If you are an American, today is Veteran’s Day. If you are a European, today is Armistice Day, the celebration of the truce that ended an immensely destructive war, a strangely but fittingly inconclusive end to an inconclusive war. How Armistice Day became Veteran’s Day is part of this tale, as is a more personal story. Let us begin from the beginning and work our way forward.
On November 11, 1918, an armistice, or truce, was declared at around 11:00AM in the Western front between German and Allied (and Associated) troops. With the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II, the last Hohenzollern ruler of the Second Reich (a short-lived German state that lasted only from 1871 to 1918) and the establishment of a Republic at Weimer (which only lasted from until Hitler’s regime in 1933), there was no longer any will to fight among the Germans. The British and French had no more will to fight either, having spent their young generations on bungled and incompetent and inconclusive trench warfare.
It was in the ensuing months that the inconclusive conduct and end of World War I became a vindictive dictat known as the Treaty of Versailles, a change dictated largely from the (understandable, if vengeful) desire for a nation to attempt to undo decades of failure and frustration through a narrow decision on points, one that had been gained largely due to American supplies and American arms (and the sacrifice of two of my great-grandfathers, who were gassed and died prematurely as a result). Wilson’s political bungling led the United States to reject Versailles and only to declare peace by Congressional resolution in 1924 [1]. And therein begins an interesting tale.
Woodrow Wilson did not wait on the acceptance of the Treaty of Versailles or the entrance of the United States into the League of Nations (neither of which ever happened) to commemorate Armistice Day. He established the day by presidential proclamation in 1919 in memory to honor the Veterans of World War I. In 1938, a law was passed making this day a national holiday to honor those who fought in World War I.
However, by 1954, the United States had fought World War II, with even more troops and casualties than World War I, as well as a three year shooting war in Korea (a war that, it should be noted, still goes on without resolution), and so in 1954, Congress amended Armistice Day to Veteran’s Day, to honor the veterans of all wars, by an act of Congress signed by then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower, himself the overall commander of Allied troops in North Africa, Italy, and France.
To that end, November 11, despite being a moderately inconclusive end to a horrible (but ultimately indecisive) conflict, served ironically enough as a day to honor the veterans of all wars. It is ironic, because many of the wars we have fought spring ultimately from World War I. World War II, of course, was fought between the most dissatisfied parties of World War I (Germany, Italy, Japan, as well as Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, and a few others) against a massive and often deeply divided coalition of allies. Korea was a post colonial conflict that came about as a result of the fall of Japan in World War II and the fall of China to Communism. Vietnam was another post-colonial conflict as the United States tried (and failed) to duplicate their deliberately inconclusive efforts in Korea in Indochina. Iraq (both times), Somalia, Bosnia, and Kosovo are relics of the fall of the Ottoman Empire (see Balkan Wars and World War I) or the relics of post-WWII Cold War politics. The recent conflict in Libya was also a holdover from Italy’s colonial past in the period just before WWI. We still live with the ghosts of history, as bad as we are at recognizing them. It is therefore fitting that World War I, as the origin of so much of the mess of our modern world (even the international plague of Communism, which thankfully appears terminal to those nations foolish enough to try it) should be honored as the origin of Veteran’s Day as a whole.
And it is in 1991 where I myself, in a very small and minor way, enter the history of this day. On November 11, 1991, I gave my first ever public speech in the Pinecrest area just south of Plant City on the subject of Veteran’s Day. I can’t remember all of the details of that day, twenty years ago, but I know that I spoke because even as a child I had a deep interest in history and especially of military history and the common folks who fight and win wars. There will come a time when nations will not have to learn war anymore, but until that time, let us celebrate those who are brave and courageous enough to defend a country that sometimes seems as if it is losing the ability and interest to defend itself.
[1] http://www.va.gov/opa/vetsday/vetdayhistory.asp
Edge Induced Cohesion 
Very good analysis. WWI was a war of nationalisms; WWII of ideologies. Without Sarajevo no Lenin, Stalin, Mussolini or Hitler.
