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mdrohan.bsky.social
But coming so soon after the announcement of his death, the moment felt bittersweet.

He was Canada’s preeminent military historian, the author of 19 books that told us who we are and where we came from. He is already missed.

#cdahist #cdaus @dundurnpress.bsky.social #history #canada
November 18, 2025 at 12:12 PM
mdrohan.bsky.social
We all have self-proclaimed victims in our lives who are difficult to deal with. Imagine facing them across a negotiating table when the stakes are high. That's where PM Carney finds himself now.
#cdaus #cdahist #CIC #hedidnotconquer
Canada’s Difficulty in Dealing with the Victim-in-Chief - Open Canada
Two and a half centuries after Benjamin Franklin cast the young United States as the aggrieved party to pry concessions from Britain, the same playbook appears to be back in circulation.
opencanada.org
October 20, 2025 at 1:48 PM
mdrohan.bsky.social
Dropped into #Indigo at the Rideau Centre today. No matter how many books you write, it is a good feeling the first time you see copies on display.
#hedidnotconquer @dundurnpress.bsky.social #cdaus #cdahist
Woman standing in a book store, smiling, holding two copies of the book, He Did Not Conquer: Benjamin Franklin’s Failure to Annex Canada. She is wearing a blue raincoat. There is a table piled with books beside her.
October 8, 2025 at 4:44 PM
mdrohan.bsky.social
I had a wonderful time at the official launch of He Did Not Conquer: Benjamin Franklin's Failure to Annex Canada. Thank you to everyone who took the time to come. I am happy to report there was no cake left! A good, Canadian crowd!

#HeDidNotConquer #cdaUS #cdaHist #Dundurn
Woman in pink shirt addresses a group of people at a book launch in the cafe of the Ottawa Art Gallery. This photo shows the top of a cake. The design on the cake is of a beaver, showing its teeth and looking aggressive. It is standing on top of an angry-looking eagle. A woman in a pink top is signing a book for a woman who is smiling at her. A man is selling copies of the book, He Did Not Conquer: Benjamin Franklin's Failure to Annex Canada. A customer has a book in his hand and is about to pay. The banner behind the table reads The Spaniel's Tale Bookstore.
October 1, 2025 at 9:37 PM
mdrohan.bsky.social
About 1,700 Americans laid siege to the fort. It was defended by about 500 British regulars, 120 French Canadians, and their indigenous allies. It took the invaders almost a month to capture the fort and resume their march on Montreal. Winter was fast approaching.

#HeDidNotConquer #cdaUS #cdaHist
September 6, 2025 at 3:10 PM
mdrohan.bsky.social
Having a book signing at a pool is slightly unconventional. But book lovers can be found everywhere!

#hedidnotconquer #cdaus #cdahist #dundurnpress
This is a photo of a book signing at an indoor pool. The author is sitting at a picnic table, with a pen in her hand. She is talking to a man sitting beside her. Two other swimmers, a man and a woman wearing swimming costumes, are standing to her left, listening.
October 3, 2025 at 12:29 PM
mdrohan.bsky.social
Today marks a key event in Canada-US relations that few Canadians and probably even fewer Americans have heard about. #OTD Sept. 4, 1775, troops from the 13 colonies invaded Canada, a British colony also called the Province of Quebec.

#HeDidNotConquer #cdaUS #cdaHist #Canada250 #BenjaminFranklin
A map from the 1770s slowing the tip of Lake Champlain and the start of the Richelieu River to the north. The map has a line showing the border between the Province of Quebec, also known as Canada, and the Province of New York. The border runs along the 45th parallel. There is a red circle around the Isle of Noix, which is well to the north of the border. The map is coloured, with the waters of the lake and the river shown in green. The border is yellow on the Canadian side and red on the American side.
September 4, 2025 at 1:59 PM
mdrohan.bsky.social
I’m looking forward to speaking at the Atwater Library at 12:30 pm on November 6. Montreal plays a big part in the story I tell about Benjamin Franklin wanting to annex Canada. He set the stage for Donald Trump. My book is published by @dundurnpress.bsky.social
#hedidnotconquer #cdahist #cdaus
Ad for a talk by Madelaine Drohan about her book, He Did Not Conquer: Benjamin Franklin’s Failure to Annex Canada, at the Atwater Library in Montreal on Nov. 6 at 12:30. There is a photo of the author on the left. She has short grey hair, wears glasses, and is smiling. There is a photo of the book cover on the right. The title is superimposed on a portrait of Franklin, who appears to be frowning. Below the images is text giving the details of the event.
October 31, 2025 at 1:04 PM
mdrohan.bsky.social
Thanks to Ben McNally Books for hosting the Toronto launch my book, published by @dundurnpress.bsky.social

