here. we're almost at the top of the hour. almost 11:00 a.m. local time in paris. we're watching live pictures. if you're just joining us, here's what's happening. 70 plus world leaders gathered in central paris to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of world war i. armistice day. the moment when guns, weapons, cannons fell silent and the fighting ended after four years of war and after ten million soldiers were killed. so the world leaders being blocked. they'll take their seats under the tent for the commemoration of the 100 year anniversary. >> we will be covering it throughout this hour. many poignant occurrences will happen during this ceremony and as cyril was saying, yes, some dozens and dozens of leaders gathered here on their way right now to begin this ceremony. nic robertson is among our

reporters who are here covering this story for us. we were just talking about that issue with president trump, nic, and caitlyn reiterating that he is deeply unpopular in france. >> reporter: and in other countries around europe and to that end as well as the other world leaders here, the french have put on an additional 10,000 or they were going to have 10,000 police officers on duty. i can tell you from several hours ago there have been barricades along the side of the road itself. police every 20 or 30 meters. it was difficult to be allowed to walk across the road hours before the convoy. the police have a physical barricade security, police officers on duty right on the route that president trump and other leaders have driven up and right at the place where this

protester managed to gets through that police barricade. but there has been additional, we witnessed it and experienced it ourselves this morning, additional security before you arrived? for people to get close to the barrier and close to the road that president trump was driving on, it was necessary to have your clothing checked, baggage checked, all of these sorts of things. there are several layers of security here. there was an experience like this in scotland at president trump's golf course when he visited where a protestor was able to fly a micro light aircraft very close to the president. president trump able to take a picture of him standing on his golf course. protestors are minded to get

close to president trump with their messages and he is not the most popular american president in europe at this time. >> right. >> reporter: not to say other american presidents who have visited here. >> thank you, nic. we want to pause for a moment because you're hearing bells ring at this time. >> that's notre dame. >> to commemorate the 11th hour on the 11th day that the end of world war i took place. and we see the buses have arrived with the world leaders who will be coming in to take their seat to begin. let's just listen for just a few seconds as the bells ring. >> unfortunately as you can see, a very rainy day.

>> very rainy day, indeed. a word of context on these bells. they have a historic significance because at the time when the armistice was signed and the announcement was made and soldiers and officers and civilians were told that the fighting was over, right? how was it done? it was done exactly like this. so the bugles sounded on the battle fields and what were killing fields moments before fell silent. in paris, the news was announced. there was an official announcement in parliament but that came on november 11th and then it took longer for the news to travel to other cities and villages across france because, of course, at the time you had to phone the news in to mayors and let them know the armistice

has been told. as these bells tolled people understood that the conflict that had ripped the european continent apart for the last four years was over. maybe not the conflict but the fighting because the conflict would only officially be over with the signing of the very sales trea versailles treaty. 100 years ago was that music to their sneers certainly you can imagine. and you mentioned the bugle as well. at the end of this service, this hour, there will be a lone bugle that is sounding. >> that will be part of the ceremony. look at this right now. look at this right now. you are seeing dozens of leaders, foreign dignitaries, world leaders walking the last stretch, taking a pause, emmanuel macron, the host,

french president in the center, but you also see the kick of morocco. you see european leaders, you see african leaders. >> we see mr. trudeau there from canada. nic robertson there with us. you can talk, nic, about the significance of the numbers here, the leaders who are walking into this ceremony right now all together. >> reporter: 72 heads of state total we were told will be in some form in attendance if not this event, more than 50 at this event. 72 coming to the country over the weekend. 98 heads of delegations. of course, 70 international bodies, united nations represented here by the secretary general and other -- you know, the international monetary fund and other global institutions rs represented here. this is a movement that puts

france. in terms of bringing the world together, the armistice itself, but also the position that emmanuel likes and the issues that he believes can be best addressed by world leaders working together. so there is a lot of symbolism that goes beyond just the armistice, but of course this commemoration today is all about that. a the leaders here will be hearing readings from students, high school students. they will hear readings of notes from front line soldiers in the days leading up to november 11th. poignant note coming from one british officer we're expecting to be read this morning where he

