100 Years of 11.11.11

One hundred years ago, an armistice was signed. Two thousand years ago, a different armistice was signed — in blood.

On the 11^th hour of the 11^th day of the 11^th month of 1918, hostilities ceased.

11.11.11. Exactly 100 years ago.

World War I had been raging four long years, leaving 9 million soldiers dead and 21 million wounded. Germany, Russia, France and Great Britain each lost around a million soldiers. The United States suffered 116,000 losses, about twice the number killed in Vietnam.

By the end of the war, Germany was running out of soldiers and supplies, and the country was facing an imminent invasion. On November 11, 1918, German leaders met with Allied leaders in a railroad car in France, and there they signed an armistice agreement — a temporary suspension of hostilities. World War I was over, and no more blood would be shed.

Then the remembrances began. One year later, November 11 was declared in many countries to be Armistice Day. It became a federal holiday in the United States in 1938, and later, in the aftermath of World War II and the Korean War, the name was changed to...