Whether they know it as Armistice Day, Veterans Day or Remembrance Day, most of the world marks November 11th as a day of reflection each year.
To refresh your memory: On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, in 1918, the end of the Great War – not yet known as the First World War, since at the time no one knew there’d be a Second – was declared.
Today marks the 90th anniversary of the war’s conclusion, and the events this year seem to have a special urgency and power.
The number of First World War veterans remaining worldwide has dwindled to a handful – there will most likely be none left to mark the centenary in 2018.
There are monuments to the Great War all around the world. Here are shots of a few:
India Gate, New Delhi’s monument to the Indian fallen of World War One
(Photo by Shashwat_Nagpal)
Graves for a few of the 1.5 million soldiers killed during the Battle of the Somme
(Photo via Wikipedia)
London’s Cenotaph
(Photo by Steve Cadman)
A detail from the Canadian Memorial at Vimy Ridge, France
(Photo via Wikipedia)
The Turkish memorial at Gallipoli. There are also monuments for Australia and New Zealand here.
(Photo by QuartierLatin1968)
The Menin Gate at Ypres, Belgium
(Photo via Wikipedia)
A German cemetery in Belgium
(Photo by FaceMePLS)
About the Author
More By This Author
- Sunshine Guaranteed - Or Your Money Back (8 comments)
- New Paid Travel Writing Opportunities from BootsnAll (2 comments)
- You Don't Need a Mumbai Slum Tour to See Wealth Disparity at Work (2 comments)
Related Posts
2 Comments... join the discussion!
-
-
Hey, thanks for that, Hal! I enjoyed your mom's post. World War One is a pretty big deal up here, too – in large part because there's a whole historical narrative that's been put in place (well, that's maybe a little cynical) that positions the Great War as "the forging of the Canadian nation" – our coming-of-age, etc. It was the first major endeavour we went into as Canadians, rather than Brits, in a way. I've always found it more emotional than the second war because of the innocence of everyone going in. Ever seen any old film of prairie farm boys loading into trains grinning and waving goodbye? At least in the second war, the people that went overseas already knew going in that war is hell. No one seemed to realize that yet in 1914…
↵
