ARMISTICE NOVEMBER 11. This public holiday, France commemorates the signing of the 1918 Armistice between Germany and the Triple Entente. Ceremonies celebrate this symbolic date all day long.
This Monday, November 11, 2024, France commemorates the armistice of 1918. The signing of this document between Germany and the Triple Entente (France, Great Britain, United States) was a momentous event, marking the end of the First World War, also called “Great War”. This prelude to the Treaty of Versailles of 1919 allowed the suspension of the fighting which had raged for four years between the two camps.
Every year in Paris, the Élysée celebrates the armistice of 1918. Throughout France, this symbolic day is celebrated with a series of ceremonies paying tribute to the soldiers of the Great War, who died for France, among the some 30,000 war memorials built in French towns and villages.
On the occasion of 106e anniversary of the Armistice of November 11, 1918, the President of the Republic will wear the Cornflower of France in his buttonhole this Monday morning and will lay a wreath of tricolor flowers in front of the statue of Georges Clemenceau, President of the Council during the First World War. After walking up the Champs-Élysées, escorted by the Republican Guard, he will lay a second wreath in front of the tomb of Unknown Soldierunder the Arc de Triomphe, before rekindling the flame.
This symbolic day is also celebrated with a series of ceremonies paying tribute to the soldiers of the Great War, the “poilus” who died for France, at some 30,000 war memorials built in French towns and villages. At precisely 11 a.m. on November 11, commemorative bells ring in every village in France. This is the time when the Allied victory was announced. Two minutes of silence are then respected at the national level. The rest of the day is a new opportunity to follow in the footsteps of the Armistice of November 11, 1918:
The choice of the date of November 11 is not a coincidence: it is a “French” choice since this date falls right on that of the traditional feast of the patron saint of the Franks, St. Martin. The cannon therefore fell silent at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of the year 1918 on the front in the North-East of France… and therefore throughout Europe. The soldiers then come out of the trenches without fear but the festivities are inevitably mournful. From 11 a.m. on November 11, 1918, flocks of bells and bugle blasts announced the end of the fighting on the Western Front. They resound after four years of war which left France bloodless and 1,500,000 victims, most of them young. In total, the Great War left more than 8 million dead and wounded. At 4 p.m., at the Palais Bourbon, Clemenceau reads the armistice conditions. He also salutes Alsace and Lorraine while paying tribute to the Nation.
In 1919, the project of paying homage to an unknown soldier who died in the First War, an anonymous symbol of all the “Poilus”, was adopted by the French deputies. The following year, the unknown soldier who was to be transferred to Paris was designated by another soldier in Verdun, by placing a bouquet of flowers on one of the coffins. Subsequently, in 1920, Parliament unanimously passed the following law: “Article 1er : The honors of the Pantheon will be given to the remains of one of the unidentified soldiers who died on the field of honor during the 1914-1918 War. […]
Article 2: […] The remains of the Unknown Soldier will be buried under the Arc de Triomphe.” This will be done on January 28, 1921. On November 24, 1922, Parliament declared November 11 a “national holiday” with the name “Remembrance Day”. From then on, November 11 becomes a public holiday. On November 11 of the following year, following the idea put forward by several artists, a “Flame of Remembrance” was lit by the Minister of War André Maginot. Sacred flame that a “Flame Committee” has since had the task of reviving every day at dusk. It never went out, even during the Occupation. To keep it alive, a very strict “rekindling of the flame” ceremony has been observed daily for 92 years, always the same. It takes place every evening at 6:30 p.m. The Associations are led, in parade, to under the Arc de Triomphe, with the wreath bearers at the head then the flag bearers. Flag of “The Flame”, bugle and drum of the Republican Guard are placed around the Sacred Slab. The ringing of the Flame rings; the flame is rekindled; the wreaths laid. Then the bell rings “Aux Morts”, the flags are lowered and a minute of silence follows. We sign the Guest Book, we greet each other and then everyone finally meets at the foot of the grave, to listen to the musicians play “Honor to the Unknown Soldier”.
November 11 marks the anniversary of the Armistice of 1918. This document, signed between Germany and the Triple Entente (France, Great Britain, United States) and prelude to the Treaty of Versailles of 1919, suspended the fighting which had raged for four years between the two camps. Every year, in France, this symbolic day is celebrated with a series of ceremonies paying tribute to the soldiers of the Great War, who died for France, at some 30,000 war memorials built in French towns and villages.
The armistice of 1918 is a treaty that occupies a great place in history. What happened on November 11, 1918? After the failure of the German offensives of June and July 1918 during the Great Warthe Americans and British began an offensive in August 1918 which definitively pushed back the German forces. At the end of two months of resistance from the German General Staff, the text of the armistice was negotiated and recorded in the “Armistice Wagon” on November 11, 1918, at 5:15 a.m. This is Marshal Foch’s command wagon near the Allied headquarters, not far from the Rethondes station in the Oise. At 11 a.m. on November 11, 1918, the armistice took effect on the front.
By signing the famous treaty at Rethondes on November 11, 1918, the Allied forces and Germany officially ended their conflict by setting several conditions. Also on November 11, Charles I, then Emperor of Austria, finally renounced the throne – his Habsburg dynasty had reigned for over 600 years. For 100 years, even among the youngest, the day of November 11 has symbolized the outcome of the Great War.
The meeting of November 11 contains many anecdotes, and its history remains unknown or forgotten by many former schoolchildren. What did the Treaty of Versailles say? What were the conditions of the 1918 armistice? Learn more in our case dedicated to the 1918 armistice.