World recalls end of World War I

noreply@blogger.com (EmPowerYou) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 14:58:00 +0000

French President Nicolas Sarkozy laid a wreath in memory of the millions who died serving their countries

Ceremonies are being held across the globe to mark the 90th anniversary of the end of World War I.

At a service in Verdun, north-east France, President Nicolas Sarkozy paid tribute to the millions who died during the four-year conflict.

French and German troops fought for eight months at Verdun in the longest battle of a war that reshaped Europe.

In London, three of the four surviving British World War I veterans attended a ceremony at the Cenotaph.

Henry Allingham, 112, Harry Patch, 110, and Bill Stone, 108, represented the RAF, Army and Royal Navy respectively.

At 1100 GMT, a two-minute silence was observed, marking the time - at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month - when the Armistice Treaty came into effect to end the war.

No survivors

Speaking to the hundreds attending the Armistice Day service in Verdun, Mr Sarkozy paid tribute to all who had died, as well as those who lost fathers and sons in the fighting.

"France will never forget the children who have fought for her," he said.

He paid respect to the soldiers from Europe, North America, Africa and Australasia "who died far away from their countries to defend our liberty".

Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, and the Duchess of Cornwall were guests of honour at the event.

But no French or German veterans were in attendance, says the BBC's Europe correspondent, Jonny Dymond. Not one member of the two huge armies that clashed on the fields of Verdun survives.

Only the dead were left to be remembered, and the backdrop of the service was a huge stone ossuary, containing the remains of hundreds of thousands of men from both sides who died in the fighting.

Mr Sarkozy, Prince Charles, Australia's Governor-General Quentin Bryce and Peter Mueller, president of the German Bundesrat, laid wreaths in a field of 15,000 graves in front of the building.

A respectful silence was held and the bell tolled inside the ossuary, where Mr Sarkozy lit a memorial flame and a male choir sang the French national anthem.

Since the war, Verdun has become a symbol of Franco-German reconciliation.

But its hillside has come to symbolise World War I's awful savagery, says our correspondent. During the fighting, more than 60m shells fell on the land, transforming it into a pitted piece of hell on earth.

Pacific century

As well as services across Europe, Iraq and Afghanistan, remembrance ceremonies have been held in Australia, which lost 60,000 men in the conflict.

Services were held across Australia to remember the dead

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd used a speech at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra to issue a call for peace.

"We have all endured a most bloody century," he said.

"Let us resolve afresh at the dawn of this new century... that this might be a truly pacific peaceful century."

A lone bugler then played the Last Post, which is used to to commemorate the war dead in Commonwealth countries.

Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was in Warsaw to mark the anniversary of Poland's independence - which also came on 11 November 1918, as the country broke free from the Austro-Hungarian empire and Germany.

In the United States, an annual Veterans Day ceremony will be held at Arlington cemetery near Washington at 1100 (1600 GMT), to honour those who have died in service to the US.

World War I was the world's first industrialised war.

It toppled four European empires, led to the creation of the Soviet Union and marked the end of Europe's long global hegemony.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/

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World recalls end of World War I