The Pig War

The Anglo-American war
Today Britain and America have a 'special relationship'. But that has not always been the case before the first world war they had been at each others throats for the best part of 150 years, mainly in the British dominion of Canada. In the early 1930s tensions were higher than they had been for many years, as a result the US government drew up a plan for war with the British Empire named 'war plan red'. This alternate timeline follows what would have happened had a diplomatic incident occurred and the nations came to a state of war.

Beginnings.
In 1935 a American farmer named Henry Murdoch set off with his family for the island of Saturna between British Columbia and Washington State. An international treaty had confirmed that the island belonged to Canada not America, but Murdoch was oblivious and he and his family set up a farm on the island. During the Winter of 1935 local Canadian residents had told the Murdoch's they must move away from the land unless they were to officially immigrate, this was to no avail and in December 1935 the local town contacted the authorities on Vancouver Island. The authorities sent over two policemen to inform Mr Murdoch that he must leave; they were turned away and abused. So the authorities sent five policemen and three soldiers to the island. Murdoch, still refusing to believe the islands were Canadian, shot two of the policemen and wounded another; the soldiers shot him dead. Upon hearing of the death of the policemen the authorities immediately launched an investigation into the death. Finding that they were killed by an American citizen they contacted the government in Ottawa to ask for what they should do. Ottawa was outraged and contacted the American government who denied the incident had occurred.

Unknown to the Canadians, American troops in Washington state had heard a different story. They had heard that a Canadian patrol had invaded San Juan island (just two miles away) and shot a local family dead. Because of this the local commander decided to retaliate and launch an invasion on Vancouver Island. So in January 1936 500 American troops led by Colonel James Hunt landed 50 miles from Victoria, British Colombia and demanded that the city bring the 'killers' to justice.

When Ottawa heard about this they demanded the withdrawal of American troops from Vancouver Island, unfortunately the US government knew nothing of the 'invasion' due to heavy snow storms damaging communications networks in the area. The British government immediately demanded American troops to be withdrawn also, but again the American government knew nothing. These demand continued for days until the British government gave the American government and ultimatum "If the troops wrongfully stationed on Vancouver Island are not withdrawn by dawn on 5th February 1936 a state of war will exist between us".

On January 31st 1936 the American Government finally made contact with Colonel Hunt, but he refused to withdraw (this was later revealed to be false after the war when documents showed that President Roosevelt had told Hunt to defend his ground to the last). So by February 5th 1936 Hunt remained on the island and so Canada, Britain and her Empire were all at war with the United States.

Attack on Nova Scotia
The British had been participating in war games in Canada and four divisions (33,000 men) to Nova Scotia, while the main body of the Canadian Army was sent to defend the Great lakes from attack. The first point of action in war plan red was "to send three divisions (25,000 men) up the New England coast by sea, screened by the fleet; land in Halifax, Nova Scotia and take the vital Naval base". So by 8th February 1936 the American forces had boarded vessels and prpared to attack Halifax. However, heavy seas postponed the attack until 12th February, giving time for British forces to arrive in the region. When the US navy vvessels finally left Boston and landed in Halifax they were met by heavy resistance on land and at sea, eventually the Americans were forced to retreat and the British forces followed into Maine. The Naval forces also retreated with the Royal Canadian Navy blockading Boston.

By 10th March 1936 a British task force had landed in Halifax with 80,000 regular and volunteer troops and 46 British Ships.

Canadian flying columns
Whilst the battle of Halifax was going on the Canada army sent flying columns to attack the cities of Albany, Seattle, Great Falls and Minneapolis. The attack on Albany succeeded and therefore trapped the American retreat from Halifax, allowing New England and New York to fall into British hands. The attack on Seattle also succeeded and was later supported by six Canadian divisions. The attacks on Minneapolis and Great falls did not succeed leaving a large area in the middle of Canada for the Americans to attack through.

The Great North Rush
By April of 1936 American command had realised that they had lost the North east and North West to the Anglo-Canadian forces, they therefore chose to counter attack straight through the middle of Canada an attack that split the country in two.