World War I’s long and bullet-riddled road to peace

Silencing the guns on November 11, 1918, took many long days of negotiation, but they were not the first time a peaceful solution was sought during the Great War.

Soldiers from both sides were relieved when the Armistice was signed on 11/11/1918. Men shook hands and celebrated with thos...

Although it was often said in its early months that the fighting “will all be over by Christmas” 1914, 1915 also came and went with no hint that the Great War would stop any time soon.

It would be another three years of gruelling battle and diplomatic machinations before the Armistice finally silenced the guns on November 11, 1918.

Throughout the war there had been peace initiatives. Even before shots had been exchanged in 1914 Germany tried to avert confrontation with the British, but Germany’s violation of Belgian neutrality in August 1914 put an end to discussion.

By 1915, as the fighting looked likely to continue, attempts were made to sound out Russia and France through diplomatic channels, to strike a bargain that would take them out of the war. The offers were rejected.

In 1916, with a growing anti-war movement and the British blockade harming its economy, Germany again offered peace. Despite being dragged down by its Central Powers partners Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire, Germany still felt in a strong enough position militarily in Europe to dictate terms.

The Germans believed they could still break the deadlock through unlimited submarine warfare, even if it brought the US into the war.

From this position, German leaders knew if they offered peace and it was rejected they could silence the anti-war factions by saying peace was out of reach. If it was accepted they could at least keep the territory gained so far. The offer was rejected, the terms considered unacceptable by the Allies who had expended too much in terms of lives and money to concede any territory to Germany at that stage of the war.

Soldiers from both sides shook hands and celebrated with those who they had been shooting at just days earlier when the Armistice was declared. Picture: from The Western Front Diaries by Jonathan King, Simon and Schuster

The Germans were initially less confident about victory when the Americans finally entered the war in 1917. However, the lag between the US declaring war and the time it took to train their troops for battle gave Germany a limited window to launch an offensive. This was helped by the fact that Germany’s support for radical elements in Russia had allowed the communists to take power in Russia in 1917.

The communists negotiated peace with Germany (Britain and France refused to take part in the talks) which left Germany free to send more troops to the Western Front for a March 1918 offensive, hoping to break through before the effect of fresh American troops could be felt.

The offensive failed and, with a supply of fresh American troops, the Allies launched offensives in July and August. By September the Central Powers had lost the initiative, were running out of manpower and war resources. The strikes starting in Austria and spreading to Germany were a sign of possible revolution.

On September 29 German military leaders Field Marshal Paul Von Hindenburg and General Erich Ludendorff informed the Kaiser that Germany could not win the war and they were facing an Allied breakthrough at any moment.

German prisoners under the watch of French soldiers in Belgium in September of 1918.

Germany’s ally Bulgaria capitulated on September 30 and sensing her other allies would soon follow and conclude a separate peace, Germany sent the first of several notes to US President Woodrow Wilson on October 3 requesting an armistice and peace negotiations, according to his “Fourteen Points” he had outlined in January. While Germany was sounding out the US, Turkey capitulated on October 30 and Austria-Hungary on November 3. Germany, on the verge of revolution, was forced to act quickly.

On November 8, German government minister Matthias Erzberger went to France to meet Allied representatives in French military leader Marshal Ferdinand Foch’s train carriage in the forest of Compiegne. Over the three days of negotiations one of the sticking points was the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Erzberger learned on November 10 that the Kaiser had abdicated and was instructed by the German government to sign the armistice.

At 5am on November 11 the document was signed, agreeing to end the fighting at 11am (Paris time) later that day, coincidentally the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.

When the guns fell silent 97 years ago today, about 8.5 million had died as a result of wound or diseases during the four years of conflict.

Guns fall silent

The Armistice signed on November 11, 1918 was an agreement to cease fire, but not actually an end to the war. The official end to the war would only take place with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles six months later. The carriage used to sign the Armistice would be used by the Nazis in WWII as the venue for France signing its surrender. The carriage was later destroyed.