talks about how the shells were still flying on the 7th of snoef, you know, days away. there had been a rumor that perhaps peace was coming but he found no indication of it, yet 9:30 in the morning on the 1th of november, he said he got word that the cease fire was coming and given ten minutes. ten minutes to put together enough soldiers to go to a celebration march where he found a village of people in france celebrating as well. of course, half an hour before he might have been just as likely to receive a call to put together a number of soldiers to come out of their trench and go and fight. so many soldiers killed. more than 8 million. more than 7 million civilians. pausing there. that was an over flight by the -- >> nic, you just got the jets. >> reporter: they flew by and

didn't they make a roar. >> beautiful. >> reporter: modern army. that is -- it's beautiful, but it's poignant. let's remember that world war i was trench warfare. it was gun on horseback. the beginning of a real mechanized heavy artillery. a modern war would be so much more potentially brutal than that war and it devastated the global economy as well. it was the economy that began to under pin the ill will that then led to world war ii. there are many, many things that are poignant and worth remembering and talking about here today as we can be sure those leaders will. >> nic robertson, it's just minutes past 11:00 a.m. local time in paris. nic is just minutes down the

road. he'll be with us during the course of this commemoration. thanks, nic. our kate collins is there. she's been covering president trump's trip to paris. interesting, kate, as we saw all of these world leaders walking together slowly to get that moment, president trump was not there. why did he decide to come in by himself? >> reporter: that's right. so this morning you saw a lot of the world leaders arriving to meet with president macron before he arrived at the ceremony today. president trump was not one of those world leaders. instead, he came directly here from the ambassador's residence where he has been staying while he's here in paris. instead opted to come in his motorcade. as we saw when the president came close to the barricades that vn bin -- have been lining

the streets. you saw president trump come before the buses of the other dozens of leaders so president trump was not a part of that walk up to the beginning of this ceremony. and as nic was pointing out, this comes as president macron is really trying to cement his place on the world stage and france's place as well. but it was striking to see those leaders coming forward, the planes flew overhead, the bells tolled, there was not president trump in that procession. he's likely already on stage, already part. we don't see him seated there, actually. it's not clear where president trump is. but it was striking to see the german chancellor angela merkel, president macron, all of these other world leaders approaching this but no president trump in that line there. could be symbolic of just the larger role that president trump has or has not played in this ceremony since he has been here in paris to market commemoration

of the 100 years of world war i. >> caitlyn, cyril here. the ceremony wasn't what donald trump had advertised. when he first came to paris he had wanted to see a military parade. that's not what's happening today. >> reporter: that's actually a great point. president trump had this idea after he visited paris last year for bass stetille tai and saw t grand reception, that inspired president trump to have something of his own in washington. so many aspects and planning went into this, but when the price tag was so high president trump tweeted that i would no longer have that parade. hope flyfully he described why that would be since he was

ordering up the military parade. he said he would come to france to this military parade on veterans day. there is no military parade here today, instead it is a very somber ceremony that we are about to witness here. as you see the world leaders all approaching pretty quietly standing there now as you can see them getting lined up. not the military parade that president trump saw last year and not the military parade he was expecting. he faced healthy criticism back home in washington and america at home when he did suggest the idea of military parade. even former military members said they didn't feel that was what the military needed, to parade tanks up and down the streets. that was already evident in the world. president trump wanted this parade. he ordered the pent gone to start planning one and when the price tag came in as an exorbitant price, that's why

they started to do that. you can see why they want president trump to be here because every other world leader on the main stage is here today and it would have been striking if president trump was not here. so that is a great point. no military parade for president trump as he was expecting. >> caitlyn, thank you. we want to go now to cnn's jim acosta. he is there at the ceremony, and, jim, we still haven't seen the president arrive here with the other dignitaries. what do you know? >> reporter: well, natalie, we just saw a large group of foreign leaders arrive here on the site. don't know for sure whether or not president trump was in that group. i did spot the canadian prime minister, justin trudeau, angela merkel -- >> we're seeing him right now, jim. >> yes, and i see that as well. you're exactly right. he is arriving as we speak.

