The sites related to WW1 are of great universal significance. The conflict had a huge impact not only for the people who were involved in it but also for all mankind. It took human people from the era of artisanal and local war to industrial and global war. The site also embodies the need, following the conflict, to honour and remember, on a large scale, those who fought and suffered. For the first time, anonymous fighters were honoured as much as famous heroes.

I have visited sites in Verdun, Somme, Chemin des Dames, Westhoek and other parts of Belgium. To me, the most striking testimony of the conflict is around Verdun. The whole landscape around the city has been modified by the conflict, from fully destroyed villages to forts, from forests in which traces of bombs are still visible to cemeteries.