While traveling through the countryside of Northern France, one might be skeptical if informed they are standing in Canada. If one was at the battlefield sites of Vimy Ridge or Beaumont-Hamel, however, this would be the case. These memorials commemorate two battles which did more than any others to shape Canadian identity during the war. Vimy resulted in 10,500 Canadian casualties[1], but was perhaps more important than any other in creating a Canadian identity; Beaumont-Hamel nearly annihilated the Newfoundland Regiment, but exercised the same impact on (the then-independent Dominion of) Newfoundland. This newfound national identity is today well represented in the chosen design of the memorials.

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