World leaders on Monday commemorated the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War I, a small Balkans conflict that went global with the German invasion of neutral Belgium in August 1914.In
What is widely known as The Great War “was the most cataclysmic event in human history,” Abbott said, “and arguably gave rise to communism, to Nazism, to World War II and the Cold War.”
In Liege, a gritty industrial town in eastern Belgium, security was extremely tight Monday, with access to the ceremonies closely guarded. In the centre, all streets leading to the great square and town hall were cordoned off, with a heavy police presence.
Belgium´s King Philippe leads the dignitaries who include Britain´s Prince William, Spain´s new monarch Felipe VI, French President Francois Hollande and his German counterpart Joachim Gauck, plus other heads of state and representatives of the more than 80 countries invited. “It is a first for us, an event with such a high level of security,” Liege mayor Willy Demeyer said.
