Europe tested by First World War centenary

A EUROPE badly shaken by a faltering economy and rising populism is set to commemorate the centenary of the First Word War, the conflict still known as the “Great War” that scarred the continent and shaped the 20th century.

Commemorations for the 1914-18 Great War are planned through the summer on either side of the Western Front, but with no single event bringing all of the former foes together.

Plans for a major gathering in Sarajevo — where the assassination of the Austro-Hungarian heir Franz Ferdinand by a Serbian nationalist is seen as sparking the conflict in Jun 28, 1914 — had to be dropped due to a lack of international consensus.