text: world war i memorials world war i memorials commemorate the events and the casualties of world war i. these war memorials include civic memorials , larger national monuments , war cemeteries , private memorials and a range of utilitarian designs such as halls and parks , dedicated to remembering those involved in the conflict . huge numbers of memorials were built in the 1920s and 1930s , with around 176 , 000 erected in france alone . this was a new social phenomenon and marked a major cultural shift in how nations commemorated conflicts . interest in world war i and its memorials faded after world war ii , and did not increase again until the 1980s and 1990s , which saw the renovation of many existing memorials and the opening of new sites . visitor numbers at many memorials increased significantly , while major national and civic memorials continue to be used for annual ceremonies remembering the war . architecturally , most war memorials were relatively conservative in design , aiming to use established styles to produce a tragic but comforting , noble and enduring commemoration of the war dead . classical themes were particularly common , taking the prevailing styles of the late 19th century and typically simplifying them to produce cleaner , more abstract memorials . allegorical and symbolic features , frequently drawing on christian imagery , were used to communicate themes of self - sacrifice , victory and death . some memorials adopted a medievalist theme instead , looking backwards to a more secure past , while others used emerging realist and art deco architectural styles to communicate the themes of the war . the commissioning of memorials occurred through a wide range of national and local institutions , reflecting local political traditions ; funding was similarly disparate , with most countries relying heavily on local charitable contributions to cover the costs of construction . war cemeteries and memorials to particularly significant battles , however , were typically centrally controlled and funded by the state . the war encouraged the creation of new forms of memorial . lists of memorial names , reflecting the huge scale of the losses , were a common feature , while tombs of the unknown soldier containing a selected , unidentified body , and empty cenotaph monuments commemorated the numerous unidentifiable corpses and those servicemen whose bodies were never found . ceremonies were often held at the memorials , including those on armistice day , anzac day and the fêtes de la victoire , while pilgrimages to the sites of the conflict and the memorials there were common in the inter - war years . much of the symbolism included in memorials was political in tone , and politics played an important part in their construction . many memorials were embroiled in local ethnic and religious tensions , with memorials either reflecting the contribution of particular groups to the conflict or being rejected entirely by others . in several countries it proved difficult to produce memorials that appealed to and included the religious and political views of all of a community . the fascist governments that came to power in italy and germany during the inter - war period made the construction of memorials a key part of their political programme , resulting in a number of larger memorial projects with strong national overtones being constructed in the 1930s . while few memorials embraced a pacifist perspective , some anti - war campaigners used the memorials for rallies and meetings . many of the political tensions of the inter - war period had diminished by the end of the 20th century , allowing some countries to commemorate the events of the war through memorials for the first time since the end of the war . in the centennial of world war i , the memory of the war has become a major theme for scholars and museums . background on the eve of world war i there were no traditions of nationally commemorating mass casualties in war . france and germany had been relatively recently involved in the franco - prussian war of 1870 to 1871 . germany had built a number of national war memorials commemorating their victory , usually focusing on celebrating their military leaders . in france , memorials to their losses were relatively common , but far from being a national response , and many towns and villages did not erect memorials at all . a new organisation , the souvenir français , was established in the 1880s to protect french war memorials and encourage young french people to engage in military activities ; the organisation grew to have many contacts in local government by 1914 . britain and australia had both sent forces to participate in the second boer war of 1899 to 1902 , which spurred an increased focus on war memorials . the boer war had involved 200 , 000 british volunteers alone , and attracted considerable press coverage . numerous war memorials were erected on their return , either by local community leaders or by the local lord lieutenant , acting on behalf of the county regiments ; these were often situated in quiet locations to allow for peaceful reflection by visitors . australia had honoured its volunteers by placing individual plaques inside buildings , creating outdoor memorial tablets and erecting obelisks in public places . although the boer war encouraged a shift away from memorials portraying heroic commanding officers , as had been popular earlier in the 19th century , towards depicting ordinary soldiers , annual ceremonies surrounding the memorials were not common and no official memorial day emerged . boer war memorials in both countries were widely felt to lack a suitable quality of design and execution , echoing contemporary concerns in the us about the statues erected to commemorate the american civil war . the new european states that had formed in the second half of the 19th century typically had traditions of war memorials , but nothing on the scale that would later emerge from world war i. italy built various war