Remembrance Day, or Armistice Day, is commemorated on 11 November each year and marks the signing of the agreement which brought the First World War to an end.
The UK will observe a two-minute’s silence at 11am today, with Big Ben chiming 11 times in Westminster to begin the nationwide moment of reflection.
This comes ahead of the large-scale commemorations on Remembrance Sunday, which is taking place on 13 November – here’s why we do it, and how poppies became a poignant symbol of reflection.
What was the First World War Armistice?
The Armistice of 11 November 1918 was signed by representatives of the Allies and Germany, declaring an end to World War One with the cessation of hostilities on land, sea and air.
By the end of September 1918, the German high command had largely recognised that their military prospects had become hopeless.
They began to negotiate peace with the allies on 5 October, by sending a message to US President Woodrow Wilson, who had proposed “Fourteen Points” for peace at the start of 1918.
Despite a late change of heart by the influential General Erich Ludendorff, any appetite for battle had escape the shattered German army after four years of gruelling conflict.
More on Armistice Day
The Allies began discussing a truce on 5 November, although the European powers were generally opposed to President Wilson’s Fourteen Points, considering them idealistic.
As the peace negotiations gathered pace, Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm II was deposed in a matter of days as revolution swept a war-weary nation.
Germany’s brittle position left them with little room for negotiation. Their delegates travelled to the private train of Allied Supreme Commander Ferdinand Froch in the Forest of Compiègne, and were given 72 hours to agree to their enemy’s demands.
The Armistice was eventually agreed upon at 5.00am on 11 November, to come into effect at 11.00am Paris time.
Although it marked the end of all hostilities, the nations were officially involved in a state of war for seven more months, until the signing of the controversial Treaty of Versailles on 28 June 1919.
Why is the poppy a symbol of Remembrance Day?
The poppy’s origins as a symbol of remembrance lie in the First World War poem In Flanders Fields by Canadian officer John McCrae, first published in December 1915.
Its opening lines refer to how the flowers grew from the graves of soldiers across Western Europe during the conflict:
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
As the war ended, American poet Moina Michael used In Flanders Fields as the inspiration for her own work, We Shall Keep the Faith, and began wearing and distributing the red poppy as a symbol of remembrance.
The practice quickly spread to the UK, where the first ever Poppy Day was held on 11 November, 1921, the third anniversary of Armistice Day.
It was adopted as a symbol by the newly-formed Royal British Legion, a charity established to provide support for members and veterans of the British Armed Forces and their families.