The government had budgeted $83.5M for a seven-year programme which included commemorative events in Australia and overseas; educational activities and resources; and refurbishments of galleries and war graves.

[6] The centenary of World War I was marked by a program of exhibition, lectures and academic research focusing on the theme of Belgian involvement in the conflict and the occupation.

[12] An early start was made in 2011 with the opening of Le Musée de la Grande Guerre ("The Museum of the Great War") in Meaux on Armistice Day.

[16][17] At the end of the commemorations, the first edition of the Paris Peace Forum, a concept initiated by Justin Vaïsse and Pascal Lamy and endorsed by President Emmanuel Macron, opened to mark the centenary of the 1918 armistice.

[32] Dame Anne Salmond, Bob Harvey, Dr Monty Soutar, Matthew Te Pou[33] and Sir Peter Jackson[34] were all involved.

Professor Bryce Edwards noted on 24 April 2015: "As the nation moves into commemorating the Anzac Day centenary, there are growing signs of WWI overload and fatigue.

[36][37] In the United Kingdom, the Imperial War Museum (IWM) led a national programme of commemorative events and planned new galleries for the occasion (www.1914.org).

[39] Partner organisations receive access to IWM collections objects and expertise, and to digital resources, branding and a collaborative extranet.

[39] The museum also opened a new permanent First World War gallery at its London branch on 19 July 2014,[41] as part of a £35 million redevelopment of the building.

[39] In November 2011, it was announced that Prime Minister David Cameron had appointed Andrew Murrison MP as his special representative for First World War centenary commemorations.

In addition the preservation of the former Royal Navy light cruiser HMS Caroline, which served at the Battle of Jutland, will be supported by a grant of up to £1 million.

[44] The BBC planned a First World War centenary season of around 2,500 hours of television, radio and online programming over four years.

[46] The installation Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red at the Tower of London, by Paul Cummins and Tom Piper, was especially popular — over five million people visited it before it closed in November 2014, with calls for it to be extended.

Most of the ceramic poppies were sold to the public and special features from it have been preserved to go on tour and then be displayed in the Imperial War Museum.

[47][48][49] A similar tribute, Beyond the Deepening Shadow, in which 10,000 flames were lit, again at the Tower of London, and designed by Piper, was installed to mark the centenary of the end of the war.

[50] The Shrouds of the Somme was laid out at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park from 8 to 18 November 2018 to commemorate the 72,396 servicemen from the British Commonwealth with no known grave recorded at Thiepval Memorial as missing presumed dead in the Battle of the Somme; the work comprises 72,396 small human figurines, each separately wrapped in a calico shroud which was cut and sewn by hand.

It took place in a library that had recently been renovated following the destruction wrought by the Yugoslav conflict, and which is adjacent to the site of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which triggered the war.

[53] In 2018, the EBU oversaw a 'Concert for Peace' produced by two of its members, France Télévisions and Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF), held at the Royal Opera of Versailles and again performed by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, for the purpose of commemorating the centenary of the end of the war.

[54] The European Union marked the occasion with a gathering of leaders of the 28 EU member states in Ypres, during which they stood together at the Menin Gate while the Last Post was played.