Centenary of the Armistice of 11 November 1918


The centenary of the Armistice of 11 November 1918 was an international series of events marking the 100th anniversary in 2018 of the armistice which ended World War I. It marked the end of the wider series of commemorations of the First World War centenary which began in 2014.
On the day of the centenary, numerous events took place in conjunction with the concurrent annual memorial days of Armistice Day, Remembrance Day and Veterans Day, and as part of commissions established for the purposes of marking the four year centenary of the war. In France, president Emmanuel Macron led an international ceremony in Paris which attracted many world leaders, in addition to the first Paris Peace Forum. Commemorations in the United Kingdom included a service of thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey and a visit by German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Other military ceremonies and events were organised elsewhere, including in key members of the Commonwealth which participated in the war, and across the world.

Background

The Armistice of 11 November 1918 was signed near the French town of Compiègne, between the Allied Powers and Germany—represented by Supreme Allied Commander Ferdinand Foch and civilian politician Matthias Erzberger respectively—with capitulations having already been made separately by Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary. The agreements made by both sides included the cessation of all land and air hostilities on the Western Front. It was agreed upon at 5am and came into effect later that morning at 11am.
Formal peace negotiations only took place during the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 and 1920. With three extensions to the armistice having already been made, a state of peace was ratified with a series of treaties between the Allies and the former Central Powers, beginning with the Treaty of Versailles on 10 January 1920.
Following the end of the war, 11 November was designated a memorial day initially dedicated to the anniversary of the armistice and the military dead of World War I, known as Armistice Day. The first such observance took place in 1919. Following World War II, it was renamed under different titles in several countries.
In the years leading up to the First World War centenary covering the period from 2014 to 2018, several national governments drafted plans to host commemorative events, beginning with the anniversary of the outbreak of World War I and also marking key dates of the war such as the Gallipoli campaign in 2015 and the battles of Verdun and the Somme in 2016.

Planning

France

In 2017, the Bank of France announced it would release a 2 euro commemorative coin depicting the bleuet de France, the country's main war remembrance symbol, in light of the centenary the following year.
The official schedule of events was revealed on 18 September 2018, during a press conference hosted by education minister Jean-Michel Blanquer and Geneviève Darrieussecq, secretary of state to the Minister of the Armed Forces. It included an international ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe followed by the inaugural edition of the newly founded Paris Peace Forum, plans which were already mentioned by French President Emmanuel Macron in a speech published in July. The government's Mission Centenaire committee was responsible for the organisation of the events.

United Kingdom

The government of the United Kingdom announced that it would allocate a £19 million package to mark the centenary, with an additional £10 million being added to the annual budget made to the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust, while individual local events were coordinated by the Imperial War Museum. The BBC planned a week-long series of dedicated programming across its platforms, as part of its World War I centenary season. The government of the Isle of Man also released a series of commemorative coins in advance of the centenary.

United States

President Donald Trump proposed that a military parade at the Capitol be held on 10 November to mark the centenary, in admiration of France's Bastille Day military parade. However, Trump cancelled the proposed event in August 2018 over cost concerns, with estimates that the parade would have cost as much as US$92 million.

