The Rainbow. A World War One on Canada's West Coast Timeline

For the seriously nerdy, and you know who you are, here is a period reports of global mineral production 1913-1920.
Source : Imperial Institute, Mineral Resources Department, The Mineral Industry of The British Empire and Foreign Countries 1913-1922
Global Copper Production 1913-1920.jpeg
 
That tug captain was crazy! He'll be part of the legends that grow up around these events, like the brave boys and others. He's also lucky that the German captain is a fundamentally decent person; he would have been justified under the rules of war in blowing the tug out of the water once it attacked, and that's unambiguously an attack.
Throughout the west coast, I'm sure that people are devising plans for what to do if they meet the Hun, and that one actually could have worked.
 
For the seriously nerdy, and you know who you are, here is a period reports of global mineral production 1913-1920.
Source : Imperial Institute, Mineral Resources Department, The Mineral Industry of The British Empire and Foreign Countries 1913-1922
View attachment 583690
That is a perfect example of why no one wants the USA opposed to them in a good part of the 20th century. It looks like, at a quick glance, that the USA is producing more copper ore than the rest of the world in 1914--if not, it's at least close.
 
That's a GOOD segment! I would have machined gunned the tug until it was kindling the minute it turned towards my ship.
 

ferdi254

Banned
The UK is screwed they just do not know it yet. 10% of all Canadian copper lost for a year they will be broke not in 1917 April OTL but January 1917. So no USW no Zimmermann and the USA stays out of the war so the war is over with a CP win dec 1917
 
I suppose that one (drastic) option is to sell the devastated mines to American copper mine owners, but the payment must be in kind: Copper matching the output of the destroyed mines. Sometimes the future is sacrificed for the war effort.
 

Ramontxo

Donor
I suppose that one (drastic) option is to sell the devastated mines to American copper mine owners, but the payment must be in kind: Copper matching the output of the destroyed mines. Sometimes the future is sacrificed for the war effort.
Sorry if it is out of tópic but this has always touch my heart

800px-Kohima_War_Cemetery,_Kohima,_Nagaland_(89).jpeg
 
Well when classes take their tours of the Britannia mine museum, it'll be a lot different (and a heck of a lot more interesting) with pics of the German raiders and all! :p
 
The UK is screwed they just do not know it yet. 10% of all Canadian copper lost for a year they will be broke not in 1917 April OTL but January 1917. So no USW no Zimmermann and the USA stays out of the war so the war is over with a CP win dec 1917
This. Germany just (likely) won the war without even knowing it.
 
This. Germany just (likely) won the war without even knowing it.
Although for sure the raiders actions have by now reached a point they might very well modify the conduct of the war. I think we shouldn't over estimate the effects of von Schönberg and his men. Even if these would lead to an earlier financial quandary for Britain, the UK won't go broke over British Columbia copper mines. Not to mention that bankrupcy didn't end the war OTL, so I doubt it would in TTL.
 
If Canada is incensed by the attack (sort of like Pearl Harbor), would that have a good impact on the war, or did Canada pretty much do everything it could ASAP OTL?
 
Although for sure the raiders actions have by now reached a point they might very well modify the conduct of the war. I think we shouldn't over estimate the effects of von Schönberg and his men. Even if these would lead to an earlier financial quandary for Britain, the UK won't go broke over British Columbia copper mines. Not to mention that bankrupcy didn't end the war OTL, so I doubt it would in TTL.

Quite well said. The key parts of the industry will have priority to be repaired so the amount of material lost won't equal an entire years worth of production. People need to take a step back and remember that while these events seem rather large to the people caught in the middle of them, they are somewhat insignificant in the grand scheme of the war. For all of my patriotism, it is not lost on me that the West Coast of Canada is effectively a backwater compared to the other theaters.


If Canada is incensed by the attack (sort of like Pearl Harbor), would that have a good impact on the war, or did Canada pretty much do everything it could ASAP OTL?

The only thing Canada gets out of these attacks are more political/public support for actions. Canada was unable to effectively produce basically any warships and honestly, everything else that was done IRL would likely not change even after the events here. In the end, Canada was a major power but already did largely everything it had in it's power in the first place.
 

ferdi254

Banned
The only reason the UK did not go broke was the USA entering the war and they did only because of Zimmermann and USW. UK being broke just two months earlier...
 
The only reason the UK did not go broke was the USA entering the war and they did only because of Zimmermann and USW. UK being broke just two months earlier...
Hurts like hell but ultimately won't lose them the war because simply put having a literal globally spanning Empire gives you a lot of collateral for loans. Heck if need be the UK can literally give a colony or two to the US
 

Ramontxo

Donor
There is a potentially huge butterfly here, the whole question of the Qebecoise support for the war effort, and it is for the resident Canadians to explore. On the one hand all this is happening far (very far indeed) from the east Coast. On the other Quebec will certainly benefit from any substantial investment on the RCN. But there is another question, I have read that the initial mobilitation was based on groups of volunteers centred on local asotiations and that the Protestant establishment actively prevented French Canadians attempts to do so maybe here this will change
 
There is a potentially huge butterfly here, the whole question of the Qebecoise support for the war effort, and it is for the resident Canadians to explore. On the one hand all this is happening far (very far indeed) from the east Coast. On the other Quebec will certainly benefit from any substantial investment on the RCN. But there is another question, I have read that the initial mobilitation was based on groups of volunteers centred on local asotiations and that the Protestant establishment actively prevented French Canadians attempts to do so maybe here this will change

Actually the enthusiasm for the war and enlisting tended to be focused in one specific group. Of the some 30,000 men that went overseas in the initial contingent of troops, some 20,000 had been born in the UK. Native born Canadians, both Anglo and French were not overly enthused about getting involved in a European war. By 1918 something like half of all Canadian soldiers who served had been born in Britain at a time when they comprised only about 10% of the population (numbers taken from the Canadian War Museum).

This event may well change that perception among the general population and lead to an increase in volunteers but that boost would have to last until later in the war because at the start volunteers were actually being turned away because there were not enough available spaces. Quebec is difficult to judge as it was deeply suspicious of both the UK and France. When a French government mission toured Quebec to drum up support in 1918, Henri Bourassa spoke of the irony of France "“trying to have us offer the kinds of sacrifices for France which France never thought of troubling itself with to defend French Canada”. (again taken from the Canadian War Museum)
 
As much as I'd love to say that the US saved Britains war effort upon entry due to the sheer national pride that'd give me ( :) ), the central powers in WW1 and the Axis in WW2 both give us examples of nations essentially going completely broke but continuing with the war. Now, American dollars did fund a lot of the war for the allies and certainly saved the Comonwealths a lot of trouble post war (post war is when the whole going broke mid war thing would really bite). However, regardless of the probably moderate effect this will have on the war, the UK isn't sunk by losing a handful of mines in BC.

BC's economic future might be sunk for a couple decades, but it isn't like late 19th century and early 20th century mining towns weren't liable to explode or burn down anyways.

On the other hand, I would bet on Canada potentially doubling the troop totals committed to the war. This isn't a British war anymore, but a personal, Canadian, war.
 
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