Armistice Day
{{short description|Commemoration on 11 November of the World War I armistice}}
{{About|the memorial day to honor the war dead following the Armistice at the end of World War I|memorials on 11 November after World War II, associated traditions in Commonwealth countries and more details of related memorials in other countries|Remembrance Day|other uses|Armistice Day (disambiguation)}}
{{EngvarB|date=November 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2015}}
{{Infobox holiday
|holiday_name = Armistice Day
|type = future
|image = File:NYTimes-Page1-11-11-1918.jpg
|imagesize = 300px
|caption = Front page of The New York Times on Armistice Day, 11 November 1918
|official_name =
|nickname =
|observedby = Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, New Zealand, Romania, Serbia, United Kingdom and many other countries
|litcolor =
|longtype =
|significance = Commemoration of the signing of the Armistice between the Allied Powers and the Central Powers effectively ending all military operations and hostilities in all theatres and fronts of World War I at Compiègne, France
|duration = 22001days
|frequency = Annual
|scheduling = same day each year
|date = 11 November
|celebrations =
|observances =
|firsttime = World's first official observance at Buckingham Palace, London, on 11 November 1919
|relatedto = Remembrance Sunday, Remembrance Day (Commonwealth), National Independence Day (Poland), National Unity and Armed Forces Day (Italy), Veterans Day (United States);
}}
File:First News of Peace! Confetti thrown by happy crowds. Liberty sings. Flags waved. Nov. 11-1918. (12795375585) (cropped).jpg, Pennsylvania on 11 November 1918]]
Armistice Day, later known as Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth and Veterans Day in the United States, is commemorated every year on 11 November to mark the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany at Compiègne, France, at 5:45 am{{cite web|url=http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/armistice.htm|access-date=26 November 2018|title=Armistice: The End of World War I, 1918|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181126000847/http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/armistice.htm|archive-date=26 November 2018 |url-status=live |website=EyeWitness to History}} for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front of World War I, which took effect at 11:00 am—the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" of 1918—although, according to Thomas R. Gowenlock, an intelligence officer with the U.S. First Division, shelling from both sides continued for the rest of the day, ending only at nightfall.{{cite web |url=https://www.wearethemighty.com/articles/how-world-war-i-soldiers-celebrated-the-armistice |title=How World War I Soldiers Celebrated the Armistice|date=10 November 2016}}{{cite book |last1=Gowenlock |first1=Thomas |title=Soldiers of Darkness |date=1937 | publisher=Doubleday, Doran & Co. |oclc=1827765}} The armistice initially expired after a period of 36 days and had to be extended several times. A formal peace agreement was reached only when the Treaty of Versailles was signed the following year.{{cite book |last1=Shushkewich |first1=Val |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UDQ5kM_7ThkC&pg=PA42 |title=The real Winnie : a one-of-a-kind bear |year=2005 |publisher=Natural Heritage Books |isbn=978-1554883509 |page=42}}
The date is a national holiday in France, and was declared a national holiday in many Allies of World War I nations, several of whom have since changed the name of the holiday from Armistice Day to either Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth of Nations, or Veterans Day in the United States.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/armistice-day-remembrance-day-and-veterans-day-whats-the-difference-a6730081.html|title=Armistice Day, Remembrance Day and Veterans Day – what's the difference?|first=Samuel|last=Osborne|date=11 November 2015|access-date=18 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118032603/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/armistice-day-remembrance-day-and-veterans-day-whats-the-difference-a6730081.html|archive-date=18 November 2018 |url-status=live |newspaper=The Independent}} Italy celebrates the Armistice with Austria on November 4 as National Unity and Armed Forces Day. In Poland, November 11 coincides with National Independence Day.
