At the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, people around the world will pause for two minutes of silence to remember the millions of soldiers and civilians killed in war. In much of Canada like here in BC, it’s a day off so you can hit the Legion for a pint after, but in most of the rest of the world, they have to go back to work.

That moment for silence recognizes the Armistice agreement signed between Germany and the Allied Forces in Paris on Monday, Nov. 11, 1918, which came into effect at 11 a.m. that day.

While 30 countries were involved in the First World War, how they each remember it depends on their wartime history.

More than 650,000 Canadians fought in the First World War, 66,000 were killed and 172,000 wounded and in British Columbia, as in much of Canada, Remembrance Day is a statutory holiday. However, while it’s a national holiday, Ontario and Quebec have still not made it a provincial holiday.

Much of the war in Europe was fought in Belgium, with the front line stretching for nearly 1,000 kilometres, from the coast of Belgium to the border of Switzerland. Remembrance Day is a national holiday in Belgium, and dignitaries lay wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Brussels, which was erected in 1922.

The French follow suit, and Remembrance Day is also a public holiday. Traditionally, the French president will lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Paris.

The only other European country to have an official public holiday is Serbia where one third of its of its population was lost, the highest per capita losses during the First World War. Instead of poppies, Serbs wear the Natalie’s Ramonda, a small purple flower which is symbolic because, after appearing to have died, the flower revives in water.

The UK saw around six million men mobilized, and more than 700,000 were killed, but Remembrance Day is not a public holiday in Britain. Remembrance Sunday, which takes place on the closest Sunday to Nov. 11 each year, is when dignitaries and service people lay wreaths at the Cenotaph.

While Australians and New Zealanders pause for the two-minute silence on Remembrance Day, both countries have a public holiday on April 25 to commemorate Anzac Day. The name comes from the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and commemorates a battle in Gallipoli in Turkey in 1915, where both countries suffered huge losses.

The Americans joined the war in 1917 and had a standing army of 127,500. By the end of the war, four million men had served in the United States Army, and 53,000 were killed in action, along with 320,000 casualties. The Americans commemorate Veterans Day on Nov. 11 as a federal holiday, and while banks and the postal service are closed, it’s not a nationwide public holiday, and some schools and businesses, including the New York Stock Exchange, are open as usual.

Numerous European countries, including the Netherlands and Scandinavia, stayed neutral during the First World War, and don’t officially observe November 11 as Remembrance Day. In Holland, the Dutch have their own national remembrance day on May 4.

In Germany, the second Sunday of November is the National Day of Mourning, it commemorates the victims of war, tyranny, and terror.

While the First World War is largely thought of as a war in Europe, the Allies fought against the Ottoman Empire, which sided with Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in the Middle East and North Africa.

The Allied Powers also fought in Africa against German colonial forces in what is now Tanzania and Namibia.

The war was also fought in Japan, China and other German Pacific colonies.

The Japanese don’t officially observe Remembrance Day on Nov. 11, but Aug. 15 is the Day to Commemorate the War Dead and Pray for Peace.