Armistice of 11 November 1918: The End of Fighting in WWI

The Armistice of 11 November 1918 ended the fighting of the First World War on the Western Front. It was signed by Allied and German representatives in a railway carriage in the Forest of Compiegne in the early hours of that morning, and the guns fell silent at 11 am. Although it was only a ceasefire, Germany’s acceptance of harsh terms meant the war was effectively over, and the date became a day of remembrance across much of the world.

Background: Germany’s collapse in 1918

At the start of 1918 Germany still hoped to win. Russia had left the war, and the German Spring Offensive of March to July drove deep into Allied lines. But the offensives exhausted the German army, while American troops arrived in France at a rate of about 250,000 a month.

From 8 August the Allies struck back in the Hundred Days Offensive, breaking the Hindenburg Line by early October. At the same time Germany’s allies collapsed one after another: Bulgaria signed an armistice on 29 September, the Ottoman Empire at Mudros on 30 October, and Austria-Hungary at Villa Giusti on 3 November.

On 29 September 1918 the German supreme command, led by Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff, told the Kaiser that an armistice was needed urgently. A new government under Prince Max of Baden approached President Woodrow Wilson in early October, asking for peace on the basis of his Fourteen Points. Weeks of diplomatic notes followed, while fighting continued. Wilson made clear that he would deal only with a government that truly represented the German people, which helped push Germany towards constitutional reform in October.

Revolution in Germany

By early November Germany itself was in turmoil. Sailors at Wilhelmshaven and Kiel refused orders to put to sea for a final battle, and the Kiel mutiny of 3 November spread into a revolution across German cities. Workers’ and soldiers’ councils took control in many places.

On 9 November Prince Max announced the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II, and the Social Democrat Philipp Scheidemann proclaimed a republic from a balcony of the Reichstag in Berlin. The Kaiser crossed into the neutral Netherlands on 10 November. The armistice delegation therefore negotiated on behalf of a government that was changing beneath its feet.

The negotiations in the Forest of Compiegne

The German delegation was led by Matthias Erzberger, a Catholic Centre Party politician, with the diplomat Count Alfred von Oberndorff, Major General Detlof von Winterfeldt and Captain Ernst Vanselow of the navy. They crossed the front lines on the evening of 7 November and were taken by train to a clearing near Rethondes, in the Forest of Compiegne.

On the morning of 8 November they were received in his railway carriage by Marshal Ferdinand Foch, the Allied supreme commander, accompanied by his chief of staff General Maxime Weygand and the British First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Rosslyn Wemyss. Foch read out the Allied conditions and gave the Germans 72 hours to accept. There was no real negotiation: the Germans won only minor changes, such as a longer period for evacuation and fewer machine guns to hand over.

Erzberger warned that continuing the blockade and taking away so much transport would cause famine in Germany, and he asked for an immediate ceasefire while the talks continued. Foch refused. A German courier had to cross the front lines to carry the terms to army headquarters at Spa in Belgium, and replies came back by radio.

After instructions arrived from Berlin authorising signature, the document was signed at about 5 am on 11 November, Paris time. It was agreed that the ceasefire would take effect at 11 am, allowing time for the news to reach the front.

The terms of the Armistice

The Armistice was deliberately designed to make it impossible for Germany to resume the war. Its 34 articles included:

• Evacuation within 15 days of all occupied territory in Belgium, France and Luxembourg, and of Alsace-Lorraine.
• Allied occupation of the left (west) bank of the Rhine, with bridgeheads at Mainz, Koblenz and Cologne.
• Surrender of large quantities of war material, including 5,000 artillery pieces, 25,000 machine guns, 1,700 aircraft, 5,000 locomotives and 150,000 railway wagons.
• Surrender of all submarines and internment of the main surface fleet, which was later held at Scapa Flow.
• Renunciation of the Treaties of Brest-Litovsk and Bucharest, imposed on Russia and Romania earlier in 1918.
• Release of Allied prisoners of war without reciprocity, while the Allied naval blockade of Germany continued.

The Armistice ran for 36 days and was then extended three times. It remained in force until the Treaty of Versailles came into effect on 10 January 1920.

