Fearing the civil and political unrest that had occurred during World War I, as well as hoping to defeat the nationalist Premier Maurice Duplessis in Quebec who called a snap election in September 1939 to seek a mandate to oppose the war, King pledged in September 1939 to not introduce overseas conscription for the duration of the war. Duplessis's decision to dissolve the assembly on 25 September 1939 to seek a mandate to oppose the war created panic in Ottawa with King calling Duplessis in his diary "diabolic" and a "little Hitler", believing Duplessis's aim was to provoke such a crisis between French-Canada and English-Canada that Quebec would leave the Confederation.