Exhibitions and Galleries

Gallery 4 A Violent Peace

The Cold War, Peacekeeping, and Recent Conflicts, 1945 to the present

Canada became a respected international player through its commitments to Western defence and peacekeeping

Home from the Second World War, veterans and their families returned to a peaceful and prosperous Canada. Visitors enter a post-war veteran's home and walk through its well-appointed kitchen, where convenience and modernity are now the norm. No sooner have visitors left this suburban dream home than they are faced with the reality of the Soviet nuclear threat, and the onset of the Cold War.

Visitors explore the formation of NATO, and walk through a Sabre airplane factory, signalling Canada's commitment to its allies and rearmament. With the Korean hillside visible in the distance Canada trains troops, and sends ships and supplies to the Korean ground war. Visitors enter a night patrol experience where the unseen enemy lurks in the darkness.

The Cold War was a potentially deadly waiting game. Military and civilian authorities on both sides watched one another's every move and prepared to sound the alarm for war if an attack appeared likely. After watching and monitoring from the command centre, visitors are faced with the immensity of the Cold War: as they stand on the deck of a St-Laurent class ship, under the wing of CF-5 fighter jet, and are dwarfed by the weight of a Centurion tank.

The Cold War came close to home with the threat of the Cuban missile crisis. Entering the NORAD hub, visitors stand beneath the nose of Soviet missile crashing through the ceiling. They explore key artifacts such as the Avro Arrow nosecone and ejection seat. The threat to civil liberties, the peace movements of the 1960s, the Trudeau years, and the October crisis highlight this time of turmoil and change.

The call for peace leads to the instrumental role of Canada's Lester Pearson in the creation of the first UN peacekeeping force. From Egypt to Cyprus, the Golan Heights to the Congo, the history of peacekeeping and the active role of the peacekeeper are explored in this space.

An East German T-72 tank crashes through a wall, as NATO and Warsaw Pact countries commit rearmament in the 1980s. But no sooner does rearmament come into full bloom, than the Berlin Wall is torn down, and the Cold War ends.

Walking through fragments of a reconstructed piece of the Berlin wall, visitors experience a three-screen video projection addressing the international and domestic role of the Canadian military from the fall of the wall to the present. The end of the Cold War brings a brief moment of peace, and Canada's reduced military finds itself traveling the world, responding to international crises in Bosnia, Rwanda, and Afghanistan, and domestic crises such as the ice storm, the Red River floods, and BC fires.

Before leaving the gallery, visitors are prompted to share their thoughts on their experience at the Canadian War Museum, to consider the possibilities of tomorrow's wars, and to be an active participant, to contribute to the making of history.