Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele: The Social Impact
On Canada in 1917
Canada had an undisputed contribution to the Great War having committed over 600,000 of its population of 8 million. Canada engaged in some of the most famous battles of the war such as the Second Battle of Ypres, the Battle of the Somme, The Battle of Arras, The Third Battle of Ypres, and the British Expeditionary Force’s Last Hundred Days. At the end of the war, Canada proudly celebrated her soldiers, their sacrifices, and their triumphs. Canada has a special relationship with the Battle of Arras, however. The large British campaign that was an overall failure, costing the lives of over 159,000, was the overarching action that engaged the Canadian Corps at Vimy Ridge. There the Canadians successfully capture their objectives and proved the only Allied success in the entire Arras campaign. Almost instantly, Canadians on the home front began to rejoice in the triumph of the Canadian contingent overseas. Ever since, the memory of Vimy Ridge has lived in legend and mythology. No other action during the war would incite such social significance as Vimy. Canada participated in the evermore violent and …show more content…
The military significance and the overall cost to achieve those objectives in both actions need to be addressed. The reception of the news of each action in the context of the social situation in Canada will provide insight to how triumphant mythology and sober shock resulted. The political influences on the staging of each action also factor into the phenomenon of Vimy praise and Passchendaele mourning. Once these factors are brought to light, Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele as social significances are clearly the products of the sociological extremes experienced between the spring and fall of