View source for War Plan Red

{{short description|US war plan against the British Empire}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2017}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict    = War Plan Red
| width       =
| partof      =
| image       = War Plan Red.svg
| image_size  = 320px
| caption     = War Plan Red was a U.S. [[scenario planning|strategic plan]] in the event of war with the British Empire. "Blue" indicated the United States while "Red" indicated the British Empire, whose territories were given their own different shades of red: Britain (Red), Newfoundland (Red), Canada (Crimson), India (Ruby), Australia (Scarlet), New Zealand (Garnet), and other areas shaded in pink which were not part of the plan. The [[Irish Free State]], at the time independent within the British Empire, was named "Emerald" in green.
| date        = 1920s to 1930s
| place       = [[North America]], [[British West Indies]] and [[Asia-Pacific|Asia-Pacific region]]
| status      = Planned at lower levels; never considered by Congress or President; never carried out
| combatant1  = {{flag|United States|1912}}
* {{flag|Philippines|1936}} (as an [[Insular Government of the Philippine Islands|Insular Government]] from 1901 to 1935 and a [[Commonwealth of the Philippines|Commonwealth]] from 1935 to 1946)
| combatant2  = {{flag|British Empire}}
* {{flag|United Kingdom}}
* {{flag|Canada|1921}}
* {{flag|Newfoundland}}
* {{flag|Australia}}
* {{flag|New Zealand}}
* {{flag|Irish Free State}}
* {{flagcountry|British Raj}}
| commander1  = {{flagdeco|United States|1912}} [[President of the United States|The President]]
| commander2  = {{flagdeco|United Kingdom}} [[King George V]]
| units1      =
| units2      =
| strength1   =
| strength2   =
| casualties1 =
| casualties2 =
}}
'''War Plan Red''', also known as the '''Atlantic Strategic War Plan''', was one of the [[United States color-coded war plans|color-coded war plans]] created by the [[United States Department of War]] during the [[interwar period]] of 1918–1939, covering scenarios related to a hypothetical war with the [[British Empire]] (the "Red" forces, likely in reference to the [[Red Ensign]] and [[Red coat (military uniform)|red coat]]). Red is the colour traditionally used to denote British territory on most world maps.<ref>Map of British Empire throughout The World, 1905, British Possessions coloured Red, 1905 John Bartholomew (Author) </ref> Many different war plans were prepared by mid-level officers primarily as training exercises in how to calculate the logistical and manpower requirements of fighting a war,<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Center of Military History, Department of the Army| last = Roberts| first = Ken| title = Command Decisions| access-date = July 19, 2011| url = http://www.history.army.mil/books/70-7_0.htm| archive-date = December 30, 2007| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071230145455/http://www.history.army.mil/books/70-7_0.htm| url-status = dead}}</ref> and War Plan Red outlined those steps necessary to defend against any attempted invasion of the United States by British forces. It further discussed fighting a [[two-front war]] with both Japan and Great Britain simultaneously (as envisioned in War Plan Red-[[War Plan Orange|Orange]]).

War Plan Red was developed by the War Department after the 1927 [[Geneva Naval Conference]], and approved in May 1930 by [[United States Secretary of War|Secretary of War]] [[Patrick J. Hurley]] and [[United States Secretary of the Navy|Secretary of the Navy]] [[Charles Francis Adams III]] and updated in 1934–35. It was a routine hypothetical exercise that neither required nor received presidential or congressional approval.<ref name="John Major 1998 pp 12-15">John Major, "War Plan Red: The American Plan for War with Britain," ''Historian'' (1998) 58#1 pp 12–15.</ref>

With the outbreak of World War II in 1939, it was decided that no further preparations would be made but the plans were to be retained.<ref>June 15, 1939: Declassified Letter "Joint board to Secretary of Navy"</ref> War Plan Red was not declassified until 1974.

