The centenary of the Armistice of 11 November 1918 was an international series of events which took place in November 2018 to commemorate the armistice which ended World War I. It marked the end of the wider series of First World War centenary-related events which began in 2014.
In conjunction with the recurring annual holidays of Armistice Day, Remembrance Day and Veterans Day, numerous events were organised to mark the centenary, including an international peace forum in Paris and a gathering of several world leaders at the Arc de Triomphe. Commemorations in the United Kingdom included a service of thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey and a visit by German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Other military ceremonies and events were organised elsewhere, including in key members of the Commonwealth which participated in the war, and across the world.
Background
The Armistice of 11 November 1918 was signed near the French town of Compiègne, between the Allied Powers and Germany—represented by Supreme Allied Commander Ferdinand Foch and civilian politician Matthias Erzberger respectively—with capitulations having already been made separately by Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary. The agreements made by both sides included the cessation of all land and air hostilities on the Western Front. It was agreed upon at 5am (Paris time) and came into effect later that morning at 11am.
Formal peace negotiations only took place during the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 and 1920. With three extensions to the armistice having already been made, a state of peace was ratified with a series of treaties between the Allies and the former Central Powers, beginning with the Treaty of Versailles on 10 January 1920.
Following the end of the war, 11 November was designated a memorial day initially dedicated to the anniversary of the armistice and the military dead of World War I, known as Armistice Day. The first such observance took place in 1919. Following World War II, it was renamed under different titles in several countries (e.g. Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth and Veterans Day in the United States).
In the years leading up to the First World War centenary covering the period from 2014 to 2018, several national governments drafted plans to host commemorative events, beginning with the anniversary of the outbreak of World War I and also marking key dates of the war such as the Gallipoli campaign in 2015 and the battles of Verdun and the Somme in 2016.
Planning France In 2017, the Bank of France announced it would release a 2 euro commemorative coin depicting the bleuet de France, the country's main war remembrance symbol, in light of the centenary the following year.
The official schedule of events was revealed on 18 September 2018, during a press conference hosted by education minister Jean-Michel Blanquer and Geneviève Darrieussecq, secretary of state to the Minister of the Armed Forces. It included an international ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe followed by the inaugural edition of the newly founded Paris Peace Forum, plans which were already mentioned by French President Emmanuel Macron in a speech published in July. The government's committee was responsible for the organisation of the events.
United Kingdom The government of the United Kingdom announced that it would allocate a £19 million package to mark the centenary, with an additional £10 million being added to the annual budget made to the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust, while individual local events were coordinated by the Imperial War Museum. The BBC planned a week-long series of dedicated programming across its platforms, as part of its World War I centenary season. The government of the Isle of Man also released a series of commemorative coins in advance of the centenary.
United States President Donald Trump proposed that a military parade at the Capitol be held on 10 November to mark the centenary, in admiration of France's Bastille Day military parade (which Trump attended as a guest in 2017). However, Trump cancelled the proposed event in August 2018 over cost concerns, with estimates that the parade would have cost as much as US$92 million.
Centenary in France Timeline On 4 November 2018, Macron and his spouse Brigitte Macron hosted German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier at the Strasbourg Cathedral. Following a military ceremony, they attended a concert inside, conducted by the orchestra of the Académie supérieure de Strasbourg. The flags of France, the European Union and Germany were hoisted outside the cathedral.
Macron announced on 6 November that writer Maurice Genevoix, author of numerous books on the First World War, would be posthumously listed on the Panthéon in 2019, alongside fourteen other French civilians and soldiers who participated in World War I. In Reims, he and Malian president Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta opened a memorial for fallen colonial soldiers.
Throughout the course of the week leading up to the centenary, Macron visited symbolic Western Front locations across eleven departments in the north and east of the country. The visits were subjected to anger from local voters over what the Financial Times described as his "perceived metropolitan disregard for their pocketbook concerns."
