Yves Engler Military History Books | sku-705203208

Yves Engler's hardcover Stand on Guard for Whom? is listed under Military History Books, sku-705203208. In his eleventh book, Engler presents a history of the Canadian military from the perspective of people harmed by it, challenging accounts of Canada as a peacekeeping and humanitarian force.

He traces its origins as a British force that dispossessed First Nations and its use against labor unrest after Confederation. The book covers Canadian occupations or invasions in Sudan, South Africa, Europe, Korea, Iraq, Serbia, Afghanistan and Libya, along with gunboat diplomacy and UN deployments that ousted elected governments.

Engler describes the military as the federal department with the largest budget, staff, public relations operation and intelligence-gathering capacity. He examines its development of military technology, including chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, as well as its ecological footprint and what he describes as a patriarchal, racist and anti-democratic culture.

The book also covers resistance to Canadian militarism, from opposition to conscription during World War I and peace activism against the US war in Indochina to city councils declaring nuclear-weapons-free zones and blocking weapons bazaars. It credits antiwar activists with stopping Prime Minister Jean Chrétien from joining the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Engler argues that recognizing militarism in Canadian life is a first step toward contesting it.