Armistice

The Hague Convention of 1907 defined an armistice as a suspension of military operations by mutual agreement; it could be general or local and did not formally end the state of war. Between 1914 and 1918 there were both brief local truces, such as the Christmas truce of 1914, and armistices by which whole states left the war.

In the east Romania signed an armistice at Focșani on 9 December 1917 and Soviet Russia at Brest-Litovsk on 15 December 1917. In autumn 1918 the Central Powers left the war one after another: Bulgaria at Salonika on 29 September, the Ottoman Empire at Mudros on 30 October, Austria-Hungary at Villa Giusti on 3 November and Germany at Compiègne on 11 November. The last coincided with Józef Piłsudski taking military command in Warsaw, which is why 11 November is Poland's Independence Day.