we're maybe 50 yards from where these world leaders are going to be seated right here. paris puts on a spectacular show when it comes to the pomp and circumstance of this sort of thing. this is definitely no exception. the famous boulevard that runs right through the heart of paris has been completely shut down for several hours now. you can see dignitaries from across the world all gathered around the arc as they mark this incredible moment. i will tell you since there's been such incredible weather, we do have a pretty steady downpour in paris. i would hazard to say it's a little bit rainier this morning than it was yesterday when the president decided not to go to the ceremony. the white house saying because of logistics of getting him out there without using marine 1, the helicopter the president uses. this is a somber occasion. this is obviously a moment where

a lot of politics can be put aside because they recognize this. you can see the president now i believe, natalie, in some of the pictures that are being beamed out by french television wearing his red tie. he's got an umbrella over his head as he joins the world leaders here on the scene. you know, i think this is an incredible moment for the world to watch. 100 years since the end of world war i. obviously anybody who understands their history knows what's followed in the years after that. the world was not able to stop the rise of fascism as it fanned across europe and led the world into another world war and it's interesting this week, the president came to see this military commemoration of the end of world war i, but he's not staying for a peace forum that's taking place after all of these events are over. that is being hosted by emmanuel macron, the french president, and a lot of folks are wondering

if the president perhaps should have been staying for that and much of the activity going on at that peace forum. it's really in response to some of the concerns that the president has raised across the world. folks are worried about the rise of nationalism in the united states, the rise of nationalism in various states across europe. the peace forum is designed in part to discuss some of those issues. putting all of that aside, it is just sort of an amazing thing to watch, to see the world come together and mark the end of what was the great war, the war we thought that was supposed to end all wars but of course didn't. >> jim, we just saw president trump take his place. he's next to the german chancellor angela merkel and mr. macron. he did arrive separately from everyone else. do we know why they made that decision? >> reporter: we don't know why they made that decision. it seems over the last 24 hours ever since he arrived in paris there have been some real

logistical concerns about moving him around. we haven't gotten a clear answer on that. we didn't really get a clear answer yesterday as to why he skipped the military cemetery event that was to take place yesterday. they blamed it on the rain. they thought they couldn't fly his helicopter out there, but as you saw the chief of staff, john kelly, joint chiefs joseph dunford were both able to make it to that ceremony. the president was not. it raised questions back in the u.s. they say, no, no, no when a president goes to a foreign -- >> jim, this is cyril here. vladimir putin is walking up to the tent. he'll be, no doubt, taking his place among that group. so what we're seeing here is everybody came in together but there were two leaders, frankly i'm not surprised by this, but

there were two leaders that did things a little differently. there are obviously security concerns as regards them. one was the u.s. leader, donald trump. he's now seated next to angela merkel screen left if you can catch a glimpse of him, and the other, russian president vladimir putin who is now walking -- about to walk right past donald trump. let's see where he's going to be seated. shaking hands. >> saw him shaking hands with the president, cyril. it's possible, we'll have to find out whether or not this is the case later since these two leaders kind of came in last there, whether or not there might have been a brief interaction between those two leaders as they were coming in. perhaps there was a brief discussion and that might explain why they came in later than everybody else. don't know that for sure. it's certainly worth checking into. we'll have to check into that. obviously a lot of people were wondering, putting everything aside, all the different things that the president was sort of getting into, domestic political standpoint, foreign policy

standpoint in the days leading up to this. one of the other big story lines out here was whether or not the president was going to have time to talk with vladimir putin. that will be very interesting to find out if that's the case. >> i want to keep looking at the pictures we're seeing. all right. now we're going to get the very opening stages of this ceremony, and emmanuel macron will be solo for this probably for the next ten minutes or so. he's going to do a review of the troops. so he has left the dignitaries and world leaders behind. he is going to review the troops. all of this happening in central paris and he is going to salute the flag bearer bearing the french flag. and in a few minutes there will be a roll call of soldiers who have died for france during the past year. let's listen in for a minute.

as we continue here with the beginning of this ceremony, after this we'll also be hearing from yo-yo ma who will be playing bach on his cello. nic robertson with us. we'll talk to him. let's listen to a little bit more of the music now. ♪ ♪

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♪ ♪ ♪ french president emmanuel

macron has honored the troops. now the march of the guard that has been believed to be played in 1900 for the first time during a battle in italy in a battle fought by napoleon bonaparte. it was at one time the national anthem of france. right now the french president is reviewing the military academy. the french equivalent of west point, those are the bodies that train not only the best officers of the french military but also some of the top civilian engineers and each of those schools have their own history, their own protocol, obviously their own uniforms. they were created two centuries ago to give france the best bureaucrats and staff at every position.

