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ARMISTICE
Germany had effectively been run as a military dictatorship - by the Third Supreme Command - during the last two years of war, and only selective pieces of information about the war had been fed to the German public. When the generals decided that continuation of the war was not an option, the responsibility for negotiating the peace - on extremely unfavourable terms - was left to the civilian politicians. This evasion of responsibility and the generals' refusal to face up to the consequences of their actions helped foster the myth of the 'stab in the back' later exploited so successfully by the Nazis.
British troops breached the Hindenburg Line - Germany's last fixed line of defence - on 29 September 1918. On 1 October, the 1st Quartermaster General, Erich Ludendorff , advised his leading generals that continuing the war was not an option:
Bulgaria has already been lost. Austria and Turkey are both at the end of their strength... Any day now, our Western Front could be breached... Therefore, the Supreme Army Command demands... that a proposal for bringing about peace be made... without delay.
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General Erich Ludendorff
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US President Woodrow Wilson
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Amemorial stone marks the spot where the 1918 Armistice was signed.
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On 4 October, the Central Powers asked US President Woodrow Wilson to broker a peace plan.
Wilson had published his Fourteen Points earlier in 1918 and the Germans believed that he would act fairly and honestly.
The Allies presented the Germans with their ceasefire terms on 8 November. If the latter had expected leniency and clemency, they were in for a surprise. The Allies were under no illusions about the realities of the military situation and favoured a punitive settlement. German representative Mathias Erzberger blanched visibly as he read through the terms.
Under the proposed ceasefire, Germany was to evacuate Belgium and France, surrender its fleet, disarm its military and pay compensation to the Allies. The naval blockade was to continue and the left bank of the Rhine was to be occupied. Germany was to be treated as a defeated enemy, not an honourable adversary.
Despite the German representatives' misgivings about the terms, continuing the war was not an option. Therefore, with great misgivings, they signed an armistice agreement at 5am on 11 November, which came into effect six hours later. The fighting in the First World War was over - but could a conclusive and lasting peace be won?
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