Learn from mistakes that led to World War I

A century ago, on Nov 11, 1918, at 11 am Paris time (the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month), the armistice confirming the total surrender of Germany to the Allies came into effect, putting an end to World War I. It had been signed five hours before at Rethondes in the forests of Compi��gne near Paris inside a railroad wagon.

On June 22, 1940, the same railroad wagon would host the signing of a second armistice; this time, France would surrender to Germany. That restaurant car of the Compagnie des Wagons-Lits symbolizes the drama and folly of European history in the 20th century.

Nine million soldiers and 7 million civilians were killed. After four years of untold suffering and carnage, European youths lay under the fields. Three imperial crowns and half a millennium of European geopolitical predominance accompanied them to their grave. All the European powers involved lost, even those that happened to be on the "winning" side. Had the actors of the drama been prescient enough to anticipate the landscape after the battle, nobody would have dared to start it.