November 11, 1918: The Armistice Ends World War I

November 11, 1918: At the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, an armistice was declared, ending what was then called "The Great War," or "The World War," and nicknamed "The War to End All Wars."

It wasn't, of course. Over the next 4 years, there would be, or already were, wars of independence going on in Ireland, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia; wars fought by Poland against both Russia and Ukraine; and civil wars in Germany, Russia, Finland, Turkey and Ireland.

And then, in 1936, there was the Spanish Civil War, in which Germany and Italy aided their fellow fascists in taking over Spain. And when the fascists weren't stopped, it meant that this war was a warmup: There would be a World War II.

The German Empire, as a country, was on the verge of collapse. The Army was besieged with several mutinies. Civilians were starving. On November 9, Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated his throne, and fled to the neutral Netherlands. (November 9 has become "Germany's Day of Destiny": In the years to come, on that date would came the Beer Hall Putsch in 1923, Kristallnacht in 1938, and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.)

The Armistice was signed in a train car in Compiègne, France. The site is now known as the Glade of the Armistice. When the Nazis conquered France's Third Republic in World War II, which the Second Reich couldn't do in World War I, Adolf Hitler had the original train car found, brought back from Paris to the same location, and had the surrender signed in it. Then it was brought back to Berlin, put on display in a museum, and later destroyed in an Allied air raid. A replica now stands in the Glade.

The Republic of Poland was also founded on the day of the Armistice, with Russia having withdrawn, and the Germans having retreated from their formerly occupied territories. For the first time since the Third Partition in 1795, there was a country named Poland, not just a "Duchy of Poland" or a "Congress Poland." I have a separate entry for this event.

My father served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, though not in Vietnam itself. Both of my grandfathers served in World War II, one in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, the other with George S. Patton's 3rd Army in North Africa and Italy. I have no information about any of my 4 great-grandfathers in World War I, but I do know that, while all 4 were already in America at the time that it broke out on August 1, 1914, only 1 of them was both American-born and then of draft age. (Another was of draft age but not a U.S. citizen, and the other 2 were too old to be drafted.)

The last surviving American veteran of World War I was Army Corporal Frank Buckles of Walker, Missouri, who ended up serving in World War II, and becoming a prisoner of war. He lived until February 27, 2011, at age 110.

The last surviving veteran of any country was Florence Green of North London, a nurse in the Women's Royal Air Force, who lived until February 4, 2012, 95 years after the war's end.

Ever since the Armistice, every 11th of November, at 11:00 AM, London time, the British monarch, or another member of the royal family, has laid a wreath at the Cenotaph, near the Houses of Parliament in Westminster.

Every British soccer team, in their home game nearest but not after November 11, holds a minute's silence before kickoff. And everyone in the stadium honors it. Every player wears an emblem of a red poppy on their shirt, although some -- particularly players from Ireland, whose homeland was fighting a separate war for independence against their British colonizers at the time -- have controversially refused.

For many years, North London's Arsenal traveled to France, hit harder by the war than Britain was, and played a "friendly" against Racing Club Paris, which is no longer a major team. On November 11, 2011, the U.S. national team played France at the Stade de France in Paris, and lost 1-0.

In America, the tradition is for the President of the United States to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. Unless, of course, there is an anniversary commemoration in Paris, in which case, the President of France invites him to come and participate.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

-- Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, Canadian Expeditionary Force, M.D., May 3, 1915. He died -- not from combat injuries, but from meningitis, caught from one of his patients -- on January 28, 1918, 10 months before the war's end, at Boulogne-sur-Mer, France. He was 45 years old.

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November 11, 1918 was a Monday. Baseball season was over. There was no NBA yet. The NHL season wouldn't start for another month. And there was no Monday Night Football, or even an NFL, back then. So there were no scores on this historic day.

The prominent people born on this day include comedian Stubby Kaye; Alabama politician and civil rights attorney Richmond Flowers; and Louise Tobin, a jazz singer, known for singing with the Benny Goodman Orchestra. Her hits included "I Didn't Know What Time It Was" and "There'll Be Some Changes Made." Once married to another bandleader, Harry James, she turns 104 on November 11, 2022. (UPDATE: She died on November 26, 2022.)