The following is an encore presentation of Everything Everywhere Daily.

At the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918,

The Great War, the War to End All Wars, came to an end.

In the preceding four and a half years and four months, the world saw the greatest bloodletting

in history up until that point.

Even after the announcement of the armistice, the war continued for several hours.

During that brief window, thousands of soldiers died. One in particular died in the very last minute of the war.

Learn more about Sergeant Henry Gunther, the last soldier to die in World War I,

on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. everywhere daily. By November 1918 both sides in World War I were exhausted and spent.

On September 29th the Bulgarian signed an armistice with the

allies. On October 30th the Ottoman Empire had surrendered and on November 3rd

the Austrian-Hungarian Empire had signed their own armistice.

Germany was the last remaining central power facing the allies.

With all other opponents vanquished, everything could now be aimed at Germany.

The Americans who are relatively fresh had only

been in the war for about a year and provided needed relief in men, equipment and

funding for the British and the French. While the front lines had mostly been a stalemate, at least on the Western front for the

duration of the war, the Allies were amassing for a new offensive.

The Germans, having been economically and socially weakened from years of war, suffering from the Spanish flu

pandemic of that year, and now alone was at its end.

For over a month the Germans had seen the writing on the wall.

On September 29th, the day that Bulgaria surrendered,

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