerilla tactics do in that scenario?
Canada is five large cities, which are easy to capture, and an entire USSR-size back-country of rough terrain, which would be nearly impossible to patrol and hold in the face of even a mildly resentful populace. You don’t have to have the entire population actively fighting - passive resistance would make it difficult to do anything in the face of shrugs and "I dunno"s.
Resistance fighting can be picked up pretty fast, and in the face of brutal American reprisals and repression, I think it would be. Their history in Afghanistan and Vietnam shows that they’d create an entire generation of people out for revenge VERY quickly.
We would hide our insurgents, and they would fade into the mountains and forests. You don’t need a lot of active insurgents to cause a huge problem.
We have cheap drones and abundant weapons. We’re one of the more gun-infested countries per capita, and have a porous border with the USA.
It’d be a hell on Earth. They’d never hold the Rockies.
Resource extraction operations. Forestry and mining are easy to disrupt, especially if the local labour doesn’t like the occupiers. There are a thousand ways to gum up the works, and a thousand more to attack them and fade away into the surrounding forest.
Who will our insurgents comprise of? (Honest question). Aside from a small percentage of the population that has had weapons training (active and reserve military, police force, hunters) the vast majority have never touched a weapon before…
I’ll give you the forest guerilla function. They can be close to the resource targets that the Americans will immediately move to appropriate. I will also give that they will get popular support, so they won’t starve.
I do think that you underestimate the impact on rural and small town populations that the American propaganda has had. There’re full maga & 2A groups in Lindsay and Nelson who are flying their F Tr flags at this.
Yeah, you’d think it’s easy for the US.
Just as people thought Iraq would be easy
And Afghanistan
And Vietnam
And yeah, the initial invasion is easy, it waltzes over anything as a hot knife slices through butter.
Then, however,.comes occupation. What is it worth invading and blockading if you can’t own it? And this is where the US always has failed and will continue to fail in the future too. You can bet your furry Canadian butt that Canadians will resist and hard.
Same goes for Mexico btw. If the US decides to invade there as hinted as multiple time, expect US soldiers to be hanging from bridges with their private parts stuffed down their throats, they have quite a bit of experience with how to handle that.