Armistice with Germany (Compiègne) facts for kids

This photograph was taken after reaching an agreement for the armistice that ended World War I. This is Ferdinand Foch's own railway carriage and the location is in the forest of Compiègne. Foch is second from the right.

The armistice treaty between the Allies, who fought Germany during World War I, and Germany was signed in a railway carriage in Compiègne Forest on 11 November 1918, and marked the end of the First World War on the Western Front. Marshal Ferdinand Foch, the Allied Commander-in-chief, and Matthias Erzberger, Germany's representative were the most important persons who signed it.

Front page of the New York Times on Armistice Day, 11 November 1918.

The Armistice was agreed at 5 AM on 11 November, to come into effect at 11 AM Paris time.

Acting German commander Paul von Hindenburg had requested arrangements for a meeting from Ferdinand Foch via telegram on 7 November. He was under pressure of imminent revolution in Berlin, Munich and elsewhere across Germany.

Main persons

For the Allies, the personnel involved were entirely military:

• Marshal of France Ferdinand Foch, the Allied supreme commander
• First Sea Lord Admiral Rosslyn Wemyss, the British representative
• General Maxime Weygand, Foch's Chief of staff

For Germany:

• Matthias Erzberger, a civilian politician;
• Count Alfred von Oberndorff, from the Foreign Ministry;
• Major General Detlev von Winterfeldt, the army;
• Captain Ernst Vanselow, the navy.

General Weygand and General von Gruennel are not mentioned in the (French) document.

The peace between the Allies and Germany that followed this armistice was the Treaty of Versailles in 1919.

Related pages

• Remembrance Day
• Treaty of Versailles (1919)

Images for kids

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  Photograph taken after reaching agreement for the armistice that ended World War I. This is Ferdinand Foch's own railway carriage in the Forest of Compiègne. Foch's chief of staff Maxime Weygand is second from left. Third from the left is the senior British representative, Sir Rosslyn Wemyss. Foch is second from the right. On the right is Admiral Sir George Hope.

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  German prisoners of war captured near Amiens in late August 1918.

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  Hindenburg, Kaiser Wilhelm and Ludendorff in discussion at the General Headquarters in Pszczyna Castle.

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  The declaration of the Republic at the Reichstag building on 9 November.

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  The arrival of the German armistice delegates, 1918

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  Foch's personal headquarters carriage, "The Compiègne Wagon" in 1918.

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  Painting depicting the signature of the armistice in the railway carriage. Behind the table, from right to left, General Weygand, Marshal Foch (standing) and British Admiral Rosslyn Wemyss and fourth from the left, British Naval Captain Jack Marriott. In the foreground, Matthias Erzberger, Major General Detlof von Winterfeldt (with helmet), Alfred von Oberndorff and Ernst Vanselow.

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  Last page of the Armistice agreement

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  American soldiers of the 64th Regiment, part of the 7th Division, celebrate the news of the Armistice.

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  Gravestone of Henry N. Gunther in Baltimore

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  Commemorations at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris on 11 November 2018, in remembrance for the centenary of the end of the war.

See also

In Spanish: Armisticio del 11 de noviembre de 1918 para niños