Armistice Day 2014

Day of national remembrance

Armistice Day is commemorated every year on the 11th November to mark the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany at Compiègne, France, for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front of World War I. On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, the guns of the Western Front fell silent after more than four years of continuous warfare. The date was declared a national holiday in many allied nations, to commemorate those members of the armed forces who were killed during war.

The first Armistice day

The first Armistice celebration was held at Buckingham Palace commencing with King George V hosting a ‘Banquet in Honour of The President of the French Republic’ during the evening hours of November 10 1919. The first official Armistice Day, for which George V initiated the first two minutes silence, was subsequently held in the grounds of Buckingham Palace on the morning of November 11th 1919. This would set the trend for a Day of Remembrance for decades to come.