Exactly at 11 o’clock in the morning, the last roar of artillery rounds echoed over desolated battlefields of northeast France on Nov. 11, 1918.
Breathless silence immediately fell upon scorched trench lines riddled with impact-crater-like depressions in the ground and bristled with barbed wire for miles.
At this moment, all weapons were laid down to rest by command.
After moments of solemn stillness, thousands of American, British, and French soldiers manning those dirty dugouts raised their helmets up in cheerful jubilation.
The final ceasefire between the victorious Allied Powers and defeated Germany that was signed just six hours before in a rail wagon stationed in Compiegne, had finally сame into effect.
This was the day that marked the end of World War I, one of the most brutal conflicts in human history.
The slaughterous battle marked by grueling trench warfare and a years-long tactical stalemate brought grief and destruction that had never been seen before, resulting in up to 19 million deaths and the downfall of four empires in Europe.
A century after the 1918 Armistice Day, leaders of all nations bearing the scars of World War I came to Paris to pay their respects to the millions killed in battlefield around the globe between 1914 and 1918.
Commemoration in Kyiv
Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko was among those invited to the grand commemoration in Paris, but solemn celebrations have also been held in Ukraine.
On Nov. 11, envoys of Canada, France, Great Britain, as well as of all other NATO nations and the Ukrainian Armed Forces gathered in the Park of Eternal Glory in Kyiv to commemorate Remembrance Day.
“World War I was a cataclysm that both inspired and haunted the lives of our grandparents and great-grandparents in all of the countries which we represent,” said Roman Waschuk, the ambassador of Canada to Ukraine in his introductory speech. “This great ‘war to end all wars’ ended with peace that brought short-term euphoria but proved unsteady and impermanent.”
During the ceremony, guests read some famous poems composed on battlefields of the war in Europe, including “In Flanders Fields” by Canadian medical officer John McCrae.
At 11 o’clock sharp – a century after the World War I ceasefire – the ceremony held a minute of mourning silence, and then laid wreaths and traditional paper poppies near Kyiv’s Grave of the Unknown Soldier.
Ukraine’s role in WWI
The role of Ukrainians in World War I has never been widely acknowledged, even though Ukraine was a major battlefield during this conflict.
Moreover, as recent research suggests, Ukraine was among the most devastated nations as a result of the war.
According to Andriy Rukkas, associate professor of history at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, up to 4.5 million ethnic Ukrainians were mobilized to fight in 1914-1918.
Ukrainians found themselves on both sides of the frontline, serving in opposing armies of the Russian Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Of nearly 4.5 million Ukrainian serving in the Russian Imperial Army, nearly 600,000 were killed in combat, and more than 1 million were wounded. Up to 700,000 served the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and nearly 120,000 of them were killed and more than 200,000 injured, according to Rukkas.
In general, according to the scientist, World War I resulted in up to 1.5 million Ukrainian deaths, both combatants and civilians.
This death toll levels with the losses sustained by Italy (up to 1.2 million killed), Great Britain (up to 1 million killed), and France (up to 1.7 million killed).
Moreover, while the world marks the 100th anniversary of World War I, Ukraine remains a battlefield of yet another trench war stuck in an ongoing tactical stalemate because of Russia’s unwillingness to leave Ukraine
And 100 years later, soldiers still die on this only ongoing war in Europe that has already taken at least 10,300 lives.
According to Ukraine’s Joint Forces Operation command, two Ukrainian soldiers were killed overnight on Nov. 11, during another combat clash against Russian-backed forces at a frontline hotspot near the Kremlin-occupied city of Debaltseve.
