The end of World War I is commemorated today (November 11) as International Veterans Day.
Until then, the bloodiest, four-year-long conflict in human history was ended by the armistice, which was signed on November 11, 1918, in the restaurant car of the French General Staff in a forest near the northern French city of Compiégne. On this day, exactly at 11:11 a.m., the last salvo was fired and the guns fell silent on the battlefields of the First World War. 106 years have passed since this historic moment.
Peace negotiations began in the wagon near Compiégne already on November 8. Finally, an armistice between Germany and the Allies (France, Russia, the United Kingdom, later joined by Italy and the United States) was signed the following day.
In Germany, the text of the document caused great indignation, because according to paragraph 231 it was responsible for the damage and suffering caused by his aggression. It lost parts of its territory and had to pay considerable reparations, the amount of which was set at 132 billion gold marks.
The end of the war meant the demise of some empires and the emergence of new states
The end of the First World War meant the demise of Austria-Hungary, the German Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and Tsarist Russia, and on the contrary, the creation of new states among them, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Austria.
The loss of human life caused by the war was unprecedented in the history of mankind. Of the 65 million soldiers mobilized by all the belligerent states, eight million were killed and another 21 million were wounded or maimed for life. From the territory of today’s Slovak Republic, they mobilized approximately 400,000 soldiers into the Austro-Hungarian army, of which almost 70,000 never returned home.
The red poppy flower became the symbol of veterans. These flowers covered the graves of fallen soldiers on the Western Front. The symbol originates from the poem In Flanders Fields, written in May 1915 by Canadian doctor John McCrae serving near the Belgian city of Ypres. Despite the fact that he was a military surgeon, he could not reconcile himself to the sufferings of wounded soldiers and soothed his pain by writing poems.
The tradition of celebrating the end of the First World War began already on the first anniversary of the signing of the armistice, November 11, 1919, when this day was commemorated in Washington, London, Paris and other cities.
American President Woodrow Wilson declared November 11 as Armistice Day this year. It became an official holiday in 1926, and in 1954 Congress renamed Armistice Day Veterans Day.
In Commonwealth countries, November 11 is commemorated under the official name of Remembrance Day and also as Poppy Day and, for example, in France, where this day has been a national holiday since 1922, as Jour de l’Armistice ( Armistice Day) or also under the name Jour du Souvenir (Day of Remembrance).
The International Day of War Veterans is also commemorated in Slovakia with reverent memories, placing flowers on soldiers’ graves, lighting candles and ringing bells.
The Post Bellum Association traditionally organizes a public collection on this day throughout Slovakia with the aim of collecting funds for the documentation of the stories of veterans of the anti-fascist and anti-communist resistance. Each donor receives a symbolic red poppy flower, pinning which commemorates the heroism of war veterans and expresses respect and admiration for them. That is why in some countries the Day of War Veterans is also called the Day of Red Poppies.
