This Day in History: , World War I Ends.
November 11, 1918.
Germany signed the
armistice agreement with
the Allies that would end the
most devastating war to date.
World War I was fought at the
human cost of more than nine million
soldiers. 21 million soldiers were wounded.
More than five million civilians were
killed or died from starvation,
exposure or disease.
The combined financial costs
of the "war to end all wars"
totaled more than $300 billion.
Sparked by the assassination
of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
in June 1914, the war led to the
destruction of four European empires.
The punitive Treaty of Versailles
led to runaway inflation and mass
resentment in Germany, sowing
the seeds of World War II