The Battle of Vimy Ridge: A Symbol of Canadian National Pride & Awarene

The years since the Battle of Vimy Ridge may have passed quickly, but the legacy of the Canadians whose accomplishments were great in that pivotal First World War battle lives on. Many people claim to this day that Canada came of age as a country on those hard April days in 1917. At first, through the meticulous planning of the battle, the world saw a nation capable of working together and making decisions as a team. Afterwards, with the range of technical and tactical innovations involved in the attack, the world saw a strong nation unafraid to protect and defend. In the end, through great sacrifice the world bore witness to the birth of the Canadian legacy. To conclude that the nation was born on April 9th 1917, on the Artois plains is to deny over three centuries of history during which the ancestors of millions of Canadians devoted their lives to building the country. This is why the Battle of Vimy Ridge wasn’t the birth of Canada itself, but the birth of our legacy- the à ¢â‚¬Ëœtrue’ origin of our nation. Planning is one of the, if not the most, important element of war. This is why the hard-work Canadian military forces put into planning for the attack on Vimy Ridge earned the nation much deserved respect in the eyes of other countries around the world. Germany captured Vimy Ridge early in the war and made it into a strong defensive position, consisting of a huge system of tunnels and trenches manned by soldiers with machine guns and artillery pieces. Previous Allied attacks on Vimy Ridge in 1914 and 1915 had cost the British and French hundreds of thousands of casualties and had been mostly unsuccessful.The planning and preparations for the attack were extensive, and time consuming. The Canadians were trained rigorously. Models of... ...eterans Affairs Canada. http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/overseas/first-world-war/france/vimy/battle (accessed April 4, 2014). Canadian War Museum. "The Battle of Vimy Ridge, 9-12 April 1917." WarMuseum.ca. http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/vimy/index_e.shtml (accessed April 2, 2014). "The Nationalism Project: Ernest Renan Defining the Nation." The Nationalism Project. http://www.nationalismproject.org/what/renan.htm (accessed April 4, 2014). "Vimy Ridge." Library and Archives Canada. http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/first-world-war/interviews/025015-1200-e.html#a.essay (accessed April 4, 2014). "Vimy Ridge." The Canadian Encyclopedia. http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/en/article/vimy-ridge/ (accessed April 3, 2014). "firstworldwar.com." First World War. http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/vimyridge.htm (accessed April 4, 2014).