The Vimy Trap

by Ian McKay, Jamie Swift

The story of the bloody 1917 Battle of Vimy Ridge is, according to many of today’s tellings, a heroic founding moment for Canada. This noble, birth-of-a-nation narrative is regularly applied to the Great War in general. Yet this mythical tale is rather new. “Vimyism”— today’s official story of glorious, martial patriotism—contrasts sharply with the complex ways in which veterans, artists, clerics, and even politicians who had supported the war interpreted its meaning over the decades.

Was the Great War a futile imperial debacle? A proud, nation-building milestone? Contending Great War memories have helped to shape how later wars were imagined. The Vimy Trap provides a powerful probe of commemoration cultures. This subtle, fast-paced work of public history—combining scholarly insight with sharp-eyed journalism, and based on primary sources and school textbooks, battlefield visits and war art—explains both how and why peace and war remain contested terrain in ever-changing landscapes of Canadian memory.

Genres: History, Canada, Nonfiction, World War I, Politics

392 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2016

Reviews

[Dasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

take up the great task of understanding the memory and role of Canada’s participation in Vimy Ridge. Many reviewers note the tone of this work to reflect a polemic and, indeed, it is a bold piece of work that is highly critical of historians, politicians, and media who have romanticized ideas and symbols of Vimy to represent Canada’s “birth” as a nation. They argue that in the wake of the First World War Canadians viewed the First World War as a futile effort for which too many Canadians sacrificed their lives. Pacifist discourse, militant and otherwise, became popular in the interwar years. The 1936 unveiling of the monument at Vimy was even a quiet protest against the war that honoured the soldiers' loss without romanticizing the war itself. Such critical views of the Great War informed Canadians' restrained response when the Second World War. However, by the 1960s, during Canada’s centennial and Vimy’s fiftieth anniversary, the seeds for the revitalization of Vimy Ridge were planted as politicians and historians used Vimy as a source of national cohesion. And herein lies the danger of Vimyism according to McKay and Swift: Vimyism glosses over national divisions and nuanced experiences of war and nationhood in order to cultivate a united identity. They argue that this is not unique to Canada as Australia committed the same sin with Gallipoli. Authors in the 1980s and 1990s furthered the myth of Vimy, most notably exemplified by the popular work Vimy (1986) by Pierre Berton and Johnathan F. Vance in his book Death so Noble (1997). The way the Canadian government, some scholars and historians, and national media companies have mobilized the victory at Vimy Ridge as a celebration of Canada’s birth and represented a united front poses to overlook the divisiveness and risks of Canadian military ventures, the voices of soldiers who spoke out against romanticizing the war, and the voices of other immigrant groups that experienced difficulties with the Canadian state and it’s British identity during the war including Mennonites, Ukrainians, and Indigenous peoples. The authors sum up their argument as “we call it the ‘Vimy trap’ because we, like many others, see the dangers of its deep pit: its strict rationale of narrow nationalism and its wilful refusal of the realities of twentieth-century warfare and its even more complicated asymmetric twenty-first-century cousin” (p. 22).
While I appreciated this book's critical stance I do agree with other reviewers who are critical of the authors' interpretation of other authors, particularly Johnathan Vance whose work on memory and the First World War remains a solid piece of research that captures nuanced ways Canadians looked to understand the war.

[Jacob Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a necessary piece of historiography, that every Canadian should read. Those enamoured with the memory of the Great War may flinch at the unswerving iconoclasm of The Vimy Trap, but it is not without good reason: endless glorification actually ignores the reality that soldiers faced in WWI, and in some ways, disparages their memory. WWI was not the forge of nations, McKay and Swift argue, it is a terrific tragedy that should haunt us still.

Drawing on contemporary documents, the reflections of participants, and even the story of Vimy while it was being developed into the near-mythic status it now has, this book is a necessary corrective to the increasingly jingoistic way Canadians remember war.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A dose of clean, clear water, splashed against any number of simplistic, puzzling, and jingoistic approaches to the significance of the Battle of Vimy Ridge. Every Canadian even slightly familiar with their history should delve into these fascinating & occasionally provocative pages...especially every high school history student.

