Official November 11th ceremony at 5 p.m.

Every November 11, France comes together to commemorate the end of the First World War and honor the memory of the fallen. From the Armistice signed in 1918 to the central role played by monuments to the dead in the territories, this symbolic date embodies both the memory of past sacrifices and the duty to remember all those who gave their lives for the Nation.

November 11, 1918 marks the end of hostilities in the First World War, a conflict sparked off in 1914 by the assassination attempt on Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, which led to a conflagration of alliances across Europe. After four years of bloody fighting, resulting in almost 10 million dead and over 20 million wounded, negotiations between Germany and the Allies led to the signing of the armistice at 5:15 a.m., under the aegis of Marshal Foch. The end of fighting was symbolically set for 11 a.m., on the 11th day of the 11th month. This agreement, concluded for 36 days and renewed until the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919, sealed Germany's defeat after a series of military setbacks and the entry of the United States into the war in 1917. For France, with 1.4 million soldiers dead, 3.6 million wounded and 500,000 prisoners, the Armistice ushered in a period of mourning and reconstruction.

In Saint-Barthélemy, the official ceremony to mark the Armistice of November 11, 1918 will be held this Monday at 5pm at the war memorial in front of the Hôtel de la Collectivité territoriale.