What Veterans Day celebrates explained
The gist
Veterans Day began as Armistice Day, marking the 1918 end of World War I fighting.
It now honors roughly 17.5 million living U.S. veterans, not only the fallen.
How it unfolded
- Nov 11, 1918At 11 a.m., an armistice between Germany and the Allied powers ended fighting on the Western Front of World War I. More than 100,000 American servicemembers had died in the war.
- 1919America marked its first Armistice Day, a year after the armistice, with President Woodrow Wilson celebrating the occasion.
- 1921America laid an unknown soldier to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.
Key terms
- armistice
- An agreement between opposing sides to stop fighting, ending a war or conflict.
- Western Front
- The main theatre of fighting in World War I, running through Belgium and northeastern France.
- Allied powers
- The international military coalition led by France, Britain, Russia, Italy, the US and Japan that fought the Central Powers in World War I.
Source: Wikipedia