[Micah Dewey · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I could give a 4.5/5 I would.

This one is a great read for any Canadian who wants to know the actual truth behind Vimy and the history and myth that it came to become for Canadians.

[Nik Maack · Rating 2 out of 5]

Academics are annoying. Why can't they write a coherent, linear description of history? The subject matter is interesting, but the writing killed me. It's the sort of book that annoys me enough where I think to myself, "I could rewrite this and make it an interesting read!" And I'm half-way to doing so when I stop myself.

I read the first 200 pages and then stopped because I kept zoning out while reading. Then I picked up again, and I was in to it for 5 pages, and zoned out again. And... I'm out.

The thesis is strong and interesting: Vimy Ridge was a battle of zero consequence or interest to anyone, until a bunch of guys said to themselves that maybe it would make for some really awesome propaganda about the birth of our nation. Yes, the rough and tumble boys from all across Canada were united and became a country for the first time when they fought this important battle!

No. That's not what happened. It was a bunch of mostly British Canadians (freshly arrived to Canada, or first generation) from cities who fought under British command and were mostly slaughtered. The battle was so messy that the Germans were actually calling it a victory on their side too and also gave out medals. Then Pierre Berton wrote a book about it where he made Vimy sound cool (even the parts where people were freezing to death and starving to death) and the rest is modern propaganda fake history. Oh, and Harper's conservatives are bad because they ran with it. And now we're celebrating war like dummies when really war is stupid. Australia did the same dumb thing with Gallipoli. Countries are dumb. Everything is dumb.

That's pretty much the entire book. Everything else is digression.

To be fair... When I was enjoying the book, I was doing research on things mentioned. And I am not one of those "boys" who went through a "war is cool" phase, so I know none of the history of wars in general. So maybe a lot of this would be old hat for people who pay attention.

Still, a mostly annoying book. I gave it the old college try, professor. Write more coherently next time.

[Jake M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

McKay and Swift construct a well-articulated argument against Vimy Ridge as a Canada's true birth. The battle has been recast as a resounding military victory from its original, marginal significance to Canada and the outcome of the war in general. The book is clearly written, yet long winded often bordering on redundant. The title is also unlikely prompt reconsideration among those attached to the State narrative and military apparatus. McKay and Swift warn against the "blood and soil" version of history that is based on knee-jerk emotions of superiority, sacrifice and heroism, however fail to provide a way to incorporate peace as the central component to Canadian nationhood. This is a valuable contribution to the field Canadian history that is undermined by its structure.

[D.A. Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book- I took a course years ago about burial practices and learned about why military cemeteries all had identical stones (to create the image that all the dead were the same, identical “sacrifices” and this not worth grieving in singular thus send your sons to war to the great cause of freedom, etc)- so I wanted to read about the mythology around Vimy and the way Canada has created this image of how ww1 created us as a country, blah blah blah. I’m a suspicious sort and so had my doubts anyway- it all seemed too much PR for a terribly wasteful fight for very little gain. Still, countries need foundation myths, I suppose and hey, what better than the horrible deaths of young men to found a place upon?
So when I saw this I was eager for better understanding. The first chapters laid out the argument, and then the rest of the book devolved into messy circuits through history, circling back and throwing in bits of stories and dropping names with not a thing to hang them on. I quickly became confused and had to give up.
A good editor could have fixed this, put together a more coherent argument and/or history of this time. At present it is almost unreadable.
It also falls into the sad trap of thinking that only men and generals have any importance in the creation of myths. I would LOVE to read how women were persuaded to send their sons to be perished. There’s a mention of the poor woman who lost five sons in the war and gosh, she got a medal. Made me nauseous, that. Did they support her in her old age? Did they support any of the returning soldiers?
Perhaps that is a foundation myth we should promote instead- the was we eventually managed to create a social safety net. In these times where that is at risk of being lost (it is already cut and bleeding), we could focus on our history of working together instead of gathering to kill people. Heaven knows we need a refocus. And fewer graves of people who think they are “fighting for Canada and democracy”.