memorials after unification in the 1860s , but there was little agreement about who should be responsible for these within the new italian state . romania erected a number of heroically styled memorials after the romanian war of independence in 1877 and 1878 , usually celebrating famous leaders associated with romanian independence , but also including the occasional modest local monuments bulgaria and serbia constructed many war memorials after the end of the first balkan war in 1913 . the public played little role in these eastern european memorials , however , which were typically constructed by the central state authorities . world war i ( 1914 – 18 ) experience of the conflict the memorials to world war i were shaped by the traumatic nature of the conflict and its impact on individuals and communities . the experience of the different nations influenced varied considerably , but common themes emerged . the war required a mass call to arms , with a significant percentage of the population mobilised to fight , either as volunteers or through conscription . campaigns were conducted on multiple fronts across europe and beyond . the fighting was mechanised and conducted on an industrial scale ; existing weapons , such as machine guns and artillery , were combined with the innovative deployment of aircraft , submarines and poison gas . in many theatres of operation , mobile campaigns degenerated into static trench warfare , depending on the slow attrition of the enemy over many years for victory . the battles spread across larger areas than ever before , with key engagements , such as that at verdun etched on the memories of the nations involved . one result of this style of warfare was a level of casualties unknown in previous conflicts . approximately 2 million germans and 1 . 3 million frenchmen died during the war ; 720 , 000 british soldiers died , along with 61 , 000 canadian , 60 , 000 australian and 18 , 000 new zealand servicemen . on the eastern front , 300 , 000 romanians alone died . the war had a global impact , and at least 2 , 000 chinese died in the european theatre of the conflict alone . many of the deaths occurred within a short period of time , or affected particular groups : half of france 's casualties occurred during the first 17 months of the war , for example , while the french middle and upper classes suffered disproportionate losses . many of those who survived were injured in the course of the fighting ; some injuries , such as facial traumas , resulted in the victim being shunned by wider society and banned from public events . these losses also left large numbers of widows and orphans – 1 . 36 m in france alone – and affected most families in some way : in australia , every second family had lost a relative . even those left at home had suffered extensively from stress , anxiety and grief . the war had also led to political tensions , revolution and turmoil . in russia , the conflict resulted in revolution and civil war between 1917 and 1923 , and the rise to power of the communist bolshevik government . the german empire had seen revolution break out at the end of the war , with vicious street fighting in the major cities , including berlin ; some germans felt that this experience was too quickly forgotten in the post - war years . romania almost descended into revolution as well . there was turmoil in ireland ; 210 , 000 irish served in the war as part of the british forces , but the easter rising in dublin in 1916 led in turn to the irish war of independence and the later civil war . elsewhere the war exposed simmering ethnic and religious divisions . in canada , for example , the distinctions between the english , largely protestant , and french speaking , predominantly catholic , parts of the country become increasingly apparent , with conscription becoming a major political issue . in the years after the war , veterans , the bereaved and the rest of society focused , to the point of obsession , with the problem of death . there was tremendous interest in creating war memorials that celebrated the themes of glory , heroism and loss . in part , there was a rupture or dislocation with the pre - war norms of how memorials should look and feel ; communities sought to find new , radical ways to mourn the millions of dead , killed in an essentially modern conflict . in other ways , the building of memorials drew on traditional forms and ideas , drawing on existing religious and architectural themes to explore loss and grief . responses during the war as the war progressed , memorials began to be created in most countries , either in civic centres , personal homes or on the battlefields themselves . memorials took various names across europe ; amongst english - speaking countries , such memorials had previously been called fallen soldiers ' monuments , but the term " war memorial " became popularised by the conflict , drawing attention to the role of society as a whole in the events . germany followed suit , terming the memorials , war monuments . by contrast france and italy termed them monuments aux morts and ai : monuments to the dead , an explicit reference to the deceased . many of these memorials were in private homes rather than in public places , as bereaved families often made domestic memorials , using photographs of the deceased and personal objects sent back from the front . in britain and australia , early memorials were closely linked to the need to promote military recruitment and the state had an ambivalent attitude towards the informal memorials that emerged during the conflict . in britain , stone memorials to the war began to be erected in towns and villages from 1915 onwards ; some of these were given out by the state as rewards to communities for meeting military recruitment targets . in australia , the existing memorials to mark the boer war were used initially used for commemorative ceremonies intended to increase military recruitment . as casualties increased , rolls of honour listing the dead