FACT ONE
The Armistice was an agreement signed by representatives of France, Great Britain and Germany. It was an agreement to end fighting as a prelude to peace negotiations. The Treaty of Versailles signed six months later would act as the peace treaty between the nations. Armistice is used as a term to describe any agreement to end fighting in wars, but "The Armistice" almost always refers to the agreement to end the fighting of the First World War.

FACT TWO
Although 11am on November 11th (the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month) is the time remembered as the official ending of the First World War as a result of the signing of the Armistice, the Armistice itself was actually signed six hours earlier, at 5am. The first term of the agreement was that fighting would cease six hours later.

FACT THREE
The Armistice was signed in French Commander Ferdinand Foch's railway carriage in Compiègne Forest. In 1940, Adolf Hitler made France sign an armistice with Germany in the same railway carriage after the country had come under Germany occupation. The railway carriage, which had to be taken out of a museum, was placed on the exact site of the signing of the 1918 Armistice, with Hitler sitting in the seat in which Foch had previous sat. After the armistice of 1940, the carriage was taken away and later destroyed and buried in 1945. The site of the signing of the 1918 Armistice itself was completely destroyed at Hitler's request although has since been restored.

FACT FOUR
At the time of the signing of the Armistice, the Allied forces were winning the war against Germany. By bringing the war to an end, some felt that the Allies were robbed of a victory. As the Armistice was an agreement between both sides to stop the fighting, it meant that Germany had not had to surrender and technically had not been defeated, although the terms of the Armistice left them pretty much powerless. Many believed that the defeat of the Germans would have been inevitable had the war continued. A report after the war by British General Sir Frederick Maurice explained why the Allies accepted a "premature" end to the war. The simple fact was that getting supplies to soldiers on the front line was becoming more difficult. As the Germany army retreated, they destroyed methods of transportation such as roads and railway tracks. Transporting weaponry and, more importantly, food meant building or repairing these roads and railway tracks and this simply couldn't be done with the resources available. So the Armistice, as well as preventing further bloodshed on both sides, also preventing losing many Allied soldiers through starvation.

FACT FIVE
The Armistice was signed to end fighting, although the terms of it basically made it impossible for Germany to restart the war, at least in the short term. They were ordered to give up 2,500 heavy guns, 2,500 field guns, 25,000 machine guns, 1,700 aeroplanes and all submarines they possessed (they were originally asked to give up more submarines than they actually had!). They were also asked to give up several warships and disarm all of the ones that they were allowed to keep. 

FACT SIX
If Germany broke any of the terms of the Armistice (such as not evacuating areas they were ordered to evacuate, not handing over weapons or prisoners of war in the timescales given or causing damage to any individual or their property) fighting would begin again with 48 hours notice. 

FACT SEVEN
Germany was ordered to provide information about the location of mines or traps they had placed and reveal what other things they had deliberately destroyed or caused damage too (such as polluting or poisoning springs or wells).

FACT EIGHT
Whereas Germany viewed the terms of the Armistice as too harsh, the French saw it, and the Treaty of Versailles signed the following year, as too lenient.  

FACT NINE
The Armistice originally lasted 30 days, but was renewed on a monthly basis up to the point of the more permanent Treaty of Versailles in 1919.

FACT TEN
Armistice Day, Remembrance Day or Veterans Day  is commemorated in many countries involved in the First World War on November 11th every year or on the Sunday nearest to it (or, as is becoming more common, on both days). Several countries remember the people lost during the First World War and other wars by holding a two minute silence at 11am on that day. In the United Kingdom, Remembrance Day ceremonies have been televised every year since 1946, although the first live broadcast was in 1937.