Remembrance Day is marked at 11 AM on 11 November because the Armistice of Compiègne, agreed at about 5 AM on 11 November 1918, set the guns on the Western Front to fall silent at 11 o’clock, French time. In 1919 King George V asked for two minutes of silence at that hour, and the custom spread.
Key takeaways
- The Armistice was agreed at about 5 AM on 11 November 1918 in a railway carriage in the Forest of Compiègne; France’s defence ministry gives the signature as 5:15 AM, and hostilities stopped six hours later, at 11 AM French time (National WWI Museum).
- King George V asked his peoples in November 1919 to keep two minutes of silence at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, and it was first kept on 11 November 1919 (Australian War Memorial).
- The UK keeps a two-minute silence at 11 AM on 11 November and again at the National Service of Remembrance, held on Sunday 8 November in 2026 (GOV.UK, Royal British Legion).
- In the US, Armistice Day became a legal holiday in 1938 and was renamed Veterans Day by a law approved on 1 June 1954 (US Department of Veterans Affairs).
- Each country keeps the moment at 11 AM on its own clocks, so the silence travels west with the time zones, from Australia to the Pacific coast of Canada over about 18 hours.
Why does Remembrance Day happen at 11 AM on 11 November?
Because that was the hour the fighting stopped. The Armistice between the Allies and Germany was agreed at 5 AM on 11 November 1918, and the order to the armies set the ceasefire for 11 o’clock that morning, French hour, according to the National WWI Museum and Memorial in Kansas City.
The talks took place in Marshal Ferdinand Foch’s railway carriage in the Forest of Compiègne, north of Paris, and France’s Ministry of the Armed Forces dates the signature to 5:15 AM. Foch told Allied commanders that their troops were not to advance beyond the line reached at 11 o’clock until further orders. That moment, the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, has anchored the commemoration ever since.
| Time on 11 November 1918 (French time) | What happened |
|---|---|
| About 5 AM (signed 5:15 AM, per the French ministry) | Armistice agreed in Foch’s railway carriage at Compiègne |
| 11 AM | Hostilities stop on the entire front |
The Armistice ended the fighting, not the war: the US Department of Veterans Affairs notes the Treaty of Versailles followed on 28 June 1919.
Where did the two-minute silence come from?
The two-minute silence began on 11 November 1919, the first anniversary of the Armistice, at the request of King George V. The Australian War Memorial records that the King sent a message on 6 November 1919 asking for a complete pause in normal activity for two minutes at 11 AM, so that everyone could share a moment of remembrance.
The idea had more than one source. In October 1919 Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, a South African, suggested a silence on Armistice Day across the empire, modelled on the noon silences Cape Town had kept during the war. Edward George Honey, a Melbourne journalist and veteran living in London, had proposed five minutes in a letter to the London Evening News. After a trial with the Grenadier Guards at Buckingham Palace, the period was set at two minutes.
How do different countries keep the moment?
Most countries that mark the Armistice still pause at 11 AM, but each names and shapes the day differently.
| Country | Name of the day | How the 11 AM moment is kept |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday | Two minutes’ silence at 11 AM on 11 November and at the Sunday service |
| Australia | Remembrance Day | Two minutes’ silence at 11 AM |
| Canada | Remembrance Day | Two minutes’ silence at 11 AM |
| France | Armistice Day (public holiday since 1922) | National day of commemoration |
| United States | Veterans Day (Armistice Day until 1954) | Honours all American veterans |
| Poland | National Independence Day | Marks restored independence, 1918 |
United Kingdom. The Royal British Legion notes that the UK still marks Armistice Day with a Two Minute Silence at 11 AM. The larger national ceremony moves to the nearest Sunday: GOV.UK lists the 2026 National Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph on Whitehall for Sunday 8 November, starting at 11 AM.
France. The Ministry of the Armed Forces says the anniversary of the Armistice was made a public holiday in 1922. Law no. 2012-273 of 28 February 2012 extended the day to honour all those who died for France, in any conflict.
United States. President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the first commemoration of Armistice Day in November 1919, and the VA notes that the original plan included parades, public meetings and a brief suspension of business beginning at 11 AM. An act approved on 13 May 1938 made 11 November a legal holiday. In 1954 Congress replaced the word Armistice with Veterans so the day would honour American veterans of all wars. After a spell on Mondays from 1971, a 1975 law returned it to 11 November from 1978.
