Operation maxima was the secret French plan to bomb Toronto with the Atom bomb. This is a part of the Second Atomic War.
Background[]
The North American Republic had been adopting a pro- German policy under President Spiro Theodore Agnew. Agnew wanted North America to have atomic weapons, so they could become a world power. This policy angered the French.
The plot[]
France developed a plan in 1983 for a strike on Toronto, as punishment for cooperation with Germany and as a warning.
8/3/1983[]
8/3/1983: a day that must not be forgotten. That August 3, at 09:00 AM, a French Mirage plane dropped an atomic bomb over downtown Toronto. There was lots of destruction and over 600,000 dead. The area was in chaos and was heavy in damage.
Reaction[]
By the President[]
When the attack took place, President Agnew was in his private residence in the Rockies. The Chief of National Defence, James Downey, personally called the president to warn him of the attack. Here is an official transcript:
- JD: Hello Mr President!
- SA: Thomas, I'm busy.
- JD: Sir, it's chief of defense Downey.
- SA: I'm busy, Downey.
- JD: Sir, the nation is under attack. (pause)
- SA: I'm busy. (president hangs up)
By the opposition[]
Other government leaders were quickly informed of the attack, since the president was unwilling to act. At 12:30, opposition leader Pierre Elliott Trudeau gave a televised speech to the nation, urging them to "rise up from the rubble and rebuild this city, this nation. The government... the government should do everything in their power to fix the situation". He also criticized the president for not doing anything.
Action[]
The first thing President Agnew did was suspend all civil liberties and impose a state of emergency. Instead of helping out Toronto, he cordoned off the city. The media was censored, and many opposition leaders and critics, including Trudeau, were arrested. The state of emergency was only lifted after 61 days, and Toronto was still in isolation.
Toronto Commission[]
On October 18, a commission was started to investigate the attack. The president was quite cooperative, but when the commission began to try to link his hatred for Torontonians with the attack, he did everything in his power to hinder the commission. The commission was re-started after Agnew was out of office in 1984. They found documented records showing that France warned North America "on several occasions" that if they did not sever ties with Germany, they would bomb Toronto or Boston. Some say that Agnew actually wanted Toronto destroyed.