[Benjamin Kahn · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book. McKay takes the reader through the decades following the war up until the present time, demonstrating how attitudes towards the war, and to Vimy specifically, have changed through the years. The early questions about the value of the war, and Vimy's little tactical significance, have been transformed into a "birth on the battlefields." He provides an interesting comparison to Australians attitudes towards Gallipoli. He also makes reference to parts of the war's history that aren't taught in history class - Canadian killing of German soldiers while they try to surrender, the use of gas weapons by both sides, the war profiteering that took place at home, including by Arthur Currie, "Canada's greatest soldier." It's an illuminating read.

The book does drag in places. Often, when he talks about contemporary opinions, he quotes newspaper after newspaper saying basically the same thing. Although it does build his case, it doesn't make for scintillating reading. But I don't want to quibble. Overall, the book is an interesting overview of the war and how contemporary observers have tried to shape our view of it, ignoring the causes and the carnage, and emphasizing bravery and sacrifice, the implication being that this kind of whitewash can only lead to future wars. And that's an important message.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book attempts to look at and understand how Canadians, both individuals and the state, choose to remember the Great War through the battle of Vimy Ridge. The main thesis is that Vimyism is a trap which “distorts the historical record and falsifies the actual character of modern warfare.” In doing so, a war and battle which was remember originally as futile becomes mystified and canonized as the birth place of a nation. While also conveniently leaving out the atrocities committed by Canadian soldiers, the people of colour which fought that battle, the women who were involved etc.
The book supports its main thesis not just through a plethora of primary and secondary sources including news articles, newspapers and books but also through artists and their art, mainly centring around Frederick Varley’s painting “For What?” This painting becomes a theme which ties all the chapters together in order to understand the Great War and the emergence of Vimyism.
I really enjoyed this book, it was very well written and informative. As someone who went to the 100th Anniversary of Vimy Ridge in 2017, I related to much of the myth outlined in this book as well as the parts left out. The book however did drag in some places and was a little repetitive however overall it was an excellent book!

[Raimo Wirkkala · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bravo! This is a courageous book given the times we live in. The inconvenient truth-telling and myth-busting that the authors engage in will not sit well with the well-entrenched militarists who have a vested interest in recasting the past to fit the exigencies (their own) of today. This is a passionate, yet methodical and well-reasoned, cry for embracing a frank and honest appraisal of our history; one founded upon facts, not legends. It is a cry that may well be shouted down but it is a noble effort.

[Daniel Macgregor · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want a masterclass on how to give an historical argument. This is the book to study. While the overall thesis is simple, that the battle of Vimy Ridge was and is oversimplified for nationalistic reasons despite the historical evidence, the intricate analysis of the pre-war, war, and post-war period, in all its different forms, from newspaper presentations of the war in the 1930s, to the issue of monuments, makes this an amazing argument and book.

[Harve Lemelin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Provocative but inconsistent. Ironic how the authors love to deconstruct and basically destroy any proponent of Vimy, yet fail to apply the same methodological zeal to the "champions" of peace in Canada (i.e., King and Pearson). P

[Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Borrowed from the library. Absolutely fantastic book. Will have to get a copy even though I did a bunch of screengrabs as there is so much to use the next time I teach history. Likely to dive a bit deeper and at least read Generals Die in Bed.

[Artemis Fedorchuk · Rating 5 out of 5]

masterful and heartbreaking

[Gill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Favourite bits include:
• “in order to talk about peace we must talk about war” (ch1)
• “science and industry were meant to be the instruments of progress” (ch6)
• “the innovation condemned Canadians to die painful deaths lasting as long as 48 hours as they slowly drowned in their own body fluids. Would the story have been less heartbreaking if the chemical weapon had been used successfully against the Germans?” (ch7)
• Currie embezzled funds for the soldiers (ch8)