The last day of the war

News of the signing reached commanders in the early morning, but many units kept fighting until the last minute. Some generals ordered attacks to take ground or cross rivers before the deadline, decisions that were criticised in Britain and the United States after the war. In 1919 a committee of the US Congress examined why American commanders had ordered attacks on the final morning, but no one was punished.

Commonly cited estimates put total casualties on all sides on 11 November 1918 at around 11,000, of whom more than 2,700 were killed. The American soldier Henry Gunther is often described as the last soldier killed in the war, at 10:59 am; the Canadian George Lawrence Price was killed at about 10:58, and the British private George Ellison, killed that morning near Mons, was among the last British dead. In Mons, where the British had first fought in August 1914, Canadian troops entered the town on the final morning.

At 11 am the firing stopped. Soldiers’ accounts describe an eerie silence, followed in places by cheering, singing and men from both sides climbing out of their trenches. In Paris, London, New York and many other cities, huge crowds celebrated in the streets.

Key people

• Ferdinand Foch (1851-1929): French marshal and Allied supreme commander from 1918, who dictated the terms in his carriage.
• Matthias Erzberger (1875-1921): head of the German delegation; he was later blamed by nationalists for the defeat and was assassinated in 1921.
• Rosslyn Wemyss (1864-1933): British First Sea Lord, who signed for Britain and insisted on the naval terms.
• Maxime Weygand (1867-1965): Foch’s chief of staff, who read the conditions aloud to the German delegation.

Myths and facts

• Myth: The German army was undefeated and “stabbed in the back” at home. Fact: This “stab-in-the-back” legend was spread by German nationalists after the war. In reality the army command itself demanded an armistice in late September 1918, after defeats in the field and the collapse of Germany’s allies.
• Myth: The Armistice ended the First World War. Fact: It ended the fighting on the Western Front; peace treaties with Germany and its allies were signed in 1919 and 1920, and fighting continued in places such as Russia and the Middle East.
• Myth: No one died after the Armistice was signed. Fact: Thousands were killed or wounded in the six hours between the signing and 11 am.

Legacy: Armistice Day and Remembrance

On 11 November 1919 King George V called for a two-minute silence at 11 am, and the custom spread across the British Empire. In 1920 the remains of an unidentified soldier were buried in Westminster Abbey on 11 November (see Burial of the Unknown Warrior), and a French unknown soldier was laid under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

The red poppy, inspired by John McCrae’s poem In Flanders Fields, became the symbol of remembrance, with the first British poppy appeal held in 1921. In Britain and the Commonwealth the day is now known as Remembrance Day, and Remembrance Sunday is observed on the nearest Sunday. In France and Belgium 11 November is a public holiday. In Canada and Australia it is observed as Remembrance Day, with ceremonies at war memorials across the country. In the United States Armistice Day became a federal holiday in 1938 and was renamed Veterans Day in 1954.

The railway carriage itself had a dark afterlife. It was displayed in a memorial at the clearing, but in June 1940 Adolf Hitler had it used for the French surrender after the fall of France, and then taken to Germany, where it was destroyed later in the war. A replica carriage now stands at the Glade of the Armistice.

Timeline

• 1918, 29 September: The German high command tells the Kaiser an armistice is needed; Bulgaria signs an armistice.
• 1918, 3-4 October: Prince Max of Baden’s government asks President Wilson for an armistice.
• 1918, 30 October: The Ottoman Empire signs the Armistice of Mudros.
• 1918, 3 November: Austria-Hungary signs an armistice; the Kiel mutiny begins.
• 1918, 8 November: The German delegation meets Foch in his railway carriage at Compiegne.
• 1918, 9 November: The Kaiser’s abdication is announced and a German republic is proclaimed.
• 1918, 11 November, about 5 am: The Armistice is signed.
• 1918, 11 November, 11 am: The ceasefire takes effect on the Western Front.
• 1920, 10 January: The Treaty of Versailles comes into force, replacing the Armistice.

Why it matters

The Armistice ended more than four years of fighting that had killed millions of soldiers and civilians. Its harsh terms disarmed Germany but also fed the resentment and myths that helped bring the Nazis to power. Each year, the two-minute silence at 11 am on 11 November keeps the memory of the war’s dead alive.