This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/7721396.stm
The article has changed 17 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 3 | Version 4 |
|---|---|
| World recalls end of World War I | World recalls end of World War I |
| (30 minutes later) | |
| Ceremonies are being held across the globe to mark the 90th anniversary of the end of World War I. | Ceremonies are being held across the globe to mark the 90th anniversary of the end of World War I. |
| Four years of trench warfare between Germany and the Allies killed some 20m people and redrew the map of Europe. | Four years of trench warfare between Germany and the Allies killed some 20m people and redrew the map of Europe. |
| A major commemoration is taking place in Verdun, north-east France, where French and German troops fought for eight months. | |
| The battle was the war's longest, and Verdun has since become a symbol of Franco-German reconciliation. | The battle was the war's longest, and Verdun has since become a symbol of Franco-German reconciliation. |
| Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, and the Duchess of Cornwall are French President Nicolas Sarkozy's guests of honour at the event. | |
| But no veterans are in attendance, says the BBC's Jonny Dymond, at the service. Not one member of the two huge armies that clashed on the fields of Verdun survives. | |
| Only the dead are left to be remembered, and the backdrop of the service is the ossuary, which contains the bones of 130,000 men who died in the fighting. | |
| Pacific century | Pacific century |
| Remembrance ceremonies have already been held in Australia, which lost 60,000 men in the conflict. | Remembrance ceremonies have already been held in Australia, which lost 60,000 men in the conflict. |
| Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd used a speech at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra to issue a call for peace. | 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.HAVE YOUR SAY I shall remember my grandfather Thomas Crawford Robson killed only seven days before armistice Linda, Leeds,UKSend us your comments | "We have all endured a most bloody century," he said.HAVE YOUR SAY I shall remember my grandfather Thomas Crawford Robson killed only seven days before armistice Linda, Leeds,UKSend us your comments |
| "Let us resolve afresh at the dawn of this new century... that this might be a truly pacific peaceful century." | "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. | A lone bugler then played the Last Post, which is used to to commemorate the war dead in Commonwealth countries. |
| In the UK, three of the four surviving British World War I veterans - Henry Allingham, 112, Harry Patch, 110, and Bill Stone, 108 - will represent the RAF, Army and Royal Navy respectively during a ceremony at London's Cenotaph. | In the UK, three of the four surviving British World War I veterans - Henry Allingham, 112, Harry Patch, 110, and Bill Stone, 108 - will represent the RAF, Army and Royal Navy respectively during a ceremony at London's Cenotaph. |
| Mr Patch, Britain's oldest survivor of the trenches, will read an act of remembrance. | Mr Patch, Britain's oldest survivor of the trenches, will read an act of remembrance. |
| In the UK, a two-minute silence will be observed from 1100 GMT, marking the exact time - at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month - when the Armistice Treaty came into effect to end the war. | |
| 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. |