The whole point of celebrating Vimy Ridge and other battles of the First World War is to convince the masses that the senseless slaughter meant something. Politicians babble about freedom and democracy though I doubt the Germans of yesteryear really wanted to take away my voting rights.

World War 1 was really about the clash of Empires that was the source of British and French wealth. The Germans who came late into the game wanted their own Empire but most of the world had already been divided up. This is why they always had eyes on the Russian Empire which became the Soviet Union.