![]() ![]() Even those who have lost their dear ones. The good folk are so happy the tears stand in their eyes, and they make no efforts to hide them. It's taken a long time, four years and half of the sort of thing that France has been through is tremendous, and now that it is all over, why it is almost too much for them to believe. Fighting stopped at last the German people have awakened from their horrible dream. “Dearest Mother and Dad: If only you all could see how glad everyone in this place is! Never in my life have I ever seen such happy people, for the eleventh of November meant the biggest thing possible to them all. These included complete demilitarization, the evacuation of France, Belgium and Alsace-Lorraine (a territory that had been annexed by Germany in 1871 following the Franco-Prussian War), and the immediate release of Allied prisoners of war and interned civilians. The German delegation was given 72 hours to accept the terms, which were purposefully severe to prevent Germany from resuming fighting. The Allied delegation, led by Supreme Allied Commander Marshal Ferdinand Foch, largely ignored United States President Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points for Peace and left no room for negotiation. In the west, the German Army’s imminent collapse led Germany to pursue an armistice. ![]() Now I want you to be sure to do that for we will just have a great time rejoicing together.” - Nannie (Nancy) Howard of Kansas City to her brother, November 12, 1918. I suspect you will not come right home but whenever you come back to the States come to see Ida Clara and myself. It was sure a happy day here because we thought you were happy. “You bet we were happy yesterday morning to be awoken at 3 o’clock by whistles blowing, guns firing and every kind of noise you could think of announcing the surrender of Germany. Only days later, the disintegrating Austro-Hungarian Empire signed an armistice with Italy. In October of that year, an armistice between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies ended fighting in the Middle East. Not until 1918 would the war’s end be in sight. As it progressed, further independent nations like Bulgaria, Romania, Italy, the Ottoman Empire, China and Japan joined the fighting. The conflict, already expanded beyond Europe, included great movements of imperial colonies in Africa and Asia. Over the course of the next few months, however, it was clear this would not come to pass. When World War I began in August 1914, few expected the conflict to last beyond Christmas. For months we have slept under the guns … We cannot comprehend the stillness.” - Robert Casey, Battery C, 124th Field Artillery Regiment, 33rd Division, November 11, 1918. For the most part, though, we are in silence … With all is a feeling that it can’t be true. Instead I am merely apathetic and incredulous … There is some cheering across the river-occasional bursts of it as the news is carried to the advanced lines. I suppose I ought to be thrilled and cheering. The global reaction was one of mixed emotions: relief, celebration, disbelief and a profound sense of loss. Although fighting continued elsewhere, the armistice between Germany and the Allies was the first step to ending World War I. 11, 1918, after more than four years of horrific fighting and the loss of millions of lives, the guns on the Western Front fell silent. In this installment, I hope to give a glimpse of the war's beginnings, and a preview of what is to come.On Nov. This entry is part 1 of a 10-part series on World War I. On this 100-year anniversary, I've gathered photographs of the Great War from dozens of collections, some digitized for the first time, to try to tell the story of the conflict, those caught up in it, and how much it affected the world. Battlefield conditions were horrific, typified by the chaotic, cratered hellscape of the Western Front, where soldiers in muddy trenches faced bullets, bombs, gas, bayonet charges, and more. Industrialization brought modern weapons, machinery, and tactics to warfare, vastly increasing the killing power of armies. More than 65 million soldiers were mobilized by more than 30 nations, with battles taking place around the world. This act was the catalyst for a massive conflict that lasted four years. A century ago, an assassin, a Serbian nationalist, killed the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary as he visited Sarajevo. ![]()
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