Canadian History: Pride and Adversity
On July 1st, 1867, a new country was born. From then on, she has been through moments of glory, pride and warmth, and moments of darkness, defeat and helplessness. All these moments have made Canada the nation as it is. A nation’s identity is not only forged in moments of victory, but also is defined in moments of adversity. There are no historical events that better formed the Canadian national identity than Vimy Ridge, or the October Crisis.
There is a common saying:” Nations are made in war.” According to many, Vimy Ridge was the first time when Canadians really felt a sense of national identity. Just like the famous comment made by Brigadier General Alex Cross "It was Canada from the Atlantic to the Pacific on parade. I thought …that in those few minutes I witnessed the birth of a nation." The Ridge was a key position of the German defence system in northern France. Here the four divisions of the Canadian advanced side by side for the first time. Here the young volunteers from across the nation trained and fought as “Canadians”, not just a part of the Empire. Here the commanders invented the “rolling barrage”. Here a full-scale replica of the battlefield was built and the soldiers trained day and night. At Vimy Ridge, the Canadians captured more ground and prisoners than any previous British attack. However, the battle at Vimy came at a high cost: the 16,000 casualties brought devastation to home while victory was celebrated and the conscription debate shook the fragile unity in the country. Anyway, Vimy Ridge showed that although Canada has never had a huge army or talked about patriotism all the time, her people can fight, and fight well when they need to.
In the fall of 1970, Canadians underwent their biggest crisis in peacetime. A radical Quebec separatist group, the Fronte de Liberation du Quebec (FLQ), kidnapped British trade commissioner James Cross from his residence in Montreal. The FLQ demanded the release of “political prisoners” and that their
There is a common saying:” Nations are made in war.” According to many, Vimy Ridge was the first time when Canadians really felt a sense of national identity. Just like the famous comment made by Brigadier General Alex Cross "It was Canada from the Atlantic to the Pacific on parade. I thought …that in those few minutes I witnessed the birth of a nation." The Ridge was a key position of the German defence system in northern France. Here the four divisions of the Canadian advanced side by side for the first time. Here the young volunteers from across the nation trained and fought as “Canadians”, not just a part of the Empire. Here the commanders invented the “rolling barrage”. Here a full-scale replica of the battlefield was built and the soldiers trained day and night. At Vimy Ridge, the Canadians captured more ground and prisoners than any previous British attack. However, the battle at Vimy came at a high cost: the 16,000 casualties brought devastation to home while victory was celebrated and the conscription debate shook the fragile unity in the country. Anyway, Vimy Ridge showed that although Canada has never had a huge army or talked about patriotism all the time, her people can fight, and fight well when they need to.
In the fall of 1970, Canadians underwent their biggest crisis in peacetime. A radical Quebec separatist group, the Fronte de Liberation du Quebec (FLQ), kidnapped British trade commissioner James Cross from his residence in Montreal. The FLQ demanded the release of “political prisoners” and that their