>> we have nic robertson with us as well among our correspondents covering this momentous occasion. nic, i want to ask you about the optics we just saw. we have vladimir putin right near donald trump right near erdogan of turkey and netanyahu as well. all there together. >> reporter: absolutely. and president trump has sort of set something as a standard at meetings of global leaders intending to be one of the last to arrive and sometimes late in for meetings, but it was president putin who was the last to turn up here. perhaps for the french concerns because of that security breach during president trump's arrival. perhaps concerns generally more broadly for the services, protecting u.s. services protecting vladimir putin. there was a plot that was a

threat to president macron himself that was uncovered. all of these things in play but at these moments who arrived when, where they stand, it's all set aside deeply embedded in protocol. there's a solid moment of remembrance. we're expecting to hear the last post played. we're expected to hear speeches from high school students here read. we're expecting some very poignant recollections from diaries of officers of different armies who were in the trenches right in those moments and days leading up to the time that the armistice was signed and the cease-fire was announced. for anyone that's ever visited the cemeteries in france and belgium and some of the other parts of europe, this sort of service that we're witnessing now is only part of the picture. those huge fields are laid out

with so many young men of their generations, 8 million who died in the war, any moment one visits them is poignant. this sums it all up, brings these leaders together. but it is a huge act of remembrance that we all endeavor to pursue to remember the sacrifice, to remember what led to this, what came after and the importance of avoiding wars on this scale again. silence. >> i believe we're now hearing the witness the minute of silence in honor of those who have fallen during world war i and we will honor that. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ we just heard the french national anthem being sung by the choir of the french army.

and emmanuel macron will soon be completing this introductory part of the commemorative ceremony and taking his place among the 72 world leaders that are gathered. >> and we were just hearing, of course, the names of the soldiers that they've lost this year fighting for france, and we saw their pictures up on the screen. we might mention that the last veteran from world war i died in 2012. we're seeing veterans from other wars here. >> we have kate williams with us, a lecturer from the university of london specializing in history. it's now 11:30 a.m. in france. that means we are exactly 100 years and 30 minutes after the

official time date of the armistice, the end of the fighting of world war i. explain to us -- explain to us the moments that led up to that moment. what was it like at 10:00 a.m. and what was it like at 11:01? >> it's an incredible story. so the actual agreement, the armistice itself, was signed at 5:00 a.m. paris time between the germans and the allies, and then during that period after that there was getting the news out to the people across the world and the news did go out very slowly to people on the western front. but actually the fighting continued between 5:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. 100 years ago. the last soldier to be killed, he was an american soldier, he was killed at 10:59, one minute before the armistice took effect. there was a british soldier, canadian soldier killed at 10:58

by german snipers. the fighting did continue up to the moment of 11:00 a.m. then the guns, the bombs, everything fell silent and there was a real contrast because in the civilian cities, in the cities across europe and across the world there was an absolute outpouring of joy, euphoria. people couldn't believe it. they were so thrilled they poured into the streets sipping and dancing, but where the men were fighting, it was almost as if they could barely believe it. they were emotionally drained. they were shocked. they couldn't actually understand that you could stand there and not be shot at. they talked to the germans. they shook each other's hands and they were quite muted. they had seen so much and saw what a huge job it would be to rebuild the shattered world of europe once more. >> and on those words, kate, we're going to listen in. >> this is yo-yo ma.

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♪ ♪ >> we're listening to yo-yo ma play bach sitting in front of the eternal plame representing the unknown soldier. let's bring in cnn's jim acosta joining us via skype to talk more, jim, about the poig nancy of this as we look at president trump next to angela merkel next to the french president. >> reporter: yes, natalie. it is a stirring scene to watch. i have to say when you see the great leaders sitting together you can't help but think about the way the geopolitical stage is shifting at this very moment

as we're marking the 100th anniversary of world war i. you have to look at the various political dimensions that are just sort of unfolding in front of us. angela merkel, who is not going to be running for re-election as the german chancellor. she's weakened politically raising all sorts of questions as to who is going to rise as the de facto leader of europe. a lot of people are saying it might be the french president, emmanuel macron. as we saw yesterday here in paris, the body language being fro frostier -- >> jim, i'm going to interrupt you for a second as we want to take the sights and sounds. right now french high schoolers are going to be reading excerpts from letters written by people who were on the ground on november 11th when they heard and learned the news.

