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THE FIRST WORLD WAR
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ARMISTICE WITH GERMANY (COMPIEGNE)
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WWI Document Archive > Conventions and Treaties > Conditions of an Armistice with Germany
Date: 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, 3000 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.
6. Nothing to be removed from the territory on the left bank of the Rhine, all factories, railroads, etc. to be left intact.
7. Surrender of 5000 locomotives, 150,000 railway coaches, 10,000 trucks.
8. Maintenance of enemy occupation troops through Germany.
9. In the East all troops to withdraw behind the boundaries of August 1, 1914, fixed time not given.
10. Renunciation of the Treaties of Brest-Litovsk and Bucharest.
11. Unconditional surrender of East Africa.
12. Return of the property of the Belgian Bank, Russian and Rumanian gold.
13. Return of prisoners of war without reciprocity.
14. 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.
15. 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.
16. The blockade remains in effect. All German ships to be captured.
17. All limitations by Germany on neutral shipping to be removed.
18. Armistice lasts 30 days.
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This photograph was taken in the forest of Compiègne after reaching an agreement for the armistice that ended World War I. This railcar was given to Ferdinand Foch for military use by the manufacturer, Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. Foch is second from the right.
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Joseph E. PersicoSynopsis:
November 11, 1918. The final hours pulsate with tension as every man in the trenches hopes to escape the melancholy distinction of being the last to die in World War I. The Allied generals knew the fighting would end precisely at 11:00 A.M, yet in the final hours they flung men against an already beaten Germany. The result? Eleven thousand casualties suffered–more than during the D-Day invasion of Normandy. Why? Allied commanders wanted to punish the enemy to the very last moment and career officers saw a fast-fading chance for glory and promotion.
Joseph E. Persico puts the reader in the trenches with the forgotten and the famous–among the latter, Corporal Adolf Hitler, Captain Harry Truman, and Colonels Douglas MacArthur and George Patton. Mainly, he follows ordinary soldiers’ lives, illuminating their fate as the end approaches. Persico sets the last day of the war in historic context with a gripping reprise of all that led up to it, from the 1914 assassination of the Austrian archduke, Franz Ferdinand, which ignited the war, to the raw racism black doughboys endured except when ordered to advance and die in the war’s last hour. Persico recounts the war’s bloody climax in a cinematic style that evokes All Quiet on the Western Front, Grand Illusion and Paths of Glory
The pointless fighting on the last day of the war is the perfect metaphor for the four years that preceded it, years of senseless slaughter for hollow purposes. This book is sure to become the definitive history of the end of a conflict Winston Churchill called “the hardest, cruelest, and least-rewarded of all the wars that have been fought.”
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(last edited Jan 21, 2015 01:37PM)
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Nicholas BestSynopsis:
World War I did not end neatly with the Germans’ surrender. After a dramatic week of negotiations, military offensives, and the beginning of a Communist revolution, the German Imperial regime collapsed. The Allies eventually granted an armistice to a new German government, and at 11:00 on November 11, the guns officially ceased fire—but only after 11,000 more casualties had been sustained. The London Daily Express proclaimed it “the greatest day in history.”
Nicholas Best tells the story in sweeping, cinematic style, following a set of key participants through the twists and turns of these climactic events, and sharing the impressions of eyewitnesses including Adolf Hitler, Charles de Gaulle, Harry S. Truman, Anthony Eden, and future famous generals MacArthur, Patton, and Montgomery.
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by Stanley Weintraub (no photo)Synopsis:
The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918 will live in history as a great moment--the hour the Armistice went into effect, bringing an end to the First World War. Guns were silenced, and worldwide the great and small alike celebrated the end of 51 months of fighting. In this magnificent book, Stanley Weintraub recreates the days leading up to the armistice and documents the reactions of survivors on both sides of the front.
