Armistice of World War 1
An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting.
It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace.
It is derived from the Latin arma, meaning “arms” (as in weapons) and -stitium, meaning “a stopping”.
The United Nations Security Council often imposes or tries to impose, cease-fire resolutions on parties in modern conflicts.
Armistices are always negotiated between the parties themselves and are thus generally seen as more binding than non-mandatory UN cease-fire resolutions in modern international law.
An armistice is a modus vivendi and is not the same as a peace treaty, which may take months or even years to agree on.
Armistice Day (which coincides with Remembrance Day and Veterans Day, public holidays) is commemorated every year on 11 November to mark the Armistice of 11 November 1918 signed between the Allies of World War I and the German Empire at Compiègne, France, for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front of World War I, which took effect at eleven o’clock in the morning—the “eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month” of 1918.
Most countries changed the name of the holiday after World War II, to honor veterans of that and subsequent conflicts.
Most member states of the Commonwealth of Nations adopted the name Remembrance Day, while the United States chose Veterans Day.
The 1953 Korean War Armistice Agreement is a major example of an armistice that has not been followed by a peace treaty.
An armistice is also different from a truce or ceasefire, which refer to a temporary cessation of hostilities for an agreed limited time or within a limited area.
A truce may be needed in order to negotiate an armistice.
