# What remnants of WWI lasted until 1919? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 21, 2012, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-remnants-of-wwi-lasted-until-1919/622635 "2012-05-21T18:09:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-remnants-of-wwi-lasted-until-1919/622635/1 "2012-05-21T18:09:48Z")
I’ve always thought of Nov. 11, 1918 as the day World War I ended. But now I’m reading a book about cargo cults in Melanesia and it talks about the “1914-1919 war”. So what parts of the war lasted past 1918? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-remnants-of-wwi-lasted-until-1919/622635/2 "2012-05-21T18:14:57Z")
[Ugly site, but appears to address the question](http://www.worldwar-1.net/world-war-1-timelines/world-war-1-1919/world-war-1-1919-index.htm). From the site’s introduction (emphasis added): > [@](#): > > World War 1, also known as the First World War or the Great War and the War to End All Wars, was a world conflict lasting from 1914 to 1919, with the fighting lasting until 1918. The war was fought by the Allies on one side, and the Central Powers on the other. No previous conflict had mobilized so many soldiers or involved so many in the field of battle. By its end, the war had become the second bloodiest conflict in recorded history. > World War 1 became infamous for trench warfare, where troops were confined to trenches because of tight defenses. This was especially true of the Western Front. More than 9 million died on the battlefield, and nearly that many more on the home fronts because of food shortages, genocide, and ground combat. Among other notable events, the first large-scale bombing from the air was undertaken and some of the century’s first large-scale civilian massacres took place, as one of the aspects of modern efficient, non-chivalrous warfare. > > I hope you will enjoy viewing [worldwar-1.net](http://worldwar-1.net) and find its information both helpful and interesting. The website includes an exhaustive day by day timeline, covering every event that occured during World War 1, in chronological order from 1914 through to 1919, which gives a fascinating insight into what was arguably the first industrial war in our history. Frankly, I don’t see any compelling argument for calling the 1919 stuff part of World War 1, but I’m a not a military historian. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-remnants-of-wwi-lasted-until-1919/622635/3 "2012-05-21T18:20:59Z")
Weren’t there some British forces somewhat involved in the [White Russian](http://christopher-eger.suite101.com/the-white-russian-armies-19171923-a32624) conflict? An old book I have about biplanes has a photo with a caption that suggests it. Don’t know how accurate that is. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-remnants-of-wwi-lasted-until-1919/622635/4 "2012-05-21T18:26:17Z")
November 11, 1918 was just an armistice – a general cease fire. The war officially ended with the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-remnants-of-wwi-lasted-until-1919/622635/5 "2012-05-21T18:30:08Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > November 11, 1918 was just an armistice – a general cease fire. The war officially ended with the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919. Well, that _does_ make sense. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![gunnergoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e95f7d/32.png) [@gunnergoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gunnergoz)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-remnants-of-wwi-lasted-until-1919/622635/6 "2012-05-21T19:13:21Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > Weren’t there some British forces somewhat involved in the [White Russian](http://christopher-eger.suite101.com/the-white-russian-armies-19171923-a32624) conflict? An old book I have about biplanes has a photo with a caption that suggests it. Don’t know how accurate that is. The United States was involved too, with the 27th and 31st Infantry Regiments being sent to Siberia from 1918-1920 to protect parts of the Siberian railway. They (and the remainder of the Allied force) were withdrawn when the Whites were defeated by the Reds in the Russian Revolution. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-remnants-of-wwi-lasted-until-1919/622635/7 "2012-05-21T19:17:44Z")
I like to consider the wars between the former Yugoslavian states to be the last battles of WWI. but time will tell. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-remnants-of-wwi-lasted-until-1919/622635/8 "2012-05-21T19:19:10Z")
The civil war in Russia isn’t typically regarded as a part of WWI, nor is internal strife elsewhere (i.e. in Germany). I don’t recall much happening on the Melanesian Front either. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-remnants-of-wwi-lasted-until-1919/622635/9 "2012-05-21T19:32:34Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > The civil war in Russia isn’t typically regarded as a part of WWI, nor is internal strife elsewhere (i.e. in Germany). That’s kind of what I thought. I guess certain authors may have a different view because of cause and effect. Like how WWI and WWII added to the issues causing the Vietnam War, but the US involvement in Vietnam is not a direct continuation of the two world wars. ---
**Author:** ![merrick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58956e/32.png) [@merrick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/merrick)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-remnants-of-wwi-lasted-until-1919/622635/10 "2012-05-21T20:34:46Z")
There were several “follow-on” conflicts arising from the end of World War 1 - notably the [Polish-Soviet War](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish-Soviet_War) and the [Greco-Turkish War](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Turkish_War_(1919%E2%80%931922)), but these are not usually regarded as part of World War 1 itself. Most historians pragmatically mark the end of WW1 as the Armistice of November 1918. If you’re going to be pedantic and insist that a war only ends when the peace treaty is definitively signed, then WW1 only ended with the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 - and WW2 and the Korean War haven’t ended yet. ---