History in Allied countries
The first Armistice Day celebration was held at Buckingham Palace, commencing with King George V hosting a "Banquet in Honour of the President of the French Republic" (Raymond Poincaré){{Royal Collection|1000799|Banquet in honour of The President of the French Republic, Monday 10 November 1919}} during the evening hours of 10 November 1919. The first official Armistice Day events were subsequently held in the grounds of Buckingham Palace on the morning of 11 November 1919,{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/armistice-day-remembrance-day-and-veterans-day-whats-the-difference-a6730081.html|title=Armistice Day, Remembrance Day and Veterans Day – what's the difference?|first=Samuel|last=Osborne|date=11 November 2015|access-date=20 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118032603/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/armistice-day-remembrance-day-and-veterans-day-whats-the-difference-a6730081.html|archive-date=18 November 2018 |url-status=live |newspaper=The Independent}} which included a two-minute silence as a mark of respect for those who died in the war and those left behind.{{cite web|url=https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2014/7-november/features/features/the-great-silence-begins|title=The great silence begins|first=Peter|last=Street|date=7 November 2014|access-date=20 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181117033727/https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2014/7-november/features/features/the-great-silence-begins|archive-date=17 November 2018 |url-status=live}}
Similar ceremonies developed in other countries during the inter-war period.
In South Africa, for example, the Memorable Order of Tin Hats had by the late 1920s developed a ceremony whereby the toast of "Fallen Comrades" was observed not only in silence but darkness, all except for the "Light of Remembrance", with the ceremony ending with the Order's anthem "Old Soldiers Never Die".{{cite web|url=https://muhaz.org/revielle-shellhole.html|title=Reveille Shellhole|pages=1–4|access-date=20 November 2018|archive-date=20 November 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181120035547/http://muhaz.org/revielle-shellhole.html}}{{#tag:ref|Some sources report (all in identical words) that the South Australian State Branch of the Returned Sailors & Soldiers' Imperial League of Australia developed a simple ceremony of silence for departed comrades at 9 p.m., but there is no reliable source confirming that this happened on Armistice Day. The Club Palm Beach (formerly Palm Beach RSL) reports that a silence was observed in Adelaide in 1916 to mark the landing at Gallipoli.{{cite web|url=http://clubpalmbeach.com.au/club-history/|title=ANZAC Day history|access-date=20 November 2018}}|group=Note}}
In Britain, beginning in 1939, the two-minute silence was moved to the Sunday nearest to 11 November in order not to interfere with wartime production should 11 November fall on a weekday.{{cite book |last=Cecil |first=Hugh |date=1998 |title=At the Eleventh Hour |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y-CXAwAAQBAJ |publisher=Pen & Sword Books Ltd |pages=357–358|isbn=978-0850526448 }} This became Remembrance Sunday.
Commemorations of November 11 were initially focused on honoring the military dead of the First World War and the return to peace. Just prior to or after World War II, many countries changed the name of the holiday, several changed the focus to include all veterans of their armed services, and a few honor their war dead both uniformed and civilian. Most member states of the Commonwealth of Nations followed the earlier example of Canada and adopted the name Remembrance Day.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/armistice-day-remembrance-day-and-veterans-day-whats-the-difference-a6730081.html|title=Armistice Day, Remembrance Day and Veterans Day – what's the difference?|first=Samuel|last=Osborne|date=11 November 2015|access-date=18 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118032603/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/armistice-day-remembrance-day-and-veterans-day-whats-the-difference-a6730081.html|archive-date=18 November 2018 |url-status=live |newspaper=The Independent}} The United States in 1954 changed the name to All Veterans Day, later shortened to 'Veterans Day'.{{cite web |url=https://www.va.gov/opa/vetsday/vetdayhistory.asp |title=History of Veterans Day |date=20 July 2015 |website=U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs |access-date=2 November 2020}}
21st century
{{Details|topic=commemorations of the war in different countries|Remembrance Day}}