#hedidnotconquer #cdahist #cdaus #canada #Canada250
October 30, 2025 at 6:35 PM
mdrohan.bsky.social
Second, the idea of a North American wearing a kingly crown did not begin with Donald Trump.
#hedidnotconquer #cdaus #cdahist
October 29, 2025 at 2:59 PM
mdrohan.bsky.social
It will be interesting to see if Mr. Trump repeats his claim that Canada should become part of the US today. Equally interesting will be how Mr. Carney deals with it.
#hedidnotconquer #cdaus #cdahist #dundurnpress
Mark Carney’s radical vision for handling Trumpian America
Liberalise at home and lead a new free-trade revolution
economist.com
October 7, 2025 at 11:07 AM
mdrohan.bsky.social
He warned Arnold that plunder or disrespecting the Catholic religion would bring “shame, disgrace, and ruin" to his men. Treating Canadians as friends would lead to “a lasting union and affection.” Arnold would later disregard Washington’s orders.
#HeDidNotConquer #cdahist #cdaUS #canada250
September 14, 2025 at 10:48 AM
mdrohan.bsky.social
I’m really pleased @theglobeandmail.com said my book He Did Not Conquer: Benjamin Franklin’s Failure to Annex Canada (@dundurnpress) is a must-read. Trump’s threats to make Canada the 51st state have made it relevant.
#hedidnotconquer #cdaus #cdahist #dundurn

www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/book...
Here are 61 books to add to your must-read list this fall
New memoirs from Margaret Atwood and Arundhati Roy, buzzy fiction by Mona Awad and more notable reads this season
www.theglobeandmail.com
October 9, 2025 at 2:01 PM
mdrohan.bsky.social
“All wars end with [negotiation], according to the popular saying, but rarely does the aggressor come to the table demanding territory that it doesn’t actually control.”

And yet this is exactly what the United States did at the end of the American Revolution.

#HeDidNotConquer #cdaUS #cdaHist
Opinion | A Brief Note on the Difference Between Negotiation and Extortion
www.nytimes.com
August 19, 2025 at 12:01 PM
mdrohan.bsky.social
I’m really pleased the Toronto Star ran an excerpt today from my book, He Did Not Conquer: Benjamin Franklin’s Failure to Annex Canada. Long before Donald Trump mused about making Canada the 51st state, Benjamin Franklin wanted to make it the 14th.
#HeDidNotConquer #cdaUS #cdaHist #Dundurn #Torstar
How Ben Franklin and friends came to an invaded Canada, failed to win us over, and fled: an excerpt from a new book
They waged war, fell to smallpox and were inclined to blame a prostitute. During Ben Franklin's brief time in Montreal, the occupying Americans didn't make many friends or much headway.
www.thestar.com
September 28, 2025 at 12:50 PM
mdrohan.bsky.social
Did Benjamin Franklin’s failure to annex Canada set the stage for Donald Trump and his talk of the 51st state? I’ll be discussing that and other questions at a Canadian International Council meeting Oct. 21. Open to the public (see poster for details).
#cdaus #cdapoli #cdahist #hedidnotconquer
This is a poster for an October 21st event at the national capital branch (Ottawa) of the Canadian International Council. It shows a photo of the speaker, Madelaine Drohan, and a photo of the moderator, Melanie Walker. It also shows the cover of Madelaine Drohan’s book, which is called He Did Not Conquer: Benjamin Franklin’s Failure to Annex Canada. It gives the details of where the event will take place: 150 Elgin Street, suite 1800, Ottawa, and the time 6:30pm.
October 18, 2025 at 1:22 AM
mdrohan.bsky.social
It had not attacked the 13 Colonies. But the Americans believed unfounded rumours that a strike from the north was imminent and that invading their northern neighbour could be called self-defence.
#HeDidNotConquer #Canada250 #cdaHist #cdaUS #NovaScotia #Washington #skystorians
August 11, 2025 at 2:24 PM
mdrohan.bsky.social
I really enjoyed giving a talk on my book today at the Atwater Library in Montreal. A special thanks to those who came out despite the transit strike.
@dundurnpress.bsky.social #cdahist #cdaus #hedidnotconquer
Woman with grey hair and glasses standing in front of a podium at the Atwater Library in Montreal. In the background is a map from 1560 with the word Canada circled. Photo credit: Patricia Poirier Woman with grey hair and glasses signing a book. In the foreground is the book, He Did Not Conquer: Benjamin Franklin’s Failure to Annex Canada.
November 6, 2025 at 10:08 PM
mdrohan.bsky.social
“As this Colony is in some sort detached from the rest, we imagined ourselves in no danger of being involved in these alarming disputes that now prevail over this Continent; the contrary of which, however, I am now sorry to inform you of.”
#HeDidNotConquer #cdaUS #cdaHist #Dundurn #Canada250
September 25, 2025 at 3:01 PM
mdrohan.bsky.social
What a pleasure it was to speak this week with Tom Fournier of the @historysymposium.bsky.social about my book, published by @dundurnpress.bsky.social. I gave the high points of Benjamin Franklin’s designs on Canada.

#cdaus #cdapoli #cdahist #hedidnotconquer

youtu.be/IySBOsrhFE8?...
Madelaine Drohan: He Did Not Conquer: Benjamin Franklin’s Failure to Annex Canada
YouTube video by History Symposium
youtu.be
October 25, 2025 at 3:48 PM
mdrohan.bsky.social
The American invasion of Canada in 1775 ran into financial difficulties within the first month. Some Canadians were willing to sell the invaders food, but only in exchange for cold, hard cash.

#HeDidNotConquer #cdaUS #cdaHist #Dundurn #skystorians
This is an image of a $6 bill in continental currency. It features an image of a beaver gnawing at a tree. It says the bearer is entitled to receive six Spanish milled dollars or the value of that in gold according to the resolutions of the United States Congress. It is dated May 1775 and was printed in Philadelphia. It has an ornate border. The beaver and tree image has the word Perserverando (Perseverence) over the top.
September 19, 2025 at 2:21 PM