11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918

Today, 11 November, marks the 91^st anniversary of the cessation of battle on the western front during World War I. The armistice between the combatants took effect at the 11^th hour of the 11^th day of the 11^th month. In the US we know today as Veterans Day. In the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth Nations it’s Remembrance Day. In Belgium it’s still know as Armistice Day.

I attended the ceremony in Brussels and it was similar to those that we find in the US: pomp and ceremony, lots of flags, a marching band, veterans, flowers, etc. The walk from my flat to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (la tombe de le soldat inconnu) was eerily quiet. Rue Royale was blocked off and as I crossed the street I was almost mowed down by the motorcade of the NATO delegation. (NATO’s headquarters are just outside Brussels. I really need to get over there and check it out.)

The site of the ceremony was lightly attended when I arrived around 10:30, but soon grew. Parents were there with their kids. One father was trying to explain the concept of the Unknown Soldier to his son.

Nationalism is a finicky thing in Belgium. The über-federal nature of the country has certainly diluted whatever nationalism was here starting back in 1830 when Belgium broke away form the Kingdom of the Netherlands. But, here, there were Belgian flags waving just like we’d see back in the US. (Though, the people weren’t carrying any flags, except for one guy who was all decked out in red, walking sticks, a backpack with apocalyptic slogans on it, and a big white beard. He could have been mistaken for a hugely patriotic and apocalyptic Santa, but St. Nick is expected to dock in Brussels until next Wednesday. Needless to say, the Belgian police had an eye on this guy.)

The band played and veterans marched and the king arrived. I’m still fascinated by the concept of the king and was very glad to see him in person. King Albert II’s motorcade came through and he walked by the reviewing stand, saluted, and shook hands with members of the military and the veterans in attendance. Yes, there were shouts of “Vive le Roi.” (Long Live the King) Some snickers went through the crowed at this, but King Albert was applauded as we made his way around. He laid his wreath and saluted and then walked to his car and he was off.

Then there was a parade of Belgian officials to the tomb to lay wreaths of flowers: the prime minister, defense minister, chief of the army, etc. The ceremony ended with the playing of the Ode to Joy from Beethoven’s 9^th Symphony, the anthem, as it were, of post-WW II Europe and then the national anthem of Belgium.

For someone who studies World War I, this was a particularly interesting ceremony to attend since, unlike the US, Belgium had Allied and German troops on its soil before, during, and after the Armistice was signed in 1918. It was also interesting to stand there and hear cannons sound off as the ceremony went on. Many of the members of the Commission for Relief in Belgium lived in towns close to the front and wrote in their diaries or in letters home that they could hear the sound of cannons in the distance. Now, to some extent, I know what that sounded like. I’ll admit, I did tear-up – especially during the playing of the Ode to Joy. Historians are not dispassionate observers of the past, we certainly do a good deal of creation as we examine documents and other sources and then write up what we’ve found and thought about. Attending this event certainly brought me a little closer to the fact that while the men I’m studying were writing memos about how much corn flour should be sent from Rotterdam to Brussels and then to Namur or why such-and-such a town commune wasn’t listen to the good advice of the American delegate, thousands of young men were dying a few miles to the west and that soon some of the men who were writing these memos would go on to serve once the US entered the actual fighting in April 1917.

It’s back to the archive tomorrow….