Existing comment:
The End:
By 1917, all of the countries involved in the war were exhausted. The first of the major players to drop out was Russia. A revolution in March of 1917 had removed the Russian Czar from his throne. A democratic government took over but continued fighting. In November, a second revolution placed a communist government in control. The Communists, lead [sic] by Lenin, agreed to an armistice in December of 1917 and signed a peace treaty in March of 1918.
In the fall of 1918, it became obvious that the end of the war was near. The arrival of large numbers of American soldiers in 1918 gave hope and support to the depleted Allied armies. Germany and its allies had no such support. They began to sign treaties to end the war. Bulgaria, Turkey and Austria-Hungary all asked for armistice before Germany.
In Germany, revolutions took place at home and on the front lines. The Allied advances of September and October threatened to completely destroy the German army. On November 8th, the Germans requested talks to discuss an armistice. The formal armistice was signed in the early morning hours of November 11th. The guns fell silent at 11am that same day. |