How did World War 1 end?

The war ended when the Germans asked for an armistice which was signed with the Allies in a railway carriage in November 1918 agreeing to end the war at 11am on 11 November 1918.

Key factors for the loss:

- The German armies were defeated in battle and in full retreat
- Germany's allies had collapsed (Austria-Hungary, Turkey, Bulgaria)
- The naval blockade on the coast was biting. The German people were very short of food
- Shortages had caused riots and revolution - many German cities fell to communist rebels
- The western allies were still in very good shape
- Germany put their trust in the USA's 14 points, which included no fault or change of borders. Rather foolishly as these were then ignored by the others
- Above all, Germany realised that after four years of war they were simply not going to win.
 
The final Allied push towards the German border began on October 17, 1918. As the British, French and American armies advanced, the alliance between the Central Powers began to collapse. Turkey signed an armistice at the end of October, Austria-Hungary followed on November 3.

Germany began to crumble from within. Faced with the prospect of returning to sea, the sailors of the High Seas Fleet stationed at Kiel mutinied on October 29. Within a few days, the entire city was in their control and the revolution spread throughout the country. On November 9 the Kaiser abdicated; slipping across the border into the Netherlands and exile. A German Republic was declared and peace feelers extended to the Allies. At 5 AM on the morning of November 11 an armistice was signed in a railroad car parked in a French forest near the front lines.

The terms of the agreement called for the cessation of fighting along the entire Western Front to begin at precisely 11 AM that morning.
 
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