Jacob N.

The Battle of Vimy Ridge

Jacob N.
Cafe de l'Histoire
Montreal, QC

 The battle of Vimy Ridge was one of the most historic battles in Canadian history. Vimy Ridge was a strategic location in World War I that the Germans had occupied from the start after their invasion of France. the allies, mostly the UK and France, tried for three years and couldn’t capture this location, so they brought in Canada, who at the time was still a British colony. Canada arrived in France in late autumn 1916. They spent months training and strategizing for this upcoming battle which they were severely outnumbered. This all came down to April 9, 1917 where the Canadiens bombarded Germany with around 15,000 soldiers. it only took them until noon to complete most of their objectives besides for one, capturing the pimple, which was surrounded by the full German defence. This took them three days but on April 12 they finally completed it and won the battle of Vimy Ridge.

What sources and evidence did you consult for your project? What different perspectives did they provide on your topic?

Some of the sources that I used for my project were the official Vimi foundation, the official government website of Canada, and the Canadian history Museum. these sites all gave me different perspectives such as different facts that I didn’t know, the battle from different sides of the story, and more backstory, which was crucial for my presentation.

What is the historical significance of your topic?

The Battle of Vimy Ridge has created historically significant change because it really showed how strong Canada is when they train and all work together. The Battle of Vimy Ridge was the first time in which all four Canadian divisions fought together, and after months of training and battle strategies, they finally pulled it off. This created change because it was the first time that the world realized how strong Canada is, instead of just being another ex-British colony. Another reason that this created historically important change is just how much it really affected WW1. Since the Allies had tried for so many years to capture Vimy Ridge since it gives an amazing advantage and is a great location to control, who knows what would have happened if the Canadians had not captured it. This one battle was a great part of the ripple effect which won the Allies the war and without it the Germans could have won the war and taken Europe for themselves. After the Battle of Vimy Ridge, armies started to realize that it doesn't matter as much who has the bigger army. The Canadians spent months planning, doing multiple spy missions, and creating tactics to defeat the Germans, and even created new battle strategies such as the ‘Creeping Barrage’ and the ‘Vimy Glide’, which were used unexpectedly to attack in the battle. All of this led down to the 3 day battle in which the Canadians came out victorious. This is when people started to realize that it's the battle strategy and planning that really counts and makes a bigger difference in battle.

Why did you choose this topic? 

I chose this topic because it is something that is spoken about a lot at my school and is something that I feel is very important to learn about and was a turning point in World War I.