WWI outbreak marked in Belgium

 




 Twelve cannons were fired in Liege, Belgium, on Monday to conclude a ceremony marking the outbreak of World War I 100 years ago.

Britain declared war on Germany after it invaded neutral Belgium on August 4, 1914. The declaration escalated a conflict -- sparked by the assassination of the Archduke of Austria-Hungary -- into a global war.

About 16 million people were killed before the war ended four years later. Belgium was a key WWI battleground.

Dignitaries including King Philippe of Belgium, the French and German Presidents and Britain's Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, addressed those gathered in remembrance Monday.

Prince William said the people of Belgium had been among the war's first victims, and their "resistance was as gallant as their suffering was great."