In the United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries, Armistice Day is observed with a two minute silence (one minute in Australia) on the eleventh hour, with the main service taking place on Remembrance Sunday (also known as Remembrance Day).{{Cite web|title=REMEMBRANCE DAY definition and meaning {{!}} Collins English Dictionary|url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/remembrance-day|access-date=2023-11-08|website=Collins English Dictionary|language=en}} Both days are commemorated formally but are not public holidays.{{Cite web|title=Remembrance Sunday {{!}} Remembrance Events {{!}} Royal British Legion|url=https://www.britishlegion.org.uk/get-involved/remembrance/about-remembrance/armistice-day|access-date=2023-11-08|website=The Royal British Legion|language=en}} The National Service of Remembrance is held in London on Remembrance Sunday.{{Cite web|title=Remembrance Sunday {{!}} Remembrance Events {{!}} Royal British Legion|url=https://www.britishlegion.org.uk/get-involved/remembrance/remembrance-events/remembrance-sunday|access-date=2021-07-21|website=The Royal British Legion|date=13 February 2019|language=en}}
In the United States, Veterans Day honors American veterans, both living and deceased. The official day of national remembrance of those killed in action is Memorial Day, which predates World War I. Some, including American novelist Kurt Vonnegut and American Veteran For Peace Rory Fanning, have urged Americans to resume observation of 11 November as Armistice Day, a day to reflect on how we can achieve peace as it was originally observed.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/11/us-observe-armistice-day-more-comfortable-war-than-peace|title=Why doesn't the US observe Armistice Day? We're more comfortable with war than peace|last=Fanning|first=Rory|website=The Guardian|date=11 November 2014|access-date=18 November 2018}}
File:Parejas presidenciales de Francia y España, 2018.jpg
In France, the holiday may also be known as Remembrance Day (Jour du Souvenir). In Belgium, it remains Armistice Day (Jour de l'Armistice).{{cite web|url=https://publicholidays.be/armistice-day/|title=Public holidays global: Armistice Day|access-date=18 November 2018}}
The day has been a public holiday in Serbia since 2012. The Serbian forces suffered the largest casualty rate in World War I. To commemorate their victims, people in Serbia wear Natalie's ramonda as a symbol of remembrance.{{cite web|url=https://www.b92.net/eng/news/society.php?yyyy=2012&mm=11&dd=09&nav_id=83083|title=Serbia to mark Armistice Day as state holiday|date=9 November 2012|access-date=18 November 2018}}
In Poland, 11 November is observed as National Independence Day, a public holiday to commemorate the anniversary of the restoration of Poland's sovereignty as the Second Polish Republic in 1918, after 123 years of partition by the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia and the Habsburg Empire.Dziennik Ustaw [http://prawo.sejm.gov.pl/isap.nsf/DocDetails.xsp?id=WDU19370330255 1937 No. 33 position 255]{{Dead link|date=October 2022|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}, [http://prawo.sejm.gov.pl/isap.nsf/DocDetails.xsp?id=WDU19890060034 1989 No. 6 position 34] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227080959/http://isap.sejm.gov.pl/isap.nsf/DocDetails.xsp?id=WDU19370330255|date=27 February 2021}}
In Romania, Armistice Day is observed as Veterans' Day or Combat Theater Veterans Day, the day also signifies the death of the first Romanian soldier in the Afghanistan war on 11 November 2003.{{cite web|url=https://www.defense.ro/11-noiembrie-ziua-veteranilor-din-teatrele-de-operatii|title=11 noiembrie - Ziua Veteranilor din Teatrele de Operații|language=ro|work=defense.ro|date=2023-11-11}} Since 2015, the Romanian peony is used to pay tribute to the Romanian soldiers who died on the battlefield.{{cite web|url=https://www.rri.ro/en_gb/the_romanian_peony-2662607|title=The Romanian peony|work=Radio Romania International|author=Ana-Maria Cononovici|date=2022-08-09}}
Ceremonies are held in Kenya over the weekend two weeks after Armistice Day. This is because news of the armistice only reached today's Zambia (the then Northern Rhodesia) about a fortnight later, where the German and British commanders then had to agree on the protocols for their own armistice ceremony.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-46329241|title=Where World War One finally ended|access-date=26 November 2018|archive-date=26 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181126003302/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-46329241|date=25 November 2018 |url-status=live}}
On 11 November 2018, the centenary of the Armistice, commemorations were held globally. In France, more than 60 heads of state and government gathered at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.{{cite news |last=Addley |first=Esther |date=12 November 2018 |title=People gather around world to mark armistice centenary |newspaper=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/11/armistice-day-people-gather-around-world-mark-centenary |access-date=18 November 2018}}
See also
Footnotes
{{reflist|group=Note}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- Dalisson, Rémi: [https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/remembrance_day_11_november_1922-today_france Remembrance day: 11 November 1922–Today (France)] in: International Encyclopedia of the First World War.
- Bedworth Armistice Day https://bedwortharmisticeday.org/ The largest and most famous Armistice Day Parade in Britain.
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Category:Aftermath of World War I
Category:Observances honoring victims of war