Centenary in France

Timeline

On 4 November 2018, Macron and his spouse Brigitte Macron hosted German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier at the Strasbourg Cathedral. Following a military ceremony, they attended a concert inside, conducted by the orchestra of the Académie supérieure de Strasbourg. The flags of France, the European Union and Germany were hoisted outside the cathedral.
Macron announced on 6 November that writer Maurice Genevoix, author of numerous books on the First World War, would be posthumously listed on the Panthéon in 2019, alongside fourteen other French civilians and soldiers who participated in World War I. In Reims, he and Malian president Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta opened a memorial for fallen colonial soldiers.
Throughout the course of the week leading up to the centenary, Macron visited symbolic Western Front locations across eleven departments in the north and east of the country. The visits were subjected to anger from local voters over what the Financial Times described as his "perceived metropolitan disregard for their pocketbook concerns."
On 10 November, invited international guests to the Arc de Triomphe ceremony, including German chancellor Angela Merkel, began arriving in Paris. Around 10,000 police officers, gendarmes and soldiers were placed on duty in the lead up to the events. Merkel visited the Glade of the Armistice at Compiègne alongside Macron, where they laid a wreath, unveiled a plaque dedicated to Franco-German reconciliation and signed a book of remembrance in a replica of the railway carriage where the armistice was signed. The visit was symbolic as it marked the first time that French and German leaders had visited the site since 1945. An official reception dinner for invited guests took place in the evening at the Musée d'Orsay.
Beginning from 09:00 on 11 November, Macron received guests for the international ceremony at the Élysée Palace. At 11:00, church bells across metropolitan and overseas France rang simultaneously, marking the moment the armistice took effect a century earlier. The ceremony began at 11:19 after dignitaries gathered at the Arc de Triomphe, following a presidential inspection of troops, a roll call of French soldiers killed in the preceding year and an army choir rendition of the French national anthem. It included a performance by cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who played the sarabande from Bach's Suite No. 5 in C minor, followed by the second movement of Ravel's Sonata for Violin and Cello with French violinist Renaud Capuçon. Testimonies from witnesses to the armistice were intermittently read out by a group of teenage students. Beninese musician Angélique Kidjo sang a variation of the song Blewu by Bella Bellow, paying tribute to colonial troops. Macron then delivered a keynote speech in which he denounced nationalism as a "betrayal of patriotism", and warned of the resurgence of "old demons". The European Union Youth Orchestra followed with a performance of Ravel's Bolero. The ceremony ended with a rekindling of the Tomb to the Unknown Soldier, where Macron also laid a wreath, the "Sonnerie aux morts" and a moment of silence culminating in the "Cessez-le-feu" bugle call. All international guests were invited immediately afterward to a luncheon at the Élysée Palace, with their consorts gathering at the Palace of Versailles.
The inaugural Paris Peace Forum was opened at the Grande halle de la Villette in the afternoon, with Macron, Merkel and United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres giving remarks at its plenary session. US president Donald Trump did not attend, instead visiting the Suresnes American Cemetery and Memorial as the forum took place, where he made an address before returning to the United States.
Also on 11 November, the European Broadcasting Union organised a concert at the Royal Opera of Versailles with performances by the Vienna Philharmonic, entitled the "Concert for Peace." During a concert in La Force, Dordogne, violinist Pierre Hamel from the Colonne Orchestra performed using a metal violin assembled by soldiers in the trenches. A series of religious memorial services were organised for the day, including an international mass at Notre-Dame de Paris, conducted by Archbishop Michel Aupetit.

Controversies

Philippe Pétain

In October 2018, it was reported that tributes to war marshals at the Hôtel des Invalides would include one to Philippe Pétain, who served in the Battle of Verdun and later headed Nazi-aligned Vichy France. This led to criticism from French Jews, the opposition and on social media. In response, the office of the Élysée said it was not part of their official schedule and did not understand how Pétain "ended up" on the list. Macron himself described Pétain as a "great soldier", while remarking that he made "disastrous choices" during the Nazi occupation of France. The planned tribute was eventually withdrawn.

Placement of Serbian delegation

Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić was positioned away from the frontline seating areas in an area reserved for representatives of countries which were on the opposing side in the war or did not exist as separate states at the time. Serbia fought on the Allied side during the war, with the Army winning a crucial victory on the Salonica front, and Serbia's success had a pivotal role in forcing both Austria-Hungary and [Tsardom of Tsardom of Bulgaria (1908–1946)|Bulgaria (1908–1946)|Bulgaria] out of the war. Serbia lost over a quarter of its pre-war population, most of whom were civilians, which makes it the country with the largest losses in comparison to population numbers. In addition, the country has a long historical friendship with France. Therefore, Vučić's seating arrangement and the seating of the presidents of neighboring Croatia and Kosovo on the same side as French president Emmanuel Macron led to anger from a large number of Serbs, who saw this as a great humiliation and a sign of disrespect for the Serbian victims of the war. The handling of the incident was also criticized in the French media, with Jean-Christophe Buisson of Le Figaro commenting that Serbia was unjustly humiliated.
A day later, the Monument of Gratitude to France in Belgrade's Kalemegdan Park was vandalized, with black X marks sprayed over the inscriptions on the monument. The vandalizing graffiti was later removed, and members of the city communal police patrolled the area for a few days. In addition, there were calls to rename streets in Belgrade named after France and Paris. The French ambassador to Serbia, Frédéric Mondoloni, later publicly apologized on television over the incident.

Trump's cancelled visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial

A planned visit by Trump to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial, scheduled for 10 November, was cancelled due to what the White House described as "bad weather". The decision was met with criticism, particularly from Ben Rhodes, a former national security advisor in the Obama administration; British Conservative politician Nicholas Soames, a grandson of Winston Churchill; and former secretary of state John Kerry. According to a 2020 article by The Atlantic, Trump had refused to attend and also described the cemetery as being "filled with losers". After the article was published, he called it "fake news".

