Battle Of Vimy Ridge Essay

The Battle of Vimy Ridge, a defining moment for Canada as a nation, celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2017. The battle, fought in France during the First World War is a symbol for Canadians, to many the results of the battle meant the coming of age of Canada as a country. For the first time since the country’s conception, the whole Canadian Corps came together to fight in a heroic battle for the safety of their nation and the rest of the world. Yet, one must always have about them an air of suspicion when it comes to claims such as that of the Battle of Vimy Ridge. Canadian historians are at odds when it comes to the battle. There are those who say that the idea that Canada was born at Vimy came decades after the battle. What brings about

If Vimy Ridge was where Canada first made its mark then the cause and results of the fight must be explored. Canada did not come into WWI on its own accord, instead it entered the war with Britain, as its external affairs were still being governed by the United Kingdom in 1914(Morton, “First World War(WWI)”). Canada fought in a number of battles before the one at Vimy, some notable ones include the Second Battle of Ypres, and the Battle of the Somme. Vimy Ridge’s uniqueness stems from the fact that at the ridge was the first time that the four divisions of the Canadian Corps banded together in one battle(Foot, “Battle of Vimy Ridge”). The Germans had control of the ridge since 1914 and the Allies tried without success to take it many times resulting in over 150,000 deaths (Turner p.8). In 1917, the Canadian Corps was tasked with taking the ridge, even before the battle began the men knew it would be gruesome, one Canadian veteran, Eberts Macintyre stated in his book Canada at Vimy, “It was nauseating to contemplate the horrors that the representatives of two Christian nations would inflict on each other at the time of Easter festival each believing that he was in the right.”(Macintyre p.103). The assault was launched at 5:30 a.m. April 9, 1917, over 95,000 Canadian soldiers fought in the three day long battle. The success of the battle

The people in Quebec were never too keen on being British subjects, throughout Canada’s history they were constantly at odds with the ruling British government. The Quebecois dissatisfaction with the anglophones was warranted due the numerous amount of time when the British attempted to assimilate them into their own culture. Since the French were a minority in Canada they were mostly tolerated and left to their own devices. The loyalty of Canada’s French population was put to the test in WWI. At the beginning of the war Canada faced no difficulty in gathering eager volunteers for their fighting force, other than the fact that most of these volunteers were anglophones things were going well. As the war dragged on it became increasingly clear that having a volunteer army would not supply the Canadian forces with the numbers they needed(A City Goes to War). Canada’s French population was not likely to fight for a war that Britain was forcing them into. To replenish the Canadian army, Prime Minister Robert Borden was convinced he needed to create a conscription system. Conscription was unanimously opposed in Quebec, but Borden pushed through with the Wartime Elections Act which brought together the Liberals to join the Conservatives to form the Canadian Unionist Government. The bill allowed his government to get enough votes to enforce conscription(Jones,