On 10 November, invited international guests to the Arc de Triomphe ceremony, including German chancellor Angela Merkel, began arriving in Paris. Around 10,000 police officers, gendarmes and soldiers were placed on duty in the lead up to the events. Merkel visited the Glade of the Armistice at Compiègne alongside Macron, where they laid a wreath, unveiled a plaque dedicated to Franco-German reconciliation and signed a book of remembrance in a replica of the railway carriage where the armistice was signed. The visit was symbolic as it marked the first time that French and German leaders had visited the site since 1945. An official reception dinner for invited guests took place in the evening at the Musée d'Orsay. Beginning from 09:00 (CET) on 11 November, Macron received guests for the international ceremony at the Élysée Palace. At 11:00, church bells across metropolitan and overseas France rang simultaneously, marking the moment the armistice took effect a century earlier. The ceremony began at 11:19 after dignitaries gathered at the Arc de Triomphe, following a presidential inspection of troops, a roll call of French soldiers killed in the preceding year and an army choir rendition of the French national anthem. It included a performance by cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who played the sarabande from Bach's Suite No. 5 in C minor, followed by the second movement of Ravel's Sonata for Violin and Cello with French violinist Renaud Capuçon. Testimonies from witnesses to the armistice were intermittently read out by a group of teenage students. Beninese musician Angélique Kidjo sang a variation of the song Blewu by Bella Bellow, paying tribute to colonial troops. Macron then delivered a keynote speech in which he denounced nationalism as a "betrayal of patriotism", and warned of the resurgence of "old demons". The European Union Youth Orchestra followed with a performance of Ravel's Bolero. The ceremony ended with a rekindling of the Tomb to the Unknown Soldier, where Macron also laid a wreath, the "Sonnerie aux morts" and a moment of silence culminating in the "Cessez-le-feu" bugle call. All international guests were invited immediately afterward to a luncheon at the Élysée Palace, with their consorts gathering at the Palace of Versailles.
The inaugural Paris Peace Forum was opened at the Grande halle de la Villette in the afternoon, with Macron, Merkel and United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres giving remarks at its plenary session. US president Donald Trump did not attend, instead visiting the Suresnes American Cemetery and Memorial as the forum took place, where he made an address before returning to the United States.
Also on 11 November, the European Broadcasting Union organised a concert at the Royal Opera of Versailles with performances by the Vienna Philharmonic, entitled the "Concert for Peace." During a concert in La Force, Dordogne, violinist Pierre Hamel from the Colonne Orchestra performed using a metal violin assembled by soldiers in the trenches. A series of religious memorial services were organised for the day, including an international mass at Notre-Dame de Paris, conducted by Archbishop Michel Aupetit.
Controversies Philippe Pétain
In October 2018, it was reported that tributes to war marshals at the Hôtel des Invalides would include one to Philippe Pétain, who served in the Battle of Verdun and later headed Nazi-aligned Vichy France. This led to criticism from French Jews, the opposition and on social media. In response, the office of the Élysée said it was not part of their official schedule and did not understand how Pétain "ended up" on the list. Macron himself described Pétain as a "great soldier", while remarking that he made "disastrous choices" during the Nazi occupation of France. The planned tribute was eventually withdrawn.
Placement of Serbian delegation Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić was positioned away from the frontline seating areas in an area reserved for representatives of countries which were on the opposing side in the war or did not exist as separate states at the time. Serbia fought on the Allied side during the war, with the Army winning a crucial victory on the Salonica front, and Serbia's success had a pivotal role in forcing both Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria out of the war. Serbia lost over a quarter of its pre-war population, most of whom were civilians, which makes it the country with the largest losses in comparison to population numbers. In addition, the country has a long historical friendship with France. Therefore, Vučić's seating arrangement and the seating of the presidents of neighboring Croatia (which did not exist as a country at the time) and Kosovo (which Serbia does not recognize) on the same side as French president Emmanuel Macron led to anger from a large number of Serbs, who saw this as a great humiliation and a sign of disrespect for the Serbian victims of the war. The handling of the incident was also criticized in the French media, with Jean-Christophe Buisson of Le Figaro commenting that Serbia was unjustly humiliated.
A day later, the Monument of Gratitude to France in Belgrade's Kalemegdan Park was vandalized, with black X marks sprayed over the inscriptions on the monument. The vandalizing graffiti was later removed, and members of the city communal police patrolled the area for a few days. In addition, there were calls to rename streets in Belgrade named after France and Paris. The French ambassador to Serbia, Frédéric Mondoloni, later publicly apologized on television over the incident.
Trump's cancelled visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial A planned visit by Trump to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial, scheduled for 10 November, was cancelled due to what the White House described as "bad weather". The decision was met with criticism, particularly from Ben Rhodes, a former national security advisor in the Obama administration; British Conservative politician Nicholas Soames, a grandson of Winston Churchill; and former secretary of state John Kerry. According to a 2020 article by The Atlantic, Trump had refused to attend and also described the cemetery as being "filled with losers". After the article was published, he called it "fake news".
Femen protests