World War I – known at the time as "The Great War” - officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919 , in the Palace of Versailles outside the town of Versailles , France. However, fighting ceased seven months earlier when an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. For that reason, November 11, 1918 , is generally regarded as the end of "the war to end all wars.”
In November 1919, President Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day with the following words: "To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country's service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…"
The original concept for the celebration was for a day observed with parades and public meetings and a brief suspension of business beginning at 11 a.m.
(US Department of Veteran Affairs)
On This Day November 10:
1520 - After a successful invasion of Sweden, Danish soldiers under King Christian II executed scores of Swedish leaders in the Stockholm Bloodbath.
1865 - Henry Wirz, the superintendent of the Andersonville Prison, was hanged, becoming the only American Civil War soldier executed for war crimes.
1871 - "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" – Henry Morton Stanley located missing missionary and explorer, David Livingstone (pictured) in Ujiji, near Lake Tanganyika in present-day Tanzania.
1969 - Sesame Street debuted on the National Educational Television network in the United States.
1995 - Playwright and environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others from the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People were executed by the Nigerian military government.
Strategic E-HR Conference
Using Technology for Comprehensive Talent & Performance Management
February 28 – March
1, 2007
Coronado Island Marriott
San Diego, CA
$2,195
Agenda
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