Thirty-year-old Major Omar Bradley lamented that his rank would be reduced to that of captain and that he was "professionally ruined." King George V celebrated with a bottle of brandy laid aside for the Battle of Waterloo. In America, for 16-year-old Charles Lindbergh the end of the war meant the purchase of a war-surplus "Flying Jenny." In a German hospital, Corporal Adolf Hitler, temporarily blinded by teargas, wept.
Weintraub has delved into the archives, sifted through a large collection of letters and diaries sent to him by survivors and heirs to survivors, and interviewed many eyewitnesses to produce this vivid rendering of the end not just of a war but of an era. Here are notable literary, military, and political figures of the 20th century as young men and women--their careers to come still at the mercy of a last bullet or burst of shrapnel. Here also are the reflections of such figures as Albert Einstein, Thomas Mann and Joseph Conrad on the effects of the war, and eerie premonitions of the Second World War, whose seeds were sown in both the harshness and the paradoxical laxity of the peace agreement. A major evocation of the last days of the Great War, A Stillness Heard Round the World offers both historical vignettes and heartfelt visions of the horror of war and the ecstacy of peace.
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Armistice 1918
by Bullitt Lowry (no photo)Synopsis:
The five armistices arranged in the fall of 1918 - those of the Allies and the United States with Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire, Austria, Hungary and Germany - determined the course of diplomatic events for many years after World War I. The armistice with Germany, the most important of the five, was really a peace treaty in miniature.
The site of the Wagon Lits where the Armistice with Germany was signed on 11/11/18. It is located at the memorial in Compiegne Forest and is a tourist attraction for visitors.
(Source: WWIWesternfront)
The carriage used by General Foch, Wagon Lits Company, No. 2419D, was returned to its former duty as a restaurant car, but it eventually made its way to the scrap yard in Paris. An American Arthur Fleming paid for its restoration, and the wagon was brought back to Rethondes on 8 April 1927 and placed on display. Following the German invasion of France in 1940 Hitler decided to wipe out history by having the French surrender in the same wagon on 22 June 1940. The carriage was then taken back to Berlin and put on display until 1943. With the advance on Berlin in 1945 the Waffen SS initially moved it into Thuringia and then finally destroyed it by fire.
However on the outbreak of World War Two, someone had the insight to remove the original exhibits that were inside the carriage, before it was purloined by the Germans in 1940.
Fortunately a replacement car, No.2439 D which had been built in 1913 was found, renovated and has replaced the original exhibit.
Thanks, MMHS, for the additional information.
The Armistice of 1918 and the signing of the treaty in the forest of Compiegne was viewed by the military as a sell-out by the politicians and eventually led to the fall of the Weimer Republic and the rise of the Nazis.The Stab-in-the Back Myth and the Fall of the Weimar Republic
(no image)The Stab-in-the-Back Myth and the Fall of the Weimar Republic: A History in Documents and Visual Sourcesby George S. Vascik(no photo)
Synopsis:
This unique sourcebook explores the Stab-in-the-Back myth that developed in Germany in the wake of World War One, analyzing its role in the end of the Weimar Republic and its impact on the Nazi regime that followed.
A critical development in modern German and even European history that has received relatively little coverage until now, the Stab-in-the-Back Myth was an attempt by the German military, nationalists and anti-Semites to explain how the German war effort collapsed in November 1918 along with the German Empire. It purported that the German army did not lose the First World War but were betrayed by the civilians on the home front and the democratic politicians who had surrendered. The myth was one of the foundation myths of National Socialism, at times influencing Nazi behaviour in the 1930s and later their conduct in the Second World War.
The Stab-in-the-Back Myth and the Fall of the Weimar Republic draws on German government records, foreign and domestic newspaper accounts, diplomatic reports, diary entries and letters to provide different national and political perspectives on the issue. The sourcebook also includes chapter summaries, study questions, a further reading list, web links and a glossary, in addition to 26 visual sources and a range of maps, charts, tables and graphs. This is a vital text for all students looking at the history of the Weimar Republic, the legacy of the First World War and Germany in the 20th century.