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Indeed. But once politics was about the “people” then ideologies easily entered that consideration. After all, who are the people? I’m reminded that the difference between Lenin and Hitler and the #Occupy crowd are not that great. Populism has a dark underside, whether of the right or left. And who knows what horrors in the future we will unleash. The road to the “Arab Spring” as well runs right through World War I.
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Nathan, it has been a while yet how I always appreciate your writings, exposing the reality of those recent issues in history , if not denied, but neglectfully ignored in the past by the greatest nation in the world whose American way of thinking as isolationist, things will go away and forgotten in time if shoved aside. Consequently, many people continue to reap the harvests in the expense of those protecting their interests and freedom whether grateful or not, making the sacrifices and so doing, lost their lives for them. But how about the so-called “lawmakers?” Is it surprising whereby those making up the rules were the ones that initially messed up the order, making them out of order? The sacrifice of those had to clean up their mess. Life never worked this way. Rather, poking problematic matters need to be exposed to light and confronted, not passively. Any problem that is not reconciled will come back to bite, as you say the ghosts of the past will continue to creep into the present, destroying themselves from within and externally influence their people, their countries, and all nations..
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Actually, shortly before I wrote this blog entry I had a question from one of my Lahu students about World War I and World War II, and after my explanation of the many different wars and conflicts to come out of WWI and WWII he said, “so it’s not over yet?” And I had to tell him, “No, it’s not really over yet. We are still living with the effects of these wars.”
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Your students have insights yet how can not one notice? Quite apparent to overseas returnees, a friend recently said to me, “Look around, notice that people look lost?” I did notice and became more apparent when he emphasized it. Denial is the word. Interesting that followed the end of WWI came the Roaring 20s. What happened to that? After WWII came the age of pessimism, and now depression. Apathetic is the description here especially when the way of life today is to escape from reality by living in the Fantasy World, pretending as if nothing happened. You are looked down upon by the abstract mentality when you point out the facts about life, not the superficial one they ceated out of their boxes.
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I’m a pretty abstract person myself, but I use reality to create or inform my abstract mind. I appreciate the intuitive insights of others as well, and the student who made that comment is a pretty intuitive thinker himself. I appreciated that he caught on to what I was saying very quickly. I’m usually concerned that I talk over the heads of other people. I would say we’re not far away from the age of fatalism. There is a dark fatalistic streak in much of today’s culture, a sort of “let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die,” sentiment. This concerns me, because people are not doing what they can to make things better while they still can be.
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To begin with, the League of Nations were rather ineffective, proven by what you mentioned. So, the mess that was left by the former had to be cleaned by the latter. Shortly after the Second World War, the League of Nations were replaced by the United Nations in 1945/
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Yes, the League of Nations was totally ineffective, and the United States never joined it, instead becoming a founding member of the United Nations. The United Nations hasn’t proven to be very effective itself, but hopes and expectations were less for it, and so the failure has been less crushing so far to date.
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Speaking of Eisenhower as Commander of the Allied Forces, especially in the Invasion of Normandy in -Day, working side by side with the British Prime Minister Churchill. Visiting the Caen War Museum in Normandy, Eisenhower’s works is depicted on a wall.
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That’s awesome. I’ve never been to Normandy myself. I’m not surprised that the people of Caen would honor him, though. Nor am I surprised that it was Eisenhower who was in office when Veteran’s Day was signed into law.
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Nathan, this is not to say that even presidents did not have their moments. But we do know that a handful did nothing. Eisenhower actually did more, even on conservation after Teddy Roosevelt. So I could see why he was what I might describe “pro-humanitarian.” Before Eisenhower was promoted general, he served under General MacArthur in Manila, Philippines before he became a general. He was transferred to Europe, in Normandy, to work with Churchill. Eisenhower thus became the “man” in D-Day. I now see the connection you mentioned. Thanks.
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You’re welcome. Indeed, that was the connection I was implying. Sometimes I just don’t want to have to say obvious things outright xD.
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