>> what you're hearing is high school students in france who are going to be reading excerpts from letters written mostly by soldiers, and it is what they wrote in the run up to the armistice. i believe we now have a translation. >> translator: victims of the war. yesterday i thought that the dream -- the war was a long forgotten nightmare. i now realize that i was eluding myself. the war will continue and shots will be fired and more blood will be shed. november 1918, more than ever i'm convinced the war has at long last ended. the arms have been cast aside.

they will not be taken up again. i have much that i want to write but the low rumbling of the cooking pots and the whistling of the bullets is finished. it's over. >> testimony of a british soldier. charles neville. my darling parents, today has been perfectly wonderful. we got news of the armistice at half past 9 this morning. i got ten minutes for a grandpa raid. so i got everybody i could let my hands on to scrub the mud off. the streets were packed with wildly cheering civilians and carrying on only like a foreigner can. all the streets and the square was ablaze of color, mostly, of course, the belgian colors, red, yellow and black. union jacks, french flags,

american flags. in fact, african flag of the allies. >> so you have high schoolers here reading excerpts of letters that were written by soldiers who were on the front at the moment when they learned of the armistice. these are their impressions, their thoughts and feelings as they wrote back to their families. this is a letter that was written by a chinese national who was in france in the western french region of normandy at the time. i'll tell you, as somebody who lived in france, i'm not at all surprised that the youth and high schoolers, teenagers would

be so heavily involved in this commemorative ceremony, because this is a very important theme that the french authorities are going to want to push through and push across, which is the generational aspect of it and the lessons that the current generations need to learn from world war i and also from world war ii. there's a heavy emphasis put on this in france at all levels. cnn senior international correspondent jim bitterman can tell us about this. jim, would you agree with me, that the french authorities, for them it is key that everybody, especially new generations, learn the lessons of the past? >> reporter: absolutely, cyril. in fact, i mean, that was one of the themes this week as president macron did his itinerance, the wandering through the battle fields. one of the points of that was to pass along to another generation

the conflicts, the catastrophe that was brought on by conflict and to get young people to understand what happened back then and why it shunned be repeated. i know you mentioned and we were talking earlier about my little village in normandy. in fact, the parents out there every 11th of november urged their children to come out and they looked bored. they don't want to be there. they'd rather do something else, but the fact is that parents bring them out and make sure that they're witness to this ceremony on the 11th of november because it is so moving and so much to remember. >> let me interrupt you for a second, jim. let me interrupt you for a second as we continue to listen to the music being played. now it's french cellist alongside yo-yo ma. ♪ ♪

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♪ ♪ >> testimony of an american soldier, captain charles norming ton. 132nd infantry. november 11, 1918. in the parade were hundreds of thousands of soldiers from the u.s., england, canada, france, australia, italy and the conomese. each soldier had his arms full of french girls. some crying, others laughing.

each girl had to kiss every soldier before she would let him pass. there is nowhere on earth i would rather be today than just where i am. i have had many unknown french couple come up to me saying, you grand americans, you have done this for us. i only hope the soldiers who died for this cause are looking down upon the world today. the whole world owes this moment of real joy to the heroes who are not here to help enjoy it.

>> let's go back to jim biterman who is just down the road. jim's been our paris correspondent for decades now. jim, just give me your thoughts and impressions as you watch this. >> reporter: well, i'm very moved by it all. you know, i think that one of the things that this does is it brings out the international quality of not only the lore, but of france today and the world today. the war itself brought in so many different nationalities. i read this morning there was a note from the indian presser advice reminding us that 1.5 million indians were involved in the war, something that is left out of my history books. but in any case, watching this exercise in memory i think is just fascinating. i think it's like a history

lesson that emmanuel macron is wanting to give to the world. and i think he's succeeding as we've seen donald trump listening there in the front row and of course all the other leaders as well. i suppose around the world they're watching cnn and learning a little bit about world war i and the significance of it. >> yeah. that particular reading may have been a particular interest to donald trump since it was a letter written by an american soldier being thanked by the french. let's listen in. >> translator: testimony from a french person. a letter to her fiance. my darling pierre, at the very instant when i write to you in your distant forest, you are learning the extraordinary news. the bells here of the churches are ringing out. i'm overwhelmed by happiness. i cannot write. i'm sobbing for joy. i will never, ever be able to

convey the emotion and the extraordinary enthusiasm during this first day of armistice. we are overwhelmed and this extraordinary thought that not a single man will fall henceforth, that the vast expanse of the front is silent, there is nothing but silence. ♪ ♪ >> translator: big tears as we reflect that everything is over. ♪ ♪

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♪ >> the queen of african music singing "blaoue." this helps to underscore the international nature of this. remember at the time the countries involved in this war, many of them were empires. france had colonies across the war including many of them in africa. >> we're about to hear now from the leader of france, emmanuel macron. very, very important event for this president.

