Royal Montreal Regiment Museum exhibit explores aftermath of First World War

CTV Montreal: Armistice exhibit A new exhibit in Westmount explores the WWI armistice and the legacy it has had to this day, 100 years later.

This Remembrance Day marks the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War - a devastating conflict that caused nearly 40 million deaths.

The Royal Montreal Regiment Museum is opening up a new exhibit Friday at Westmount's Victoria Hall to explore the aftermath of the armistice that ended the war – and the subsequent challenge for peace.

Visitors will be able to see battlefield artifacts and re-enactors in period dress, part of the exhibit to commemorate the ceasefire ending all combat on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, at the eleventh hour.

The celebration of the armistice was short-lived, as leaders descended in Paris in 1919 to hammer out a lasting peace.

The goal of the exhibit, according to organizers, is to help people understand the difficult reality facing world leaders after the war.

“Yes, the war was over, people were happy but with tremendous loss. They had to answer very difficult questions. Why did we fight? What was the result of that?” said Melanie Presseau-Dumais, assistant curator of the museum. “We talk about the Treaty of Versailles – the long process of the Treaty of Versailles.