Why Is The Battle Of Vimy Ridge Significant

April 9th, 1917 (1) was a day that changed Canada forever. The Canadian troops had been preparing their attack throughout the many months before that day. At 5:30am 20,000 men participated in a creeping barrage (2), a well-rehearsed movement of soldiers and bombs, as they headed up Vimy Ridge. After four days, Canadians won the Ridge from Germany, Making them the first to do so in this war (3). Still, people ask if the battle of Vimy Ridge is really significant to our history. The answer to this is yes, the battle of Vimy Ridge is significant to the Canadian nation. First, the battle of Vimy Ridge resulted in many deaths for Canada; as well numerous places hold annual memorial services for the Vimy Ridge loss. Next, Canadians were able to defeat

Many Canadian soldiers gave up their lives to help defeat the German army. Out of 100,000 men, there were around 11,000 casualties and about 3,600 fatalities (4). The consequences of this battle affected a lot of people at the time because of the number of deaths or injuries that had occurred. This makes it significant because a large group of people had been affected by the battle. The loss of these men left families without fathers, sons or husbands and many people needed men to help out with farming and businesses back home. With these men dead, it made it very hard to accomplish these things on the homefront. People had given up their lives to help take the ridge. We see evidence of the large amounts of deaths during this battle with the numerous memorial parks located in Canada and France. One of the largest being the Canadian National Vimy Ridge Memorial located in France (5). These memorial parks are visited daily by tourists and veteran families. Every year around April 17th, people gather to visit the memorial service for the Vimy Soldiers. In Ottawa on Easter Sunday, the National War Memorial of Ottawa turns off all surrounding lights and projects the names of the soldiers who had died during the battle (6). In 2007, over 5,000 school children, veteran families, the Queen and the Prime minister of Canada had gone to visit Vimy

The amount of time and planning put into the Vimy Ridge battle strategy led to better planning for future battles. One of the biggest techniques used was the creeping barrage. This was when men would move and bombs would be dropped in a set period of time. This strategy left the Germans surprised when many Canadians appeared expectantly in their trenches (11). This was just one of many techniques the Canadians used while taking over the Ridge. This planning and time is significant to the overall history of Vimy Ridge the soldiers spent months of drills and preparations making sure that everything was seamless. Although there is not always time for this kind of preparation, it did assist the army to learn better techniques while fighting throughout the war. For example, things like the platoon system helped the army to take out more men at one time (12). It was these little techniques that people at the time thought were useful and were excellent for the battle. As well, the victory of Vimy Ridge helped Canadians gain a bit of confidence and led them to future successes. As seen in later battles like the battle of Hill 70 or the Battle of Passchendaele, Canadians were able to once again prove themselves (13). Many believe that this is because of the pride they still felt after taking Vimy Ridge. The battle on the ridge led to the other successes and events that Canadians were able to