The Signing of the Armistice, 1918

Marking the final centenary year of the First World War, Tradition of London is proud to present ‘The Signing of the Armistice’. 54mm gloss painted metal figures and accessories including backdrop diorama piece.
Collectors can also recreate this moment in history in miniature, with the four German and two Allied signatories, complete with their respective aides. When correctly arranged around Foch’s impressive meeting table the figures depict, (from left to right):
1). Captain Ernst Vanselow – Imperial German Navy
(The likely reason for Vanselow’s selection for the delegation was his expertise as a legal scholar, who collaborated with the Swiss university lecturer, Eduard Otto von Waldkirch on the ‘Handbook of International Law’, published by G.A. Waltz).
2). Count Alfred Graf von Oberndorff – German Foreign Ministry
(Oberndorff held a Doctorate in Law, and had been in the diplomatic service since 1900 as both embassy secretary and ambassor).
3). Major General Sigismund Detlof von Winterfeldt – Imperial German Army
(Military representative to the German Chancellor in Berlin since 1917. He would later resign in protest at the harsh treaty conditions being imposed, and retired from the army in 1919).
4). Captain Jack P. R. Marriott – Royal Navy
(Then an Acting Captain – Only confirmed as full Captain the following month. Marriott had been Naval Assistant to the First Sea Lord, Rosslyn Wemyss, since 1915).
5). Matthias Erzberger – German Secretary of State without portfolio
(Head of the German Delegation, Erzberger had been a prominent campaigner for a negotiated peace since 1917. He was assassinated in 1921 by German right wing ultra-nationalists who regarded him as a traitor).
6). Rear Admiral Sir George P. W. Hope – Royal Navy
(At one time the commander of the dreadnought HMS Queen Elizabeth, Hope was appointed Deputy First Sea Lord in 1918, and promoted to Vice-Admiral in 1920.)
7). Vice Admiral Sir Ross Wemyss – Royal Navy
(Then the First Sea Lord, and the British signatory of the armistice. Promoted full Admiral in February 1919, then Admiral of the Fleet in November 1919, has was also raised to the peerage as Baron Wester Wemyss).
8). Marshal Ferdinand J. M. Foch – French Army
(Marshal of France & Commander-in-Chief of Allied Forces, and the French signatory to the armistice. Dissatisfied with what he saw as the lenient terms of the Treaty of Versailles that followed, Foch prophetically declared: ‘This is not a peace. It is an armistice for twenty years’.)
9). General Maxime Weygand – French Army
(Foch’s Chief-of-Staff. It was Weygand who read out the terms of the armistice to the German delegation – Foch was present only briefly at the start of negotiations and for the actual signing. In 1940, in his role as Supreme Commander of French Forces, it would be Weygand who demanded that an armistice be sought with Germany).

Model: TR-Toy-set-826