Commemorations for the 106th anniversary of the armistice are taking place across Europe this Monday. November 11 is not only a public holiday, but also a duty to remember.
But before you start, do you want to test your knowledge?
L’armistice
This November 11 is synonymous with a public holiday in Belgium due to the commemorations of the armistice of 1918. 106 years ago, in Rethondes, in a train carriage in the middle of the Compiègne forest, in France, the Allies and the Germans sign the armistice, a ceasefire which will put an end to the fighting of the First World War.
It is also in this same wagon that Hitler symbolically wanted to sign the armistice of June 1940 between France and Germany.
The peace treaty of the First World War was signed much later, on June 28, 1919 in Versailles. The ceasefire signed on November 11 only had an effective duration of 36 days. It therefore had to be renewed several times until the signing of this Treaty of Versailles.
Remember
If November 11 is a public holiday, it is to remember all the people who fought for peace. In total, nearly 20 million people lost their lives during this war: 9.7 million soldiers, and nearly 10 million civilians.
Belgium has reportedly experienced nearly 105,000 deaths, more than half of them civilians.
armistice November 11 quiz first world war war
Belgium
