Everyone likes lists. Everyone makes lists. They are always self-selected, incomplete, and eminently arguable, but they sometimes can focus our minds on significant points that otherwise might escape notice.

This listing of 12 military events and issues does not concentrate on significant battles, though some are included. It does not look at great leaders, although a few will be noted. Instead, what it does is to pick out a dozen key occurrences that had long-term military ramifications and that helped shape Canada and the Canadian military in the years after Confederation.

Readers will disagree with a few of my choices, I know, and some will object strenuously that one event or another has been omitted. Where is the Battle of Vimy Ridge? How could Ortona be left out? And why is the list so heavily weighted to the Army? Good questions all, some of which will be answered in our list.