Rapid-Fire History: WWI Armistice Centenary - Lest We Forget
On this day 100 years ago, the guns of the First World War finally fell silent. At the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, the Armistice of Compiègne between the Allies and Germany went into effect, bringing the Great War to an end. Four years of horrifying combat claimed the lives of some 8.5 million soldiers and left around 20 million severely wounded. Among the principal participants, Great Britain and the British Commonwealth nations, France, Russia, Germany, and Austria-Hungary, each side lost nearly a million lives or more. The United States suffered around 116,516 killed, and while America entered the war late, the commitment of American manpower and resources helped break the stalemate and propelled the Allies toward victory. For the soldiers across every nation who survived the grueling trenches and endured poison gas attacks and endless artillery bombardments, many would be forced to live with a shattered mind for the rest of their lives. Lest we forget the soldiers of the Great War, the new world they forged, and the old world that so many tragically left behind.
Sources
Australian War Memorial: The Armistice of 1918.
Encyclopædia Britannica: World War I - Killed, Wounded, and Missing.
History.com: World War I Ends.
The New York Times: The War to End All Wars? Hardly. But It Did Change Them Forever.