He was the major Allied signatory of the German Armistice at Compiégne.The Memoirs of Maréchal Foch
by Marshall Foch (no photo)Synopsis:
Born in 1851 in the Hautes-Pyrenees, Foch fought in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 and became an artillery specialist. In 1907, he was appointed as head of the École de Guerre. In 1914 Foch commanded the French Second Army, stopping the German advance on Nancy.
Following the Battle of the Marne he served in Flanders and became commandant of the French Army Group at the Somme. In 1916 Foch became chief-of-staff to Marshal Pétain, and in April 1918 he was appointed commander of the Allied forces on the Western Front.
1918 year of Victory: The End of the Great War and the Shaping of History
by Ashley Ekins (no photo)Synopsis:
This text originated from the 1918 Year of Victory Conference, convened by the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, November 2008 marking the 90th anniversary of the end of the Great War. First World War scholars from a number of nations gathered to present their research findings and share their insights into the Great War.
The Armistice at Compiégne ended the war but there was more to it than just the signing of peace. The popular book covers the time immediately after that peace.The Great Silence
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Juliet NicolsonSynopsis:
Peace at last, after Lloyd George declared it had been 'the war to end all wars', would surely bring relief and a renewed sense of optimism? But this assumption turned out to misplaced as people began to realise that the men they loved were never coming home. The Great Silence recalls the period of adjustment following the war.
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Release date: November 6, 2018
Peace at Last: A Portrait of Armistice Day, 11 November 1918
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Guy CuthbertsonSynopsis:
November 11, 2018, marks the centenary of the armistice signed between the Allies and Germany ending World War I. While the events of the war and its legacy are much discussed, this is the first book to focus solely on the day itself, examining how the people of Britain, and the wider world, reacted to the news of peace.
In this rich portrait of Armistice Day, which ranges from midnight to midnight, Guy Cuthbertson brings together news reports, literature, memoirs, and letters to show how the people on the street, as well as soldiers and prominent figures like D. H. Lawrence and Lloyd George, experienced a strange, singular day of great joy, relief, and optimism.
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William L. ShirerSynopsis:
On June 17, 1940 William L. Shirer stood in the streets of Paris and watched the unending flow of gray German uniforms along its boulevards. In just six lovely weeks in the spring and summer of 1940 a single battle brought down in total military defeat one of the world's oldest, greatest, and most civilized powers—the second mightiest empire on earth and the possessor of one of the finest military machines ever assembled.
How did it happen? After nearly a decade of research in the massive archives left from World War II and after hundreds of conversations with the Third Republic's leaders, generals, diplomats, and ordinary citizens, Shirer presents the definitive answer in his stunning re-creation of why and how France fell before Hitler's armies in 1940. His book is also a devastating examination of the confusion, corruption, and cynicism that drained the strength and toughness of a democracy which Thomas Jefferson once called "every man's second country."
This book complements and completes the dramatic story of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich and continues to rank as one of the most important works of history of our time
The History Book Club
Books mentioned in this topic
The Collapse of the Third Republic: An Inquiry Into the Fall of France in 1940 (other topics)Peace at Last: A Portrait of Armistice Day, 11 November 1918 (other topics)
The Great Silence 1918-1920: Living in the Shadow of the Great War (other topics)
1918 Year of Victory: The End of the Great War and the Shaping of History (other topics)
The Memoirs of Marshall Foch (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
William L. Shirer (other topics)Guy Cuthbertson (other topics)
Juliet Nicolson (other topics)
Ashley Ekins (other topics)
Marshall Foch (other topics)
More...
The armistice between the Allies and Germany was signed in a railway carriage in Compiègne Forest on 11 November 1918, and marked the end of the First World War on the Western Front. Principal signatories were Marshal Ferdinand Foch, the Allied Commander-in-chief, and Matthias Erzberger, Germany's representative. It was a military agreement that marked a complete defeat for Germany, but was neither an unconditional surrender nor a treaty.
Source: Wikipediia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armistic...
One of the books that discusses the Armistice: