YPRES, Belgium (AP) — Tens of thousands of soldiers were killed in World War I and left without graves. On Tuesday, authorities are unveiling a renovated memorial for them in Ypres, the Belgian town that earned the grim honor of being synonymous with the brutality of conflict.
Tuesday is known as Armistice Day — or Veterans Day in the United States and Remembrance Day in Britain — marking the end of World War I.
From 1914-1918, the armies of France, the British empire, Russia and the U.S. fought against a German-led coalition that included the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires. The war killed almost 10 million soldiers, sometimes tens of thousands on a single day.
Hundreds of thousands of soldiers died during those four years in Ypres alone.
The blood-soaked fields of the Flanders region saw the development of more modern ways to kill. Horses galloped next to tanks. Poison gas was introduced. Aerial surveillance provided precision to artillery.
In the wake of “the war to end all wars” and then World War II, the modern geopolitical system was forged with an aim to avert future conflicts. The United Nations and the Europe Union were created.
But now, war feels close again. Across once-devastated Europe, nations are again rearming, plowing investments into the defense industry in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The 27-nation EU has been worried by a series of airspace violations, some of them close to its borders with Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. Western officials have accused Russia and its proxies of staging dozens of incidents of sabotage.
Aside from Europe, wars in places as distant as Gaza and Sudan have had impact well beyond their borders. And tensions in Asia have led Japan and others to increase military spending.
And around the world, ascendant political movements challenge the democratic order, with authoritarianism on the rise.
