Many around the world are enjoying a day off work today.
It's a holiday here and nearly everywhere today. Armistice Day. Veteran's Day. Jour de l'Armistice. Wapenstilstand Dag. Waffenstillstand Tag.
On the 11th day of the 11th month at the 11th hour in the year 1918, WWI ended.
In case, like me, you don't know much about it, here's a very, very brief history of how it all happened . . .
World War I began on July 28, 1914, when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. This seemingly small conflict between two countries spread rapidly: soon, Germany, Russia, Great Britain, and France were all drawn into the war, largely because they were involved in treaties that obligated them to defend certain other nations.
The first month of combat consisted of bold attacks and rapid troop movements on both fronts. In the west, Germany attacked first Belgium and then France. In the east, Russia attacked both Germany and Austria-Hungary. In the south, Austria-Hungary attacked Serbia.
Late in 1914, the Ottoman Empire was brought into the fray as well, after Germany tricked Russia into thinking that Turkey had attacked it. As a result, much of 1915 was dominated by Allied actions against the Ottomans in the Mediterranean.
The middle part of the war, 1916 and 1917, was dominated by continued trench warfare in both the east and the west. Soldiers fought from dug-in positions, striking at each other with machine guns, heavy artillery, and chemical weapons. Though soldiers died by the millions in brutal conditions, neither side had any substantive success or gained any advantage.
Despite the stalemate on both fronts in Europe, two important developments in the war occurred in 1917. In early April, the United States, angered by attacks upon its ships in the Atlantic, declared war on Germany. Then, in November, the Bolshevik Revolution prompted Russia to pull out of the war.
Although both sides launched renewed offensives in 1918 in an all-or-nothing effort to win the war, both efforts failed.
The war ended in the late fall of 1918, after the member countries of the Central Powers signed armistice agreements one by one. Germany was the last, signing its armistice on November 11, 1918. Germany, under the Treaty of Versailles, was severely punished with hefty economic reparations, territorial losses, and strict limits on its rights to develop militarily.
Many historians, in hindsight, believe that the Allies were excessive in their punishment of Germany and that the harsh Treaty of Versailles actually planted the seeds of World War II, rather than foster peace. The treaty’s declaration that Germany was entirely to blame for the war was a blatant untruth that humiliated the German people. Furthermore, the treaty imposed steep war reparations payments on Germany, meant to force the country to bear the financial burden of the war. Although Germany ended up paying only a small percentage of the reparations it was supposed to make, it was already stretched financially thin by the war, and the additional economic burden caused enormous resentment. Ultimately, extremist groups, such as the Nazi Party, were able to exploit this humiliation and resentment and take political control of the country in the decades following. Source: SparkNotes
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Nearly 10 million soldiers and 9 million civilians lost their lives during this war.
I read recently that about two million visitors are expected to visit the WWI sites throughout Belgium in the next four years in memory of the 100th anniversary of this war. We have visited a few of them ourselves in the last four years.
And we've seen a lot of poppies since then too.
The poppy became a symbol of remembrance after battles in Flanders when the ground would be disturbed. Flanders is the part of Belgium we live in and today it's the northern half, but Flanders Fields in WWI were mostly in the west on the coast of the North Sea.
Poppies come up anywhere the ground has been disturbed, hence the reason they are associated with traditional battle. The ones we see today are usually due to construction or farming.
I remember as a kid, people would hand out fake poppies on Veteran's Day. Of course, I had no idea why and I'll bet a lot of you didn't either.
One important WWI memorial that we had the chance to visit a couple of years ago is the Menin Gate in Ypres, Belgium. It's a memorial to the missing . . .
Nearly every night since 1928, the Last Post is sounded at the Menin Gate for anyone who wants to listen.
It's a holiday here and nearly everywhere today. Armistice Day. Veteran's Day. Jour de l'Armistice. Wapenstilstand Dag. Waffenstillstand Tag.
On the 11th day of the 11th month at the 11th hour in the year 1918, WWI ended.
In case, like me, you don't know much about it, here's a very, very brief history of how it all happened . . .
World War I began on July 28, 1914, when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. This seemingly small conflict between two countries spread rapidly: soon, Germany, Russia, Great Britain, and France were all drawn into the war, largely because they were involved in treaties that obligated them to defend certain other nations.
The first month of combat consisted of bold attacks and rapid troop movements on both fronts. In the west, Germany attacked first Belgium and then France. In the east, Russia attacked both Germany and Austria-Hungary. In the south, Austria-Hungary attacked Serbia.
Late in 1914, the Ottoman Empire was brought into the fray as well, after Germany tricked Russia into thinking that Turkey had attacked it. As a result, much of 1915 was dominated by Allied actions against the Ottomans in the Mediterranean.
The middle part of the war, 1916 and 1917, was dominated by continued trench warfare in both the east and the west. Soldiers fought from dug-in positions, striking at each other with machine guns, heavy artillery, and chemical weapons. Though soldiers died by the millions in brutal conditions, neither side had any substantive success or gained any advantage.
Despite the stalemate on both fronts in Europe, two important developments in the war occurred in 1917. In early April, the United States, angered by attacks upon its ships in the Atlantic, declared war on Germany. Then, in November, the Bolshevik Revolution prompted Russia to pull out of the war.
Although both sides launched renewed offensives in 1918 in an all-or-nothing effort to win the war, both efforts failed.
The war ended in the late fall of 1918, after the member countries of the Central Powers signed armistice agreements one by one. Germany was the last, signing its armistice on November 11, 1918. Germany, under the Treaty of Versailles, was severely punished with hefty economic reparations, territorial losses, and strict limits on its rights to develop militarily.
Many historians, in hindsight, believe that the Allies were excessive in their punishment of Germany and that the harsh Treaty of Versailles actually planted the seeds of World War II, rather than foster peace. The treaty’s declaration that Germany was entirely to blame for the war was a blatant untruth that humiliated the German people. Furthermore, the treaty imposed steep war reparations payments on Germany, meant to force the country to bear the financial burden of the war. Although Germany ended up paying only a small percentage of the reparations it was supposed to make, it was already stretched financially thin by the war, and the additional economic burden caused enormous resentment. Ultimately, extremist groups, such as the Nazi Party, were able to exploit this humiliation and resentment and take political control of the country in the decades following. Source: SparkNotes
_________________________________________________________________________________
Nearly 10 million soldiers and 9 million civilians lost their lives during this war.
I read recently that about two million visitors are expected to visit the WWI sites throughout Belgium in the next four years in memory of the 100th anniversary of this war. We have visited a few of them ourselves in the last four years.
And we've seen a lot of poppies since then too.
The poppy became a symbol of remembrance after battles in Flanders when the ground would be disturbed. Flanders is the part of Belgium we live in and today it's the northern half, but Flanders Fields in WWI were mostly in the west on the coast of the North Sea.
Poppies come up anywhere the ground has been disturbed, hence the reason they are associated with traditional battle. The ones we see today are usually due to construction or farming.
I remember as a kid, people would hand out fake poppies on Veteran's Day. Of course, I had no idea why and I'll bet a lot of you didn't either.
One important WWI memorial that we had the chance to visit a couple of years ago is the Menin Gate in Ypres, Belgium. It's a memorial to the missing . . .
all 54,896 of them.
It's called the Menin Gate because it leads to the small town of Menen (Dutch spelling).
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