Femen protests

Three Femen members staged a protest at the Arc de Triomphe on the morning of 10 November welcoming "war criminals", and were arrested by French police. In a later statement, the feminist activist group listed Trump, Russian president Vladimir Putin, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as examples of this description, along with Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, who was not invited. Femen also claimed responsibility for an incident on the day of the ceremony in which the motorcade carrying Trump passed by a topless woman who ran towards it and was then dragged out by French police. Anti-Trump demonstrations were held at the Place de la République during his visit.

Dignitaries

Over 120 foreign dignitaries attended the commemorations in Paris, including 72 heads of state and government and representatives of several international organisations. The French presidential office said it had invited representatives only from countries "which sent troops or workers to the European theaters of war".
On the eve of the centenary, Macron held a bilateral meeting with Trump at the Élysée Palace, which took place a day after Trump criticised European defence expenditures within NATO in response to Macron's suggestions for a continental European army. A similar meeting was planned between Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin, but it was ultimately scrapped due to the forthcoming G20 Buenos Aires summit. Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada, participated in separate commemorations at the Canadian National Vimy Memorial in northern France. Due to security concerns, Trump, Putin and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu opted to use their own motorcades for the Arc de Triomphe ceremony, ultimately turning up late to the venue.
; France
; Other countries
The following leaders travelled to Paris but only attended the Musée d'Orsay reception dinner:
; International organisations

Centenary in the United Kingdom

Beginning on 5 November 2018, 10,000 torches were lit in the moat of the Tower of London, in an artistic exhibition entitled Beyond the Deepening Shadow which would repeat nightly until 11 November. The Shrouds of the Somme, designed by artist Rob Heard and comprising 72,396 shrouded figures representing all servicemen from the British Commonwealth with no known grave, was laid out at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, being on display from 8 to 18 November 2018.
On 9 November 2018, Prime Minister Theresa May visited the Thiepval Memorial in northern France and the St Symphorien Military Cemetery in Belgium, laying wreaths at the graves of [John Parr (British Serbian Army|Army soldier)|John Parr] and George Edwin Ellison, respectively the first and last British soldiers killed during the war. The wreaths were engraved with handwritten messages from May, invoking wartime poems to express gratitude to the dead for being "staunch to the end".
On 10 November 2018, Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the royal family attended the annual Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall in London, which included performances by Sir Tom Jones and Sheridan Smith.
As Remembrance Sunday in 2018 fell on 11 November, the National Service of Remembrance was held concurrently with other commemorative events in Europe. The service at the Cenotaph in London began at 11 am, with a two-minute silence being observed, after which the Prince of Wales then laid the first wreath on behalf of the Queen. Thousands were able to pay respect to relatives and soldiers killed in the war during a march past the memorial. Despite ongoing renovations, the Big Ben rang eleven times at 12:30 GMT. German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier was invited to attend as a special guest, becoming the first German representative to lay a wreath at the Cenotaph. The invitation was reportedly planned as early as September 2018. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport described his presence as "a symbol of the friendship that exists between the two countries today". A memorial service was held in the evening at Westminster Abbey, which was attended by members of the royal family and Prime Minister Theresa May. During the service, Steinmeier read out a passage from 1 St John 4:7–11 in German.
Similar events were held across the United Kingdom's constituent countries and Crown Dependencies. In Scotland, Princess Anne attended a service at Glasgow Cathedral, while First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and other officials laid wreaths.

Centenary in the wider Commonwealth

Commemorations took place in Canada to mark Remembrance Day. The annual service at the National War Memorial was attended by Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, representing the Government, and Governor General Julie Payette.
In Australia, a Remembrance Day service was held at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, alongside a national minute of silence in remembrance of Australian soldiers who fought and died in overseas conflicts. Prime Minister Scott Morrison addressed a crowd of more than 12,000 attending the ceremony. An extension of the Anzac Memorial in Sydney was opened to the public for the occasion. In addition, over a thousand people attended a commemoration at the Australian National Memorial in the French town of Villers-Bretonneux.
In New Zealand, a national service took place at the Pukeahu National War Memorial Park in Wellington, which was organised as part of the wider New Zealand WW100 commemorations. A 100-gun salute was held at the Wellington waterfront, and two minutes of silence were observed at 11 am, followed by a cacophony of noise replicating how the public initially reacted to the news of the armistice a century prior. Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern gave speeches at the event.
Memorial services were held across South Africa, including a ceremony at the Union Buildings in Pretoria and the annual National Civic Remembrance Service in Johannesburg.
In India, a memorial service was held at the Delhi War Cemetery, where Indian and British delegates laid wreaths. Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat led the British delegation and was joined by Sir Dominic Asquith, British High Commissioner to India, and defence attaché Brigadier Mark Goldsack. In a series of tweets, Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tribute to Indian troops and pledged to "further an atmosphere of harmony and brotherhood".
In Ghana, a luncheon was organised by the British High Commission and the Ghanaian government on the occasion of Remembrance Day. On the same day, president Nana Akufo-Addo and a group of ex-servicemen observed a two-minute silence. Earlier, Akufo-Addo participated in a wreath-laying ceremony on 2 November at the Christiansborg War Cemetery in Accra, along with Prince Charles, his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, and Prince Edward, who were touring the country at the time.
Ceremonies in Kenya and Zambia were scheduled for 25 November 2018; German forces fighting in Northern Rhodesia only received news of the armistice on 14 November 1918, three days after it had already came into effect, and eventually surrendered later that month. In Voi, the Commonwealth War Cemetery hosted a small ceremony, which was attended by British and German diplomats; a Kenyan army bugler played the Last Post during the ceremony, and wreaths were laid by a Kenyan general and some local and international visitors. The Zambian government sponsored a centenary event in the town of Mbala organised by the national tourism agency, saying that attraction to the region would unlock the "tourism and investment potential of Northern Province".

