Armistice
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An armistice is a situation in a war where the warring parties agree to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, since it might be just a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the Latin arma, meaning weapons and statium, meaning a stopping.
A truce or ceasefire usually refers 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. 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[1] is a major example of an armistice which has not been followed by a peace treaty.
The United Nations Security Council often imposes or tries to impose cease-fire 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.
The key aspect in an armistice is the fact that fighting ends with no one surrendering.[2] This is in contrast to an unconditional surrender, which is a surrender by one side without conditions, except for those provided by international law.[3]
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International Law regarding armistices [edit]
Under International Law an armistice is a legal agreement (often in a document) which ends fighting between the "belligerent parties" of a war or conflict.[4] The Hague II (1899) Treaty, says "If [the armistice's] duration is not fixed," the parties can resume fighting (Article 36) as they choose, but with proper notifications. This is in comparison to a "fixed duration" armistice, where the parties can renew fighting only at the end of the particular fixed duration.[5][not in citation given] When the belligerent parties say (in effect), "this armistice completely ends the fighting" without any end date for the armistice, then 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..."[citation needed]
Armistice Day [edit]
Armistice Day is still celebrated in many countries on the anniversary of the World War I 1918 armistice; alternatively 11 November, or a Sunday near to it, may still be observed as a Remembrance Day.[6] In the United States of America, November 11 is observed as Veterans Day.
Armistices in early modern history [edit]
- Armistice of Copenhagen of 1537 ended the Danish war known as the Count's Feud
- Armistice of Stuhmsdorf of 1635 between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Sweden
- Peace of Westphalia of 1648 that ended the Thirty Years' War and Eighty Years' War
Armistices of the 20th century [edit]
- World War I
The announcing of the armistice on November 11, 1918, was the occasion for large celebrations in the allied nations.
- Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, armistice between Russia and the Central Powers, March 1918
- Armistice with Bulgaria, also known as the Armistice of Solun, September 1918
- Armistice of Mudros Between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies, October 1918
- Austrian-Italian Armistice of Villa Giusti ended the war on the Italian front in early November 1918
- Armistice with Germany (Compiègne), ended World War I, November 11, 1918[7]
- Armistice of Mudanya between Turkey, Italy, France and Britain and later Greece, 1922
- World War II
- Armistice with France (Second Compiègne), 1940
- Armistice of Saint Jean d'Acre between British forces in the Middle East and Vichy France forces in Syria, 1941
- Armistice with Italy, 1943
- 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.[8]
- Korean War Armistice Agreement, July 1953
- Geneva Agreements signed by France and the Viet Minh on 20 July 1954 ending the First Indochina War
- 1962 armistice in Algeria attempted to end the Algerian War
References [edit]
- ^ "Text of the Korean War Armistice Agreement". FindLaw. 27 July 1953. Archived from the original on 1 December 2006. Retrieved 2007-01-04.
- ^ "Armistice". Merriam-Webster.
- ^ Rome Statute of the International Criminal CourtSection 8, on war crimes, prohibits violence against non-combatants, surrendered combatants, and other declarations of "no quarter"
- ^ Hague Convention of 1899 specifically, Laws of War: Laws and Customs of War on Land (Hague II); July 29, 1899; Chapter V.
- ^ Examples include a 24-hour ceasefire or truce, time alloted to recover wounded or dead from the battlefield, or for time periods set aside for further peace talks.[not in citation given]
- ^ "What is Remembrance Day?". CBBC Newsround. 10 November 2002. Retrieved 2007-01-04.
- ^ "The Armistice". The War to End All Wars. FirstWorldWar.com. 1 May 2004. Archived from the original on 5 January 2007. Retrieved 2007-01-04.
- ^ "1949 Armistice". Middle East, Land of Conflict (CNN). Archived from the original on 2007-05-03. Retrieved 2007-01-04.
External links [edit]
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Look up armistice in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
- "Allied Armistice Terms, 11 November 1918". The War to End All Wars. FirstWorldWar.com. Archived from the original on 2 February 2007. Retrieved 2007-01-04.
- The Expanded Cease-Fires Data Set Code Book (Emory University)
