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At the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 bugles across Europe sounded the end of a 10 million dead soldiers. Hopes for a ceasefire. At last, it came: at 11 am on November 11, 1918, amidst the mud and fallen leaves of a European winter, World War I was over.
Here is an overview of the final days of the Great War. 19659003] Berlin calls for talks
On October 3, Germany's Emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II, joined as Chancellor Prince Max of Baden who has long advocated a negotiated peace with Britain, France and the United States. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson to call for talks. The Allies asked Germany's unconditional surrender and the Kaiser's abdication. Pressure builds on Berlin. German forces, their spring offensive long exhausted, are beating a disorderly retreat. On November 3, German ally Austria-Hungary capitulates and signs an armistice.
German negotiators enter France
Tensions mount in Germany as naval forces mutiny at Kiel and a general strike is called on November 5. French officers, meanwhile, German diplomats in Allied territory. On November 7, at 8.30 pm, a ceasefire is sounded at La Capelle in northern France, near the border of Belgium. It is the first in more than 50 months of war and allows the German delegation, led by Minister of State Matthias Erzberger, to cross into an Allied area. The diplomats take a train to a secluded forest clearing near Compiegne to meet Allied forces commander General Ferdinand Foch
Kaiser abdicates
Gen. Foch receives the German delegates at 9 am on November 8 in a train parked in a railway siding in the forest. He asks if they are ready for an armistice. An help reads out a list of terms fixed by the Allies at Versailles. At the request of the delegation, a messenger is sent to German forces Marshal Paul von Hindenburg in Belgium for his authorization to sign an armistice. By the time the envoy arrives, on November 9, the kaiser has abdicated, with the German Revolution under way.
Armistice signed
Night has fallen on the forest clearing the messenger returns, on November 10, with the commander's permission. Negotiations resume. For the more Germans argue, clause by clause. Eventually there is a final version: by 5.20 a.m. on November 11, the armistice ending a war started in the woods. The news reaches the troops quickly, and is received with disbelief. Some commanders decide to continue fighting to the bitter end; others will not risk any further lives. On the stroke of 11 a.m. the ceasefire agreed on the limits of stretching across Europe. A group of photographs taken on November 11, 1918 of the signatories of the Armistice treaty between the Allies and Germany: German Matthias Erzberger, the Count Alfred von Oberndorff, British Captain Ernst Vanselow, First Sea Lord Admiral Rosslyn Wemyss, the British representative, French general Maxime Weygand, Gen. Foch's Chief of staff (first row, second left) and Marshal Ferdinand Foch, the Allied supreme commander (first row, second right) in Compiegne Forest, at Rethondes, which marked the end of the World War I on the Western Front. = "A group photo taken on November 11, 1918 of the Signatories of the Armistice treaty between the Allies and Germany: German Matthias Erzberger, Count Alfred von Oberndorff, British Captain Ernst Vanselow, First Sea Lord Admiral Rosslyn Wemyss, British Representative, French general Maxime Weygand, Gen. Foch's Chief of staff (first row, second left) and Marshal Ferdinand Foch, the Allied supreme commander (first row, second right) in Compiegne Forest, at Rethondes, which marked the end of the World War I on the Western Front. = "media-object adaptive placeholder" />
A group photo taken on November 11, 1918 of the signatories of the Armistice treaty between the Allies and Germany: German Matthias Erzberger, the Count Alfred von Oberndorff, British Captain Ernst Vanselow, First Sea Lord Admiral Rosslyn Wemyss, the British representative , French general Maxime Weygand, Gen. Foch's Chief of staff (first row, second left) and Marshal Ferdinand Foch, the Allied supreme commander (first row, second right) in Compiegne Forest, at Rethondes, which marked the end of the World War I on the Western Front.
| Credit Photo:
AFP