>> please bear with the interpreters as we try to figure out a technical problem. we're not getting the sound. technical hitch. >> translator: on the 7th of november, 1918, when bugle player corporal pierre saillies sounded the initial cease-fire at around 10:00 in the morning, many soldiers could not believe it. then they slowly left their positions and further away along the front lines the same bugles repeated the cease-fire and then sounded the last post before the bells spread the news across the entire country. november 11th, 1918, at 11:00 in

the morning 100 years ago on the day on the hour in paris and all around france the bugles sounded and the bells peeled. armistice was being announced. this was the end of four long terrible deaths and fighting, but armistice did not signify peace. and in the east for many years devastating wars continued to be fought. here on the very day the french and their allies celebrated their victory. they had fought for their homeland and for their freedom and for this they had made huge sacrifices and suffered untold

hardships. they had experienced a hell, a hell that no one can imagine. we should take a moment to bring back into our memory all these fighters, french soldiers from the continent of the colonies around the world. fighters from the legion, foreigners that had come from the whole world because for them france symbolized all that was beautiful in the world. the first to have fallen and the last who died for france ten minutes before the armistice. we have the defender of dumond. we have people from the foreign legion, the soldiers from the regiment, the captain that was

unknown at the time. the american with his ambulance. they all fell during the first weeks. joseph cassill came from orenberg in russia and all the others. all the others who are our family. the family that we belong to today, the names of whom can be read off each monument from the sun kissed mountains of corsica to the valleys of the alps to the spanish border. one france rural, urban, aristocratic, working class were all the colors and the priests and the secular suffered side by side and whose pain shaped us during these four years of fighting. europe nearly committed suicide.

humankind had gone down the sinister path of merciless fighting, the kind of hell that devours all fighters. whatever side they might be on, whatever country they hailed from. the day after the armistice, the very next day after the armistice the sinister task of counting the deaths -- counting the dead, the wounded, the disfigured, the missing started. here in france but also in all the other countries families waited for months on end in vein the return of a father, a brother, a husband, a fiance and amongst those that were absent, there were also admirable women who worked alongside the soldiers as volunteers.

10 million dead. 6 million wounded. 3 million widows. 6 million orphans. millions of civilian victims. 1 billion shells dropped on france only. the world discovered the extent of the wounds that combatant fervor had obscured. the tears of the dying were followed by those of the survivors because on this very soil in france the entire world had come to fight. young men from french provinces, from over seas territories, young men hailing from africa, the pacific, the americas, asia came to die far from their families in villages of which they did not even know the name. the millions of witnesses from

all nations then told of the horrific fighting, the stench of the trenches, the bleakness of the battle fields, the screams of the wounded in the night, the destruction wrought on the fields which were reduced to a cinder. many of those who went home, who made it home had lost their youth, their dreams, their appetite for life. many went home disfigured, blind, amputated. victors and vanquished were then plunged for the long time in the same darkness. 19 1918, that was 100 years ago. it seems very far away but it

was only yesterday. i have seen the countryside where the most terrible bat wrls fought, and in that countryside i saw the land still gray and bare r baron from the fighting. i saw villages destroyed with no one left to rebuild them and whose ruins today still attest to the falling of mankind. i saw on our monuments the litany of names of french soldiers alongside the names of foreign soldiers who died under the skies of france. i saw the bodies of our soldiers buried in the fields where nature has reclaimed its rights just as i had seen in mass graves side by side the bones of german and french soldiers who had -- soldiers who had fought during a vicious winter over a

few square yards of soil. the traces of that war never faded -- have not faded from french soil. they have not faded from europe, from the middle east nor from our memories, all of us around the world. let us not forget because the remembrance of these sacrifices urges us to be worthy of those that died for us so that we may live free. let us remember, let us take away nothing of what was pure, of the ideals, of the lofty principles of our elders' patriotism. this vision of france as ag generous nation as france, the bearer of universal values was displayed during these dark

hours as the very opposite of a selfishness of a nation which looks after its only interests because patriotism is the exact opposite of nationalism. nationalism is a betrayal ofwho? we erase what a nation holds dearest and what makes it grace and essential. it's moral values. let us remember we, in france, worked was claimed on the day of victory 100 years ago to this day before the national assembly, after which members of the parliament started chanting the franchise anthem saying those fighting for freedom