More than seventy world leaders attended a ceremony in Paris on November 11, marking the 100th anniversary of the Armistice that brought World War One to an end. The central commemoration was held at the Triumphant Gate, near the western end of the Champs-Élysées. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo President Hashim Thaci also attended the ceremony, KoSSev portal reports.

The anniversary was also marked in Kosovo. Two former enemy states, France and Germany, confirmed their alliance at the Orthodox cemetery in Pristina, where a military ceremony was held in honour of the fallen French and German soldiers on the Eastern Front.

The Orthodox cemetery is located near „Film City,“ – the current KFOR base. French and German soldiers are part of the joint military contingent of KFOR and have been present in Kosovo since June 1999 – following the bombing of the former FR Yugoslavia.

Around 40,000 Serbs fled the city of Pristina in the summer of 1999

Serbian people fought in the Great War on the Allied side, suffering a loss of 1,100,000 casualties – about 450,000 soldiers and 650,000 civilians. Serbia lost about half of its male population during the war. Serbia’s sufferings are considered the worst losses by any European nation during the war proportional to the size of its population and the army. Serbs displayed extraordinary courage and heroism, especially during the famous breach of the Salonika front preceded shortly before the end of the war.

During the First World War, after the defeat and withdrawal of the Serbian army in the autumn of 1915, the Austro-Hungarian units occupied the northern part of Kosovo, while the southern part was occupied by the Bulgarian units (Prizren, Pristina, Kacanik, Urosevac, Gnjilane).

Austro-Hungarian occupying forces and, initially, the Bulgarians, were welcomed among Albanians in Kosovo as liberators. The Austro-Hungarian authorities opened schools in the Albanian language, while the Bulgarians employed a cruel occupation system.

After the breach of the Salonika front in 1918, the units of the Serbian Second Army took over Kosovo in October, and the area later became part of the newly established Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.