Canada comes of age
If Napoleon had come back to life at the beginning of 1917, he would have found nothing which surprised him or which, at any rate, he could not understand: much the same European Powers as in his day fighting much the same sort of war on a rather larger scale. He would have recognized tsars and emperors and even liberal politicians. But suppose he put off his return a few months and came back at the end of the year, then he would have been bewildered. The Bolsheviks take power in Russia
At one end of Europe was Bolshevism, and entirely new system of thought and government. At the other end of Europe the United States, a power unconnected with Europe, was beginning to intervene on a scale which would eclipse all the traditional Great Powers put together. In 1917 European history, in the old sense, came to an end. World history began. It was the year of Lenin and Woodrow Wilson, both of whom repudiated the traditional standards of political behaviour. Both preached Utopia, Heaven on Earth. It was the moment of birth for our contemporary world; the dramatic moment of modern mans' existence.
From The First World War by A.J.P. Taylor
Vimy Ridge soldiers Preparing for battle
The Attack takes place
Follow up and fall out of the battle
Lest we forget
Lest we forget