Other locations

In addition to the locations listed below, memorial services also took place in Myanmar and Russia.

Belgium

National commemorations were held in the capital of Brussels. In an address, King Philippe pledged to keep "the memory of those who sacrificed themselves for us and the values for which they fought", and to "engage together in building a world of peace." A dove and 11 pigeons were released during the memorial service. In Ypres, a series of tributes to Commonwealth veterans was attended by the minister-president of Flanders, Geert Bourgeois. The Last Post, traditionally performed nightly at the Menin Gate since 1928, was additionally played at 11 am to mark the centenary.
Celebrations were held in Mons marking the anniversary of Canadian troops taking over the city from the Germans. The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada led a recreated 1918 parade through the city.

Germany

In Germany, public memorisation was muted, due to evoking the defeat of the German Empire and the chronology of events resulting from the aftermath of the war. Some private events were organised, including a religious service at the Berlin Cathedral, and an exhibition showcasing works by 31 international artists, each representing countries involved in WWI peace negotiations.

Hong Kong

The Hong Kong and China branch of the Royal British Legion and the Hong Kong Veterans Federation organised a public wreath-laying ceremony at the Cenotaph, which was attended by local dignitaries, international envoys, veterans, and representatives of religious groups and youth uniform teams. A two-minute silence was observed at 11 am.

Hungary

On 16 October 2018, the Hungarian National Bank released a series of commemorative collector coins, which included a silver variant with a face value of 10,000 HUF and a non-ferrous metal variant with a fifth of the face value.

Ireland

A service was held at Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin on 11 November. It was attended by president Michael D. Higgins, on the same day of his scheduled inauguration for a second term, along with representatives of at least 47 countries. The Last Post was played during the ceremony.

Italy

On 4 November 2018, Italian president Sergio Mattarella and key political figures attended a National Unity and Armed Forces Day ceremony in Trieste marking the centenary of the armistice of Villa Giusti with Austria-Hungary. In a speech, Mattarella described the European Union as the "highest expression of a commitment to common good" to prevent future conflicts, and highlighted the history of antisemitism in the region.

Luxembourg

A ceremony was held at the Gëlle Fra monument in the capital during the late afternoon of 11 November, in the presence of Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, as well as prime minister Xavier Bettel, who also paid tribute to war casualties.

Poland

The date of 11 November 2018 coincided with festivities marking the centenary of the foundation of the Second Polish Republic. Prominent politicians, including president Andrzej Duda and former prime minister Donald Tusk, attended ceremonies honouring Józef Piłsudski, the founding father of the Second Polish Republic. Many marched in the capital of Warsaw, with one led by Duda, prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki and leader of the ruling Law and Justice party Jarosław Kaczyński. The annual Independence March, organised by nationalist and far-right groups and which coincided with the other marches of the day, was initially banned by Warsaw mayor Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz; the ban was later overturned by a local court.

Romania

Army officers, ambassadors and other guests laid wreaths during a ceremony at a local war memorial.

United States

On Veterans Day, the National World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri hosted a ceremony in which participants and relatives of WWI veterans tolled a "bell of peace" and laid wreaths in memory of those killed in the war. The Washington National Cathedral held a commemorative service, and a gathering took place at the District of Columbia War Memorial.

Vatican City

In remarks made during a weekly Angelus address, Pope Francis appealed for a rejection of a "culture of war", quoting Benedict XV, who served as pope during the majority of the First World War, and reflecting on the occasion of St. Martin's Day, which also fell on 11 November. The bells at St. Peter's Basilica were tolled in the afternoon in unison with other church bells across Europe.

Works cited

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