Armistice Day
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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<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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
[edit]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)<ref>Template:Royal Collection</ref> 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,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> which included a two-minute silence as a mark of respect for those who died in the war and those left behind.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref group="Note">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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref></ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The United States in 1954 changed the name to All Veterans Day, later shortened to 'Veterans Day'.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
21st century
[edit]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).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Both days are commemorated formally but are not public holidays.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The National Service of Remembrance is held in London on Remembrance Sunday.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In France, the holiday may also be known as Remembrance Day (Jour du Souvenir). In Belgium, it remains Armistice Day (Jour de l'Armistice).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref>Dziennik Ustaw 1937 No. 33 position 255Template:Dead link, 1989 No. 6 position 34 Template:Webarchive</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Since 2015, the Romanian peony is used to pay tribute to the Romanian soldiers who died on the battlefield.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
See also
[edit]Footnotes
[edit]References
[edit]External links
[edit]- Dalisson, Rémi: 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.