History one lesson after another

Another commemoration of a major event in our national collective experience is on the horizon.

The First World War Battle of Vimy Ridge at Easter, 1917, showed how careful, detailed planning and preparation - something necessary for survival in our country - would help Canadians succeed where others failed.

Canadians duly commemorated this costly but great, nation-building experience at the battle site in France and at home.

It was the battle in the filthy mud of Passchendaele in Flanders later that year that truly tried Canadians' long-term endurance.

Like Vimy, the Germans held a ridge at Passchendaele, giving them the ability to pour artillery and small-arms fire on the British, Australian and New Zealand and then Canadian troops advancing eastward to their objectives.

As well, rains that summer had overwhelmed the generally flat area's drainage systems, developed over centuries but destroyed by artillery fire in a few short months. At Passchendaele, Canadians fought in often waste-deep mud, from which there was no respite.

The battle had begun July 31, 1917, with the British and ANZAC offensive to break out to capture German-occupied Belgian ports. Initially, things went well. Then, it bogged down into a battle of attrition.

The Canadian Corps entered the mucky fray in late October and immediately began to devise more efficient survival and fighting methods - adapting tactics and equipment to better suit the horrible circumstances.

The Canadian Corps took Passchendaele Ridge November 6, after advancing the few kilometres over two weeks, through a nightmare landscape and losing 5,000 young lives in the process.

Someone once said, to the effect if we don't study history, we'll be forced to repeat it.

The fact is, history repeats itself all the time. Like novels and plays, the human drama has fallen within a few select patterns over the millennia - only the props have changed. Biology and geography no doubt have a lot to do with it all.

The lessons to be learned are how to deal with these circumstances as they invariably arise. The continuing popularity of the Bible - even among agnostics and atheists - hinges on this fact.

For their own ends, successive federal governments have pushed history away from our “traditional” route - including the imperial and Commonwealth connection and military studies - to things that have left us quite unprepared for a lot that could easily befall us in the near future: a lot of baby has gone out with that bathwater over the decades.

As well, history - like the human drama - doesn't follow wishful thinking. Some claiming to interpret history may try to change the facts; they eventually come to light. Unfortunately, they often don't get illuminated by the light of day in time for it to have immediate effect, or answers when the lessons are needed.

It's easy to take all the good a country has to offer native-born and newcomer alike, but we all have to know what could be expected of us at any given time, how to cope with and overcome it.

Part of that is through detailed study of history by every citizen. It won't prevent history from repeating - war, economic catastrophe, and natural disaster; but it could well reduce the effects.

An aside: I wonder how some recent federal governments would have responded to this year's commemoration ceremonies for the Battle of Vimy Ridge?