The war plan outlined actions that would be necessary if, for any reason, the US and UK went to war with each other. The plan assumed that the British would initially have the upper hand by virtue of the strength of the [[Royal Navy]]. The plan further assumed that Britain would probably use its base in [[Canada]] as a springboard from which to initiate an invasion of the United States. The assumption was taken that at first, the US would fight a defensive battle against invading British forces, but the US would eventually defeat the British by [[Blockade|blockading]] Canada's ports and cutting off its food supplies. It is debated whether this would have been successful, however, and if the plan would have ultimately resulted in a stalemate.<ref>{{Cite conference
| publisher = Joint Board, 325. Serial 274.
| title = Joint Estimate of the Situation – Red and Tentative Plan – Red
| series = Security Classified Correspondence of the Joint Army-Navy Board, compiled 1918 – 03/1942, documenting the period 1910 – 3/1942
}}</ref>

==Outline==
[[Image:The Maritimes in Canada.svg|thumb|The [[Maritimes]], in eastern Canada, were the primary areas of strategic importance for the plan.]]
War Plan Red first set out a description of Canada's geography, military resources, and transportation and went on to evaluate a series of possible pre-emptive American campaigns to invade Canada in several areas and occupy key ports and railways before British troops could provide reinforcement to the Canadians—the assumption being that Britain would use Canada as a staging point. The idea was that US attacks on Canada would prevent Britain from using Canadian resources, ports, or airbases.<ref name="John Major 1998 pp 12-15"/>

[[File:Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg|right|thumb|250px|The [[Red Ensign]], likely the inspiration for the "Red" war plan designation]]
A key move was a joint US Army-Navy attack to capture the port city of [[Halifax, Nova Scotia|Halifax]], cutting off the Canadians from their British allies. Their next objective was to "seize Canadian Power Plants near [[Niagara Falls]]."<ref name=carlson/> This was to be followed by a full-scale invasion on three fronts: from [[Vermont]] to take [[Montreal]] and [[Quebec]], from [[North Dakota]] to take over the railhead at [[Winnipeg]], and from the Midwest to capture the strategic [[nickel mine]]s of [[Ontario]]. In parallel, the US Navy was to seize the Great Lakes and blockade Canada's Atlantic and Pacific ports.<ref name="John Major 1998 pp 12-15"/>

===Zones of operation===
The main zones of operation discussed in the plan are:
* [[Nova Scotia]] and [[New Brunswick]]:
** The first strike [[Chemical warfare|with poison gas]] against the port city of Halifax was used to seize it, preventing the Royal Navy from using the naval base there, and cutting the undersea cable through Halifax, severing the connection between Britain and Canada.
** The plan considers several land and sea options for the attack and concludes that a landing at [[St. Margarets Bay, Nova Scotia|St. Margarets Bay]], then an undeveloped bay near Halifax, would be superior to a direct assault via the longer overland route.
** Failing to take Halifax, the US could occupy New Brunswick by land to cut Nova Scotia off from the rest of Canada at the key railway junction in [[Moncton]].
* [[Quebec]] and the valley of the [[Saint Lawrence River]]:
** Occupying [[Montreal]] and [[Quebec City]] would cut the remainder of Canada off from the [[Atlantic Canada|Eastern seaboard]], preventing the movement of troops and resources in both directions.
** The routes from northern [[New York (state)|New York]] to Montreal and from [[Vermont]] to Quebec are both found satisfactory for an offensive, with Quebec being the more critical target.
* [[Ontario]] and the [[Great Lakes]] area:
** Occupying this region gains control of [[Toronto]] and most of Canada's industry and prevent Britain and Canada from using it for air or land attacks against the US industrial heartland in the [[Midwestern United States|Midwest]].
** The plan proposes simultaneous offensives from [[Buffalo, New York|Buffalo]] across the [[Niagara River]], from [[Detroit, Michigan|Detroit]] across the [[Detroit River]] into [[Windsor, Ontario|Windsor]], and from [[Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan|Sault Ste. Marie]] across the [[St. Marys River (Michigan–Ontario)|St. Mary's River]] into [[Greater Sudbury|Sudbury]]. Controlling the Great Lakes for US transport is considered logistically necessary for a continued invasion.
* [[Winnipeg]]
** Winnipeg is a central nexus of the Canadian rail system for connecting the country.
** The plan saw no major obstacles to an offensive from [[Grand Forks, North Dakota]], to Winnipeg.
* [[Vancouver]] and [[Victoria, British Columbia|Victoria]]:
** Although Vancouver's distance from Europe reduces its importance, occupying it would deny Britain a naval base and cut Canada off from the Pacific Ocean.
** Vancouver could be easily attacked overland from [[Bellingham, Washington]], and [[Vancouver Island]] could be attacked by sea from [[Port Angeles, Washington]].
** The [[British Columbia]] port [[Prince Rupert, British Columbia|Prince Rupert]] has a rail connection to the rest of Canada, but a naval blockade is viewed as easy if Vancouver was taken.

