Street celebrations mark end of the war
To mark our 175th anniversary year, we feature a different front page each week from past Ottawa Citizens. Today: Nov. 11, 1918
At 6 a.m. ET on Nov. 11, 1918, the First World War effectively ended, following the signing of an armistice by German and Allied officials six hours earlier.
The Citizen's front-page headline that day was simple and unequivocal: PEACE! it boldly read, letting readers know that after 1,568 days of hostilities, the war's end had finally arrived.
Also on the front page, a story headlined “MAD DESIRE TO DOMINATE WORLD IS ALSO TOPPLED” somewhat poetically announced that “The German people, for a generation the obedient and submissive servants of their war lords, for more than four years his pliant instruments in ravaging the world, have spoken a new word, and the old Germany is gone.
“Once more,” wrote the Citizen in an editorial, “justice and the right have triumphed over evil and wrongdoing.”
Locally, celebrations had already begun two days earlier, with news of the German emperor's abdication. In a signal prearranged with the Citizen, the city's power companies dimmed customers' lights twice in succession, while street lamps were turned on and off twice.
“And then the scene changed,” noted the Citizen.
“The afternoon crowds doing their usual Saturday afternoon shopping or taking their usual Saturday afternoon walks became a seething, surging, cheering, wildly enthusiastic multitude.”
Parading war veterans played music on Sparks Street while thousands gathered to watch and cheer.
A 10-foot effigy of the Kaiser, constructed by employees of the Citizen's press room, was carried to the plaza at Connaught Square, where then Ottawa fire chief John Graham set it alight.
“At four o'clock on Sunday morning the streets of Ottawa were deserted. Here and there, the battered remnants of a hat, the remains of a tin horn, colored confetti strewn on the sidewalks — told the story.
“The abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II had been duly celebrated by the Capital of Canada.”