To a few, “life is not about the moments in which we take, but rather the moments we live in.1” Throughout the 20th century, Canada has lived through many memorable moments such as the battle of Vimy Ridge (1917), the Auto Pact (1965), and the NAFTA agreement (1994). Throughout these significant moments, the German’s strong hold at the Vimy Ridge was seized2, thousands of jobs were created from the Auto Pact3, and the economy remarkably expanded in Canada due to the NAFTA agreement4. Thus, defining and tailoring Canada to be what she is today.
In the early 1900's Canada had endured one of the greatest battles in its 20th century in 1917: Vimy ridge5. As a young dominion, the four Canadian Expeditionary Divisions worked collaboratively as a unified team representing Canada with the result of overpowering the Germans at the Vimy Ridge6. The Canadians had their advantages in this battle because of the fact that it is the first occasion where all four Canadian divisions fought together as a strong force and the fact that all men knew of the objective7. Despite how deadly the battle was for both opposing teams, the first division under Arthur Currie was still able to succeed in capturing the Germans along the Western Front. Vimy proves that even though the German army had fortified it with tunnels, rows of trenches behind barbed wire, massive artillery, and numerous machine gun nests, the newborn nation was still able to overcome this obstacle as a unified team8. This demonstrated that they were the masters of offensive warfare and this was accomplished when the first division dominated the opposing team's front line position within the first 30 minutes9. Although the Canadians achieved their ambitions, there was a devastating cost in 3,598 men killed out of 10,602 casualties.
In fact, this is same military operation the French and the British had previously fought in 1915 and failed with over 150,000 casualties for the French alone. It demonstrated that the four... [continues]

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