An armistice is a situation in a war where the warring parties agree to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, but may be just a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the Latin arma, meaning weapons and statium, meaning a stopping.

A truce or ceasefire usually refers to a temporary cessation of hostilities for an agreed limited time or within a limited area. A truce may be needed in order to negotiate an armistice.
An armistice is a modus vivendi and is not the same as a peace treaty, which may take months or even years to agree on. The 1953 Korean War armistice was a major example of an armistice which was not followed by a peace treaty.

The United Nations Security Council often imposes or tries to impose cease-fire resolutions on parties in modern conflicts. Armistices are always negotiated between the parties themselves and are thus generally seen as more binding than non-mandatory UN cease-fire resolutions in modern international law.

The key aspect in an armistice is the fact that "all fighting ends with no one surrendering".
This is in contrast to an unconditional surrender, which is a surrender without conditions, except for those provided by international law.

Important armistices in history

The most notable armistice, and the one which is still meant when people in Europe say simply "The Armistice", is the armistice at the end of World War I, on 11 November, 1918, signed near Compiègne, France, and effective at the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month."
Armistice Day is still celebrated in many countries on the anniversary of that armistice; alternatively 11 November, or a Sunday near to it, may still be observed as a Remembrance Day.

Other armistices in history

• Armistice of Copenhagen of 1547 ended the Danish war known as the Count's Feud.

• Armistice of Stuhmsdorf of 1635 between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Sweden.

• Peace of Westphalia of 1648 that ended the Thirty Years' War.

• World War I

• * Armistice between Russia and the Central Powers, at Brest-Litovsk, 1918 (see Treaty of Brest-Litovsk)

• * Armistice with Bulgaria, also known as the Armistice of Solun, September 1918

• * Armistice with Germany (Compiègne), 1918

• * Austrian-Italian Armistice of Villa Giusti ended the First World War on the Italian front in early November 1918

• * Armistice of Mudros Between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies, 1918

• Armistice of Mudanya between Turkey, Italy, France and Britain and later Greece, 1922.

• World War II

• * Armistice with France (Second Compiègne), 1940

• * Armistice of Saint Jean d'Acre between British forces in the Middle East and Vichy France forces in Syria, 1941

• * Armistice with Italy, 1943

• * Moscow Armistice, signed by Finland and the Soviet Union on 19 September, 1944 ending the Continuation War.

• * (Germany implemented an unconditional surrender at the end of the war, immediately prior to V-E day)

• * Japanese Instrument of Surrender

• 1949 Armistice Agreements between Israel and its neighbors Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

• Korean War Armistice, July 1953.

• Armistice of Trung Gia signed by France and the Viet Minh on 20 July, 1954 ending the First Indochina War.

• 1962 armistice in Algeria attempted to end the Algerian War.