===No attacks outside Western Hemisphere first===
Unlike the [[Rainbow Five]] plan, War Plan Red did not envision striking outside the Western Hemisphere first. Its authors saw conquering Canada as the best way to attack Britain and believed that doing so would cause London to negotiate for peace. A major problem with the plan was that it did not consider how to attack Britain if Canada were to declare its neutrality, which the authors believed was likely (the plan advised against accepting such a declaration without permission to occupy Canadian ports and some land until the war ended).{{r|bell199711}} The U.S. decided it should focus on the North American and Atlantic theater of operations first while leaving its Pacific outposts of the [[Philippines]], [[Guam]], and [[American Samoa]] alone to fend off any British, Australian, and New Zealander attacks during the early stages of the conflict.{{r|bell199711}}

Based on extensive war games conducted at the [[Naval War College]], the plan rejected attacking British shipping or attempting to destroy the British fleet. The main American fleet would instead stay in the western North Atlantic to block British–Canadian traffic. The Navy would wait for a good opportunity to engage the British fleet and, if successful, would then attack British trade and colonies in the Western Hemisphere.<ref name="bell199711">{{cite journal | jstor=40108144 | title=Thinking the Unthinkable: British and American Naval Strategies for an Anglo-American War, 1918-1931 | author=Bell, Christopher M. | journal=The International History Review |date=November 1997 | volume=19 | issue=4 | pages=789–808 | doi=10.1080/07075332.1997.9640804}}</ref>

In 1935, War Plan Red was updated and specified which roads to use in the invasion. "The best practicable route to [[Vancouver]] is via [[U.S. Route 99|Route 99]]."<ref name=carlson/>

American war planners had no thoughts of returning captured British territory: "The policy will be to prepare the provinces and territories of CRIMSON and RED to become U.S. states and territories of the BLUE union upon the declaration of peace." The planners feared that should they lose the war with Britain, America would be forced to relinquish its territories to the victors, such as losing [[Alaska]] (then an [[Territory of Alaska|organized incorporated territory]]) to Canada as part of the peace treaty: "It is probable that, in case RED should be successful in the war, CRIMSON will demand that Alaska be awarded to her."<ref>Steven T. Ross, ''American War Plans, 1890-1939'', 78, 145-152, 178, 180-181.</ref><ref name=carlson>{{cite news | access-date = March 1, 2017 | title = Raiding the Icebox | url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/29/AR2005122901412.html | first = Peter | last = Carlson | date = December 30, 2005 | newspaper = Washington Post}}</ref>

==British strategy for war against the United States==
The [[British Armed Forces|British military]] never prepared a formal plan for war with the United States during the first half of the 20th century. For instance, the government of [[David Lloyd George]] in 1919 restricted the [[Royal Navy]] from building more ships to compete with American naval growth and thereby preventing the plan's development. Like their US counterparts, most British military officers viewed cooperation with the United States as the best way to maintain world peace due to the shared culture, language, and goals, although they feared that attempts to regulate trade during a war with another nation might force a war with the US.{{r|bell199711}}

The British military generally believed that if war did occur, they could transport troops to Canada if asked, but nonetheless saw it as impossible to defend Canada against the much larger United States, so did not plan to render aid, as Canada's loss would not be fatal to Britain. An October 1919 memo by the [[Admiralty (United Kingdom)|British Admiralty]] stated if they did send British troops to Canada,

<blockquote>...the Empire would be committed to an unlimited land war against the U.S.A., with all advantages of time, distance and supply on the side of the U.S.A.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Royal Navy, Seapower and Strategy Between the Wars|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vj1aCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA54|author=C. Bell|date=August 2, 2000|page=54|publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]]|isbn=9-7802-3059-9239}}</ref></blockquote>

