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An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
''arma'', meaning "arms" (as in weapons) and ''-stitium'', meaning "a stopping". The
United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, ...
often imposes, or tries to impose,
cease-fire A ceasefire (also known as a truce or armistice), also spelled cease fire (the antonym of 'open fire'), is a temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. Ceasefires may be between state ac ...
resolutions on parties in modern conflicts. Armistices are always negotiated between the parties themselves and are thus generally seen as more binding than non-mandatory UN cease-fire resolutions in modern international law. An armistice is a '' modus vivendi'' and is not the same as a peace treaty, which may take months or even years to agree on. The 1953 Korean War Armistice Agreement is a major example of an armistice which has not been followed by a peace treaty. An armistice is also different from a truce or ceasefire, which refer to a temporary cessation of hostilities for an agreed limited time or within a limited area. A truce may be needed in order to negotiate an armistice.


International law

Under international law, an armistice is a legal agreement (often in a document) that ends fighting between the "belligerent parties" of a war or conflict. At the
Hague Convention of 1899 The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 are a series of international treaties and declarations negotiated at two international peace conferences at The Hague in the Netherlands. Along with the Geneva Conventions, the Hague Conventions were amon ...
, three treaties were agreed and three declarations made. The ''
Convention with respect to the Laws and Customs of War on Land The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 are a series of international treaties and declarations negotiated at two international peace conferences at The Hague in the Netherlands. Along with the Geneva Conventions, the Hague Conventions were amon ...
'' stated, "If
he armistice's He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...
duration is not fixed," the parties may resume fighting (Article 36) as they choose but with proper notifications. That is in comparison to a "fixed duration" armistice in which the parties may renew fighting only at the end of the particular fixed duration. When the belligerent parties say in effect that "this armistice completely ends the fighting" without any end date for the armistice, the duration of the armistice is fixed in the sense that no resumption of the fighting is allowed at any time. For example, the Korean Armistice Agreement calls for a "ceasefire and armistice" and has the "objective of establishing an armistice which will ensure a complete cessation of hostilities and of all acts of armed force in Korea until a final peaceful settlement is achieved."


Armistice Day

Armistice Day (which coincides with Remembrance Day and Veterans Day, public holidays) is commemorated every year on 11 November to mark the Armistice of 11 November 1918 signed between the Allies of World War I and the
German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...
at Compiègne,
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, for the cessation of hostilities on the
Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers * Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a maj ...
of
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, which took effect at eleven o'clock in the morning, the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" of 1918. Most countries changed the name of the holiday after World War II to honor veterans of that and subsequent conflicts. Most member states of the
Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the C ...
adopted the name Remembrance Day, and the United States chose Veterans Day.


Early modern history

*
Armistice of Copenhagen The Armistice of Copenhagen of 1537 ended the Danish war known as the Count's Feud. No formal peace was signed but the Swedish debt to Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck ...
of 1537 ended the Danish war known as the Count's Feud *
Armistice of Stuhmsdorf The Treaty of Stuhmsdorf ( sv, Stilleståndet i Stuhmsdorf), or Sztumska Wieś ( pl, Rozejm w Sztumskiej Wsi), was a treaty signed on 12 September 1635 between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Swedish Empire in the village of Stuhmsd ...
of 1635 between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Sweden * Peace of Westphalia of 1648 that ended the
Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of batt ...
and Eighty Years' War


20th century

*
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
** Armistice between Russia and the Central Powers, December 1917 ** Armistice of Salonika between Bulgaria and the Allies, September 1918 ** Armistice of Mudros between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies, October 1918 **
Austrian-Italian Armistice of Villa Giusti The Armistice of Villa Giusti or Padua ended warfare between Italy and Austria-Hungary on the Italian Front during World War I. The armistice was signed on 3 November 1918 in the Villa Giusti, outside Padua in the Veneto, Northern Italy, and ...
ended the fighting of the war on the Italian front in early November 1918 ** Armistice with Germany (Compiègne), ended the fighting of the war on the western front, November 11, 1918 * Armistice of Mudanya between Turkey, Italy, France and the UK and later Greece, 1922 *
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
** Armistice with France (Second Compiègne), 1940 **
Armistice of Saint Jean d'Acre The Armistice of Saint Jean d'Acre (also known as the Convention of Acre) concluded the Syria-Lebanon Campaign of World War II. The Armistice, signed on 14 July 1941, was between Allied forces in the Middle East under the command of British G ...
between British forces in the Middle East and Vichy France forces in Syria, 1941 ** Armistice with Italy, formal agreement of warring parties, the
Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
and Italy, to stop fighting that was signed on 3 September 1943 by Walter Bedell Smith and Giuseppe Castellano. ** Moscow Armistice, signed by Finland and the Soviet Union on 19 September 1944 ending the Continuation War * 1949 Armistice Agreements between Israel and its neighbors Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria * Korean War Armistice Agreement, July 1953 *
Geneva Agreements The Geneva Conference, intended to settle outstanding issues resulting from the Korean War and the First Indochina War, was a conference involving several nations that took place in Geneva, Switzerland, from 26 April to 20 July 1954. The part o ...
signed by France and the Viet Minh on 20 July 1954 ending the First Indochina War * Évian Armistice in
Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...
, 1962, which attempted to end the Algerian War, leading to the Évian Accords. * Dayton Agreement signed by Bosnia, Croatia and Yugoslavia on 21 November 1995, which ended the Bosnian War


References


External links

*
The Expanded Cease-Fires Data Set Code Book (Emory University)
{{Authority control Military strategy