World War I, The Armistice Demands

10 November, 1918

Official release by the German Government, published in the Kreuz-Zeitung, November 11, 1918.

The following terms were set by the Allied powers for the Armistice.

  1. Effective six hours after signing.
  2. Immediate clearing of Belgium, France, Alsace-Lorraine, to be concluded within 14 days. Any troops remaining in these areas to be interned or taken as prisoners of war.
  3. Surrender 5000 cannon (chiefly heavy), 30,000 machine guns, trench mortars, 2000 planes.
  4. Evacuation of the left bank of the Rhine, Mayence, Coblence, Cologne, occupied by the enemy to a radius of 30 kilometers deep. 5. On the right bank of the Rhine a neutral zone from 30 to 40 kilometers deep, evacuation within 11 days.
  5. Nothing to be removed from the territory on the left bank of the Rhine, all factories, railroads, etc. to be left intact.
  6. Surrender of 5000 locomotives, 150,000 railway coaches, 10,000 trucks.
  7. Maintenance of enemy occupation troops through Germany.
  8. In the East all troops to withdraw behind the boundaries of August 1, 1914, fixed time not given.
  9. Renunciation of the Treaties of Brest-Litovsk and Bucharest.
  10. Unconditional surrender of East Africa.
  11. Return of the property of the Belgian Bank, Russian and Rumanian gold.
  12. Return of prisoners of war without reciprocity.
  13. Surrender of 160 U-boats, 8 light cruisers, 6 Dreadnoughts; the rest of the fleet to be disarmed and controlled by the Allies in neutral or Allied harbors.
  14. Assurance of free trade through the Cattegat Sound; clearance of mine fields and occupation of all forts and batteries, through which transit could be hindered.
  15. The blockade remains in effect. All German ships to be captured.
  16. All limitations by Germany on neutral shipping to be removed.
  17. Armistice lasts 30 days.

The Essential Documents of American History was compiled by Norman P. Desmarais and James H. McGovern of Providence College.

At precisely 11 o'clock on the morning of November 11, 1918, the guns on all fronts fell silent. An armistice (cease-fire) was agreed upon to begin on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of that year. After four terrible years of bloodshed, World War I was over.

Soldiers on both sides came out of the trenches and celebrated. Souvenirs and personal items were exchanged. The Germans were happy to have cigarettes, soap, and food rations. Americans, for their part, came away with German medals, belt buckles, bayonets, and pistols. Riotous celebration came later. For now, giddy Americans were content to play such games of their childhood as hopscotch and blind man's bluff. With soldiers being killed almost up to the last minute, it is not hard to imagine their delirious excitement.

Crowds in cities throughout Europe rushed into the streets. Church bells rang. Bands played. People danced, sang, and waved flags. A few jumped up on benches and led renditions of popular Allied war songs. At an American officer training school in one French town, candidates got carried away and bombed each other's barracks with live grenades! No one was killed, but there were a number of injuries.

On the east coast of the United States, it was only 6 A.M. when the armistice began. News of the historic event took several hours to reach places like New York and Washington, D.C. When it did, Americans celebrated just as wildly as their European counterparts. President Wilson issued a statement, which included in part: "Everything for which America fought has been accomplished." It was a most memorable day.

After the celebrations ended, the world took stock of the damage and destruction caused by the fighting. What at the time was called the Great War was the deadliest and costliest in world history. Estimates place the number of people killed at twenty million. Of this number, from nine to ten million were soldiers or other military personnel. Perhaps twice this number were wounded. Men came home maimed or disabled for life. Many had lost one or more limbs. Some had even lost most of their face. Never had a war caused such horror and suffering.

In spite of the death and destruction, the world, particularly Europe, where most of the fighting had taken place, could not immediately return to normal. Many problems had to be dealt with, such as the deadly flu pandemic of 1918-19. Another was the rise of bolshevism, or communism. In 1917 Russia had been taken over by Bolsheviks, and Germany was seriously threatened with a similar takeover after the war stopped. Then there was the break-up of empires ruled by the Germans, Austro-Hungarians, Ottoman Turks, and Russians. When these empires collapsed, a number of new nations appeared on the map of Europe. Whereas nations should have been eager to cooperate in the interest of peace, the realignment of boundaries caused tensions that helped lead to another war twenty years later.

Not the least of the problems facing European nations were hunger and starvation. Many factories and farms had been totally destroyed, and there was widespread unemployment. Starvation was magnified because the Allies continued their naval blockade even after the fighting stopped. Food and other supplies could not reach people who desperately needed them. In Vienna, which had been the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the situation was particularly bad. A doctor in the city reported that people were dying everywhere, many of them young children.

As in other countries, Vienna also faced the problem of not having enough wood with which to build coffins. With winter having set in, almost all wood went for heat. As a result, there were few coffins available to bury the dead. Children were buried in boxes, while grown-ups were interred in mass graves. They were stacked in rows with a layer or dirt and lime between the bodies.

Two months after World War I ended in November 1918, representatives of all of the Allied nations met at the palace of Versailles outside of Paris to hammer out the terms of peace. Russia was not invited, having dropped out of the war in 1917. None of the Central Power nations were invited either. The peace conference was led and dominated by four leaders who came to be called the Big Four. They were President Woodrow Wilson of the United States, Prime Minister David Lloyd George of Great Britain, Premier Georges Clemenceau of France, and Premier Vittorio Orlando of Italy.