Poland. 11 November is National Independence Day. The European Network Remembrance and Solidarity explains that on 11 November 1918, after 123 years of partition, the Regency Council handed military power and supreme command of the Polish army to Józef Piłsudski. The University of Gdańsk notes the date coincided with the Armistice at Compiègne. Parliament made it a holiday by an act of 23 April 1937; it was abolished after the Second World War and restored in 1989.
How does one moment work across time zones?
Each country keeps the silence at 11 AM by its own clocks, so the pause is a local moment repeated around the world, rolling west with the time zones.
In November, 11 AM in Sydney (Australian Eastern Daylight Time, UTC+11) is midnight UTC. In London, on Greenwich Mean Time, 11 AM is 11:00 UTC. In Vancouver, where British Columbia now keeps Pacific Time (UTC−7) all year, it is 18:00 UTC. From eastern Australia to western Canada, about 18 hours pass, yet in each place the silence lands at the hour the fighting stopped in 1918.
For how the US came to share its clocks in the first place, see the Day of Two Noons; for an earlier act of calendar reform, see why ten days vanished in 1582.
What can a fixed daily pause teach about keeping time well?
A shared silence works because it is fixed: the same hour, kept every year, so people know when to stop without being told. The same quality, regularity, helps a body clock. A steady wake time and regular meals are the anchors described in how to fix your sleep schedule.
A brief, planned stop at the same time each day, to breathe, step outside or think of the people who matter, gives the day a fixed point. When the clocks change at the end of daylight saving time, such anchors help the day settle into its new hour.
Your day on My BodyClock
The day above on My BodyClock is an ordinary autumn weekday with one fixed pause: a short Relax block from 10:55 to 11:15 AM that leaves room for the two minutes of silence at 11 AM. Around it the day keeps the anchors that steady a body clock: wake at 6:30 AM, a walk in morning light, regular meals, an afternoon walk through the park past the town memorial, and lights out at 10 PM.
Build your own version in Owaves: the World’s First Wellness Planner, Powered by Your Body Clock. Take the Body Clock Type quiz to find your natural timing, then plan the day on My BodyClock in Owaves for iPhone. On Android? Join the waitlist.
FAQ
Why is the silence at 11 AM on 11 November?
The Armistice that ended the fighting on the Western Front in 1918 was agreed at about 5 AM on 11 November and took effect at 11 AM French time. The silence marks the hour the guns stopped.
When is Remembrance Sunday in 2026?
Remembrance Sunday falls on the second Sunday in November, which is 8 November 2026. GOV.UK lists the National Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph for that day, starting at 11 AM. Armistice Day itself, 11 November 2026, falls on a Wednesday.
Why was Armistice Day renamed Veterans Day in the US?
After the Second World War and the Korean War, veterans’ organizations asked Congress to honour veterans of all wars. A law approved on 1 June 1954 replaced the word Armistice with Veterans, according to the US Department of Veterans Affairs.
Sources
- National WWI Museum and Memorial. Armistice. https://www.theworldwar.org/learn/about-wwi/armistice
- Ministère des Armées (France). 11 novembre : journée nationale de commémoration de la Victoire et de la Paix, hommage à tous les Morts pour la France. Chemins de mémoire. https://www.defense.gouv.fr/chemins-memoire/histoire-memoires/journees-nationales-commemoratives/11-novembre-journee-nationale-commemoration
- Australian War Memorial. Two minutes’ silence. https://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/customs/silence
- Royal British Legion. Armistice Day. https://www.britishlegion.org.uk/get-involved/remembrance/about-remembrance/armistice-day
- GOV.UK (Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Ministry of Defence). National Service of Remembrance: Sunday 8 November 2026, published 8 October 2026. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/national-service-of-remembrance-sunday-8-november-2026
- Royal British Legion. Remembrance Sunday: Cenotaph Parade 2026. https://www.britishlegion.org.uk/get-involved/remembrance/remembrance-events/remembrance-sunday
- US Department of Veterans Affairs. History of Veterans Day. https://department.va.gov/veterans-day/history-of-veterans-day/
- Veterans Affairs Canada. Remembrance Day 2019 (video page). https://veterans.gc.ca/en/node/713439
- European Network Remembrance and Solidarity. National Independence Day in Poland. https://enrs.eu/news/national-independence-day-in-poland
- University of Gdańsk. November 11, National Independence Day, 11 November 2021. https://new.ug.edu.pl/news/en/node/2147
- Penrith Town Council. Remembrance Sunday. https://www.penrithtowncouncil.gov.uk/remembrance-sunday/
- Government of British Columbia. Permanent daylight saving time. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/governments/celebrating-british-columbia/daylight-saving-time
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