Question: what was the end of world war 1

title: World War I
text: About eight million men surrendered and were held in POW camps during the war . All nations pledged to follow the Hague Conventions on fair treatment of prisoners of war , and the survival rate for POWs was generally much higher than that of combatants at the front . Individual surrenders were uncommon ; large units usually surrendered en masse . At the siege of Maubeuge about 40,000 French soldiers surrendered , at the battle of Galicia Russians took about 100,000 to 120,000 Austrian captives , at the Brusilov Offensive about 325,000 to 417,000 Germans and Austrians surrendered to Russians , and at the Battle of Tannenberg 92,000 Russians surrendered . When the besieged garrison of Kaunas surrendered in 1915 , some 20,000 Russians became prisoners , at the battle near Przasnysz ( February -- March 1915 ) 14,000 Germans surrendered to Russians , and at the First Battle of the Marne about 12,000 Germans surrendered to the Allies. 25 -- 31 % of Russian losses ( as a proportion of those captured , wounded , or killed ) were to prisoner status ; for Austria - Hungary 32 % , for Italy 26 % , for France 12 % , for Germany 9 % ; for Britain 7 % . Prisoners from the Allied armies totalled about 1.4 million ( not including Russia , which lost 2.5 -- 3.5 million men as prisoners ) . From the Central Powers about 3.3 million men became prisoners ; most of them surrendered to Russians . Germany held 2.5 million prisoners ; Russia held 2.2 -- 2.9 million ; while Britain and France held about 720,000 . Most were captured just before the Armistice . The United States held 48,000 . The most dangerous moment was the act of surrender , when helpless soldiers were sometimes gunned down . Once prisoners reached a camp , conditions were , in general , satisfactory ( and much better than in World War II ) , thanks in part to the efforts of the International Red Cross and inspections by neutral nations . However , conditions were terrible in Russia : starvation was common for prisoners and civilians alike ; about 15 -- 20 % of the prisoners in Russia died and in Central Powers imprisonment -- 8 % of Russians . In Germany , food was scarce , but only 5 % died . British