A full invasion of the United States was unrealistic and a naval blockade would be too slow. The Royal Navy could not use a defensive strategy of waiting for the American fleet to cross the Atlantic because Imperial trade would be left too vulnerable. Royal Navy officers believed that Britain was vulnerable to a supply blockade and that if a larger American fleet appeared near the [[British Isles]], the Isles might quickly surrender. The officers planned to, instead, attack the American fleet from a Western Hemisphere base, likely [[Bermuda]], while other ships based in Canada and the [[British West Indies|West Indies]] would attack American shipping and protect Imperial trade. The British would also bombard coastal bases and make small amphibious assaults. Colonial forces from India and Australia would help capture [[History of the Philippines (1898–1946)|Manila]] to prevent American attacks on British trade in the Far East and perhaps a conquest of [[British Hong Kong|Hong Kong]]. The officers hoped that such acts would result in a stalemate making continued war unpopular in the United States, followed by a negotiated peace.{{r|bell199711}}

Canadian military officer Lieutenant Colonel [[James Sutherland Brown|James "Buster" Sutherland Brown]] developed an earlier counterpart to War Plan Red, [[Defence Scheme No. 1]], on April 12, 1921. Maintaining that [[the best defense is a good offense|the best defense was a good offense]], Brown planned for rapid deployment of [[flying columns]] to occupy [[Seattle]], [[Great Falls, Montana|Great Falls]], [[Minneapolis]], and [[Albany, New York|Albany]]. With little hope of holding the objectives, the actual idea was to divert American troops to the flanks and away from Canada, hopefully long enough for British and Commonwealth allies to arrive with reinforcements. Defence Scheme No. 1 was terminated by [[Commander of the Canadian Army|Chief of the General Staff]] [[Andrew McNaughton]] in 1928, two years before the approval of War Plan Red.

==See also==

{{Portal|British Empire|United States|Canada|United Kingdom|Australia|New Zealand}}
* [[War of 1812]]
* [[Aroostook War]] (1838–1839)
* [[Pig War (1859)]]
* [[Trent Affair]] (1861)
* [[Chesapeake Affair|''Chesapeake'' Affair]] (1863)
* [[Fenian raids]] (1866-71)
* [[Fort Whoop-Up]] (1869-74)
* [[Annexation Bill of 1866]]
* [[Movements for the annexation of Canada to the United States#Proposals to annex Canada by President Donald Trump|Canadian annexation proposal by Donald Trump]]
* [[Defence Scheme No. 1]]
* [[War Plan Black]]
* [[War Plan Orange]]
* [[We Stand On Guard]]


{{clear}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Bell, Christopher M., “Thinking the Unthinkable: British and American Naval Strategies for an Anglo-American War, 1918-1931”, ''International History Review'', (November 1997) 19#4, 789–808.
* Holt, Thaddeus, "Joint Plan Red", in ''MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History'', Vol. 1 no. 1.
* Major, John. "War Plan Red: The American Plan for War with Britain," ''Historian'' (1998) 58#1 pp 12–15.
* Preston, Richard A. ''The Defence of the Undefended Border: Planning for War in North America 1867–1939''. Montreal and London: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1977.
* Rudmin, Floyd W. ''Bordering on Aggression: Evidence of U.S. Military Preparations Against Canada''. (1993). Voyageur Publishing. {{ISBN|0-921842-09-0}}

==External links==
{{wikisource}}
* {{cite report |title=Joint Army and Navy Basic War Plan &ndash; Red |author=Joint Board 325 |date=May 8, 1930 |url=https://catalog.archives.gov/id/16749799}}
* Rudmin, F. [http://www.glasnost.de/hist/usa/1935invasion.html A 1935 US Plan for Invasion of Canada] February 1995
* A Western Front Films Production in association with Brightside Films for Channel 5 [http://www.channel5.com/shows/revealed/episodes/americas-planned-war-on-britain-revealed America's Planned War On Britain: Revealed]
* [[The Straight Dope]] [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2070/did-the-u-s-plan-an-invasion-of-canada-in-the-1920s Did the U.S. plan an invasion of Canada in the 1920s?] February 2003
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBCc7y0w_i0 War Plan Red: The Secret American Plan to Invade Canada]

{{Territories of the British Empire}}
{{Canada–United States relations|state=collapsed}}
{{Australia–United States relations}}
{{United States color-coded war plans}}

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[[Category:Canada–United States relations]]
[[Category:United Kingdom–United States relations]]
[[Category:Australia–United States military relations]]
[[Category:New Zealand–United States relations]]
[[Category:United States–Caribbean relations]]
[[Category:History of the foreign relations of the United States]]
[[Category:United States color-coded war plans]]