Australia NZealand mark WWI anniversary

Australia and New Zealand marked the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War I Monday, with Prime Ministers Tony Abbott and John Key calling it a conflict that shaped their nations. Some 61,000 Australians and more than 18,000 New Zealanders died in the war, an event Abbott said was ‘the most cataclysmic event in human history’. ‘World War I arguably gave rise to communism, to Nazism, to World War II and the Cold War,’ he said at a wreath laying ceremony in Canberra -- one of several commemorations taking place across Australia. ‘The events of a hundred years ago still reverberate around our world today and it had a shattering impact on the young Commonwealth of Australia. ‘From a population of under five million people, more than 400,000 enlisted, more than 300,000 served overseas, more than 150,000 were wounded and more than 60,000 were killed. ‘This cauldron shaped our nation. Even now, these events shape our nation. ‘For us at least, World War I was not a war of conquest, it was a war of freedom. It was a war for our allies, for our values,’ he added, according to AFP.