Armistice Day & Remembrance Sunday

World War I finished on November 11, 1918. On that day, the eleventh of the eleventh month, at 11 o'clock a.m., the Germans and the Allies signed the Armistice to put an end to a terrible war.

Germany had lost . Wilson, the American President, forced the abdication of the German Kaiser, Wilhem II. Besides, the Germans had to leave within two weeks the territories they had conquered. Allied forces occupied the left bank of the River Rhine within a month, and a neutral zone would be established on the right bank.

According to the Armistice the Germans would lose 5,000 artillery pieces, 30,000 machine guns, 2,000 aircraft, 5,000 locomotives, 150,000 railway wagons, 5,000 trucks and its entire submarine fleet. The Germans were exhausted, and they accepted the conditions. It was a terrible humiliation for Germany, and a young man called Adolf Hitler would then start thinking of a revenge in the future.

In England, the British Prime Minister, Lloyd George, proposed that a monument be built to commemorate the victory and to pay tribute to the dead. The first monument was just made of wood and plaster, and the British troops marched in front of it. But the English people liked it so much that they decided to build a better one, made of stone. Then the Vicar of the town of Margate (Kent) had an idea: to take the body of an unknown soldier back to England to be buried in the monument. They took one dead ( and unknown ) English soldier from each of the four main battle areas in the war, then they chose one of them and the other three were buried.

The coffin with the dead soldier crossed the English Channel in the destroyer Verdun, then it was placed on a train. Thousands of people gathered at the stations between Dover and London to pay homage to the soldier. On the morning of 11 November, 1920, the body of the Unknown Warrior was taken to the monument on a gun carriage pulled by six black horses, followed by an enormous parade. Many people who lined the streets watching the procession pass had been waiting all night.

In just a week more than one million British men and women travelled from every corner of the UK to bring flowers to the unknown soldier. The pilgrimage continued long afterwards.

The English and Americans celebrate a "Remembrance Day" on the Sunday closest to November 11th: They call it "Remembrance Sunday". On that day, a two-minute silence is observed at 11am to remember the country's war dead. ( Don't forget the Armistice was signed at 11 a.m. on November 11th )

Now, what about the poppy? The English, Canadians and Americans (The Allies) usually wear poppies on their clothes when this time of the year comes. Actually, november 11 is also known as "Poppy day". This is the story: Hundreds of thousands of those killed in World War I died on the fields of Flanders and Picardy in Northern France, and it is there where the poppy tradition has its origins. In that war, large areas were completely devastated: whole forests, fields, buildings and roads were destroyed, and wild animals were killed, but one kind of flower survived and grew: the poppy!! Every year these beautiful red flowers covered the graves of the dead, and the enormous battlefields, symbolising hope of life and resurrection for those who fought and died fighting for their country.

That's the reason for the poppy on every jacket, shirt or dress these days, in Britain and also in America. Just turn on your TV and choose an English or American channel, and start counting poppies. Everybody has one.

At the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month ...
	November 11th: Armistice Day Sunday closest to November 11th: Remembrance Sunday