At exactly 11:00 in the morning on November 11, 1918, in a forest in northern France, the guns of World War I finally went quiet. For four years, soldiers from more than 30 countries had fought in muddy trenches that stretched all the way from the English Channel to Switzerland. About 20 million people had died, and another 21 million had been wounded. Then, in a railway carriage parked among the trees near the town of Compiegne, German and Allied generals signed a piece of paper called an armistice - an agreement to stop fighting.
The deal had been negotiated through the night by candlelight. The signing happened at 5:10 a.m., but the leaders set the ceasefire for 11 a.m. so the message could be wired to every front-line trench. Sadly, some commanders kept attacking right up to the final minute. When the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month arrived, soldiers in the trenches first thought their ears had stopped working - the silence felt that strange. Then men climbed out of the mud, blinking in the daylight, and started shouting and hugging strangers.
The day became known as Armistice Day, and people promised never to forget. Britain, France, and other countries still pause at 11 a.m. on November 11 for two minutes of silence, often wearing bright red paper poppies - a tradition inspired by a poem about flowers that grew on battle fields. In the United States the day was renamed Veterans Day in 1954 to honor all who served. More than a century later, that strange, sudden quiet still echoes in ceremonies all around the world.
