Armistice Day

Armistice Day is on November 11 and commemorates the peace agreement signed to mark the beginning of the end of WW1. This  took effect at eleven o'clock in the morning—the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" of 1918. Veterans Day is an American holiday, but the rest of the world (Europe, at the least) will call it Armistice day.

Lately I have been reading some fun books about Queen Victoria, the Romanovs, the Kaiser, and many other subjects of this era. My recent interest was first peaked after watching the movie The Young Victoria. It certainly is a marvelous story, but it becomes even more amazing after digging a little deeper into the true story.

My genealogy interests were also peaked because I have German ancestors that emigrated in the late 1800's and the husband's ancestors were living the pre WW1 struggles daily in Russia. History is such a facinating topic, but it becomes even more awesome to think about how you could possibly be different because of how history treated your great great grandparents.

When you hear the name the Romanov, everyone thinks of Anastasia. If you are smarter than a fifth grader, you might possibly remember that her father's name was Nicolas. Everyone vaguely remembers that they were victims of a brutal murder, but do you know about the Tsars that came before? Do you know what horrible things left the Russian population feeling as they did? The decades before WW1 were filled with all sorts of turmoil, and its amazing how understanding these conflics can lead to a great appreciation of the struggles we don't face in 2010.

In a way, its "cool" to support the troops. For some its "cool" to not support the troops. But however you choose to mark November 11th this year, take this opportunity to learn more about the event that marks this date, and perhaps some history of your own.