On this day, 106 years ago, World War I ended on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918. The date is now known as Armistice Day when Axis and Allies signed an agreement for peace, bringing end to a war that had been waging for over four years and led to the death of over 15 million people. An armistice was preferred over a surrender as both sides believed it was the fastest way to end the war’s misery and carnage. The armistice was an agreement to down the weapons as a precursor to the peace negotiations that would conclude with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in June of the subsequent year.
Prior to the armistice, Germans had suffered heavy casualties as British, French and US forces pushed them steadily. Despite the Germans on the back foot and an opportunity to take over Berlin on the cards, the Allies preferred to walk away as an invasion would have required too much in terms of manpower, logistics and resources.
Armistice negotiations
Germans knew they had run their race. As early as September of 1918, they started to make overtures about an armistice. The German government approached the US with a request for an agreement and hoped that the finer details would be based on the ‘peace without victory’ plan laid down by US President Woodrow Wilson in January.
Commander-in-chief of the Allied forces, Marshal Ferdinand Foch led the negotiations from a position of leverage — ensuring that Germans could not dictate the terms. When the Deutsch side asked if he had an Allied offer, Foch said: “I have no proposals to make.
What did Germany give up?
As part of the armistice, Germans agreed to pull their troops out of France, Belgium and Luxembourg within 15 days, or risk becoming prisoners of the Allies. They were also required to return all the prisoners of war without reciprocity.
The Germans had to hand over their arsenal, which included 5,000 artillery pieces, 25,000 machine guns and 1,700 airplanes, along with 5,000 railroad locomotives, 5,000 trucks and 150,000 wagons.It also had to give up the contested territory of Alsace-Lorraine. And they agreed to the indignity of Allied forces occupying German territory along the Rhine, where they would stay until 1930.
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How is it remembered?
In 1919, King George V of England proclaimed that Armistice Day be marked with two minutes of silence at 11 am, the hour the agreement had gone into effect. “The thoughts of everyone may be concentrated on reverent remembrance of the glorious dead,” the king said during the ceremony held in the palace grounds.
Since then, 11 November has been referred to as Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth. In London, a National Service of Remembrance is held each year at the Cenotaph, a war memorial, and bright red paper poppies are worn as a symbol of support for the armed forces. Sporting events also witness teams standing in silence as the military bugle is blasted during this period.
A few days after King George V’s announcement, the then-US president, Woodrow Wilson declared that the Americans would also be observing the day with ceremonies across the country.
“With splendid forgetfulness of mere personal concerns we remodelled our industries, concentrated our financial resources, increased our agricultural output, and assembled a great army, so that at the last our power was a decisive factor in the victory,” read Wilson’s statement.
In 1953, Alvin J. King of Emporia, Kansas, proposed changing the name of the holiday to Veterans Day, to recognise veterans from all wars and conflicts.