**Author:** ![aesop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f8ce5/32.png) [@aesop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aesop)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-remnants-of-wwi-lasted-until-1919/622635/11 "2012-05-21T21:19:03Z")
> [@merrick](#): > > Most historians pragmatically mark the end of WW1 as the Armistice of November 1918. If you’re going to be pedantic and insist that a war only ends when the peace treaty is definitively signed, then WW1 only ended with the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 - and WW2 and the Korean War haven’t ended yet. And if you’re really pedantic, you’ll recall that military powerhouse Andorra 🙂 did not end its state of war with the Kaiser’s Germany until either [1939](http://christopher-eger.suite101.com/modern-military-history-of-andorra-a26925) or [1957](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andorra), depending on which source you believe. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-remnants-of-wwi-lasted-until-1919/622635/12 "2012-05-21T21:21:42Z")
> [@merrick](#): > > Most historians pragmatically mark the end of WW1 as the Armistice of November 1918. If you’re going to be pedantic and insist that a war only ends when the peace treaty is definitively signed, then WW1 only ended with the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 - and WW2 and the Korean War haven’t ended yet. Wikipedia has a cited entry on the [List of wars extended by diplomatic irregularity](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_extended_by_diplomatic_irregularity) suggesting WWI only ended for Costa Rica in 1945 and Andorra in 1958. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-remnants-of-wwi-lasted-until-1919/622635/14 "2012-05-21T21:27:42Z")
Canada also had troops involved in the British intervention in the Russian Civil War. The date 1919 seems to have been used more commonly as the terminus date back then. For instance, [our local cenotaph in Regina](http://www.flickr.com/photos/cdnav8r/3876984978/), dedicated in 1926, has the following inscription: > [@](#): > > To the Glory of God and the Immortal Memory of the Citizens of Regina who Gave their Lives in the Great War 1914-1919. I think it’s been more in retrospect that the 1918 armistice has been seen as the end date. ---
**Author:** ![merrick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58956e/32.png) [@merrick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/merrick)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-remnants-of-wwi-lasted-until-1919/622635/15 "2012-05-21T21:39:44Z")
> [@aesop](#): > > And if you’re really pedantic, you’ll recall that military powerhouse Andorra 🙂 did not end its state of war with the Kaiser’s Germany until either [1939](http://christopher-eger.suite101.com/modern-military-history-of-andorra-a26925) or [1957](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andorra), depending on which source you believe. I count myself out-pedanted, by both you and **Pushkin**. But Lausanne was a bit more than a diplomatic irregularity - it made changes of thousands of square miles to the previous Treaty of Sevres, and this was the consequence of some very bloody fighting in 1920-22. However this fighting is generally regarded as seperate from WW1 even though the state of war had never officially ended. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-remnants-of-wwi-lasted-until-1919/622635/16 "2012-05-21T21:57:01Z")
For the purposes of veterans’ benefits, the U.S. government [considers World War I to have ended on November 11, 1918](http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/38/101). However, they also lump veterans who served with the United States military forces in Russia in with World War I, and the period for that is extended to April 1, 1920. (Although WWI is considered to have ended at the Armistice–unless you were fighting the Bolsheviks in Russia–World War II didn’t officially end until December 31, 1946.) ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-remnants-of-wwi-lasted-until-1919/622635/17 "2012-05-21T22:19:41Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > The civil war in Russia isn’t typically regarded as a part of WWI, nor is internal strife elsewhere (i.e. in Germany). > > I don’t recall much happening on the Melanesian Front either. Well the [Australians occupied German New Guinea](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Naval_and_Military_Expeditionary_Force)and the surrounding islands. Other than that I can’t think of much. I think Von Spee’s East Asian Squadron passed well to the north of Melanesia. ANd the _Emden_ mainly operated in the Indian Ocean. ---
**Author:** ![Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c68b51/32.png) [@Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashley_Pomeroy)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-remnants-of-wwi-lasted-until-1919/622635/18 "2012-05-21T22:54:00Z")
My grandad was given one of these: > **[Victory Medal (United Kingdom)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_Medal_%28United_Kingdom%29)** > > The Victory Medal (also called the Inter-Allied Victory Medal) is a United Kingdom and British Empire First World War campaign medal. > The award of a common allied campaign medal was recommended by an inter-allied committee in March 1919. Each allied nation would design a 'Victory Medal' for award to their own nationals, all issues having certain common features, including a winged figure of victory on the obverse and the same ribbon. Fourteen countries finally awarded the medal. > The Victory M... It was his reward for fighting in the Great War. It reads “The Great War for Civilisation 1914-1919”. There seem to have been 13m+ of the things churned out. Wikipedia has the following, baffling explanation: “The dates of the war were in every case 1914 to 1918, except that of the British Empire, which gave the dates as illustrated (1914 to 1919 with 1921 being the year in which the war ended in point of Parliamentary law but in 1919 under common law relating to the status and functions of the monarchy).” Thank God civilisation was saved, eh? ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-remnants-of-wwi-lasted-until-1919/622635/19 "2012-05-21T23:06:28Z")
Maybe they couldn’t impose the harsher treaty conditions on the Germans without the threat of armed retaliation that still being in an open state of war could threaten? I’m really just WAG-ing here. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-remnants-of-wwi-lasted-until-1919/622635/20 "2012-05-22T01:43:54Z")
According to Sinclair’s _Only Yesterday,_ the US Army casualty list was still appearing in American papers in 1919. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-remnants-of-wwi-lasted-until-1919/622635/21 "2012-05-22T08:35:03Z")
I’ve seen war memorials in towns in Australia and New Zealand referring to “The Great War Of 1914-1919”, FWIW. But mostly WWI is acknowledged to have ended 11/11/1918, as has been mentioned. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-remnants-of-wwi-lasted-until-1919/622635.md?page=2)