began to be displayed in britain and honour tablets with the names of those who had enlisted were put up inside australian buildings : australia used these lists to apply moral pressure on those who were not yet joined up . informal memorials began to multiply as the war progressed . local australian groups erected small monuments , such as drinking fountains and stone pillars , to the point where the government became concerned about the expenditure on them and passed a law in 1916 to control their numbers . in britain , some anglican church leaders began to create street war shrines to the dead . these cheap , local memorials were mainly constructed in working class districts , often built from wood and paper , and were used for holding short services in honour of the dead and to hold donations of flowers . they were criticised , however , as promoting catholic . official support for the shrines only came after a national newspaper campaign , efforts by the lord mayor of london and a well - publicised visit from queen mary to a shrine , and standardised stone shrines then began to replace the earlier , temporary versions . across the german empire nagelfiguren , war memorials made from iron nails embedded in wood , became popular , particularly in austria . these took various forms , including knights , shields , eagles and crosses , as well as submarines . this practice had medieval origins , and the memorials were reinforced by the promotion of during the war , a medieval pact in which disparate german communities would put aside their differences during a conflict . in some cases , relatives of the deceased were encouraged to hammer memorial nails in as part of the ceremonies , while children might be encouraged to read out poems in a medieval style . at some nagelfiguren a charge was made for each nail used , with the revenues donated to charities supporting soldiers , orphans and others affected by the conflict . some relatively large memorials were constructed during the war . the largest nagelfiguren was a statue of general hindenburg , famous for his victory over the russians in prussia at the battle of tannenberg ; the 12 m tall statue was put up in berlin , complete with scaffolding to allow participants to reach the statue and hammer nails in . by the end of the war , architects in germany already considering how to commemorate the dead . a large , temporary memorial shrine was built in hyde park in august 1918 , with over 100 , 000 visitors in its first week : it lasted over a year . the hyde park shrine encouraged debate in britain about permanent war memorials in the major cities and towns . museums to remember the events of the war also began to be commissioned ; governmentally : the imperial war museum in britain in 1917 , australia began a war museum in 1917 ; privately , the repository of wartime records in france , germany the . during the conflict itself , monuments were erected near the battlefields and the temporary cemeteries being used to store the dead . it had been hoped in britain to repatriate the war dead , but this rapidly proved entirely impractical , leading to haphazard , improvised arrangements around the battlefields . by 1916 over 200 war cemeteries had been commissioned in france and belgium , prompting debate about what longer term memorials might be appropriate at these sites . the government was concerned that unsuitable , even distasteful memorials might be erected by relatives at the cemeteries and the decision was taken that the cemeteries would be controlled by the state , and that a uniform design would be applied to the memorials at the graves . french cemeteries were used for as memorial sites for ceremonies by injured soldiers during the war and many towns began to name streets and squares after verdun . in belgium , where the movement of the war and losses of territory had meant that the flemish elements of the population were increasingly forming a disproportionate percentage of the army , the language on the memorial headstone gradually became an issue , leading to calls for the creation of , headstones inscribed in flemish , rather than the usual french . in imperial russia , the moscow city fraternal cemetery was constructed for the war dead in 1915 by the imperial royal family and senior moscow political leaders , who hoped that its inspiring architecture would ensure patriotism in future generations of russians . inter - war ( 1919 – 39 ) construction commissioning memorials various different mechanisms for commissioning the construction of war memorials emerged during the inter - war period . in most of the nations involved in the conflict , the memorials erected in towns and cities were usually commissioned by local community leaders and other civic groups , with relatively little or no central state involvement . some national organisations emerged , including the british war memorials committee and the canadian war memorials fund , but these focused on narrow , limited projects , rather than trying to coordinate a national response . the local processes and committees could result in multiple memorials being created for the same community or event : the site of verdun was commemorated by three different memorials , for example , while some british towns saw rival memorials created by competing groups in the community . in contrast , the construction of war cemeteries , graves and their associated memorials were typically placed under the control of a central state authority . the imperial war graves commission ( iwgc ) took on this role for britain and her empire . the nazionale per la ai di guerra in italy coordinated the military repatriation of bodies and the construction of cemeteries . the german war graves commission , the deutsche ( vdk ) , was established in 1919 , and took strict control over the creation and style of german war cemeteries . the american battle monuments commission oversaw us military graves in a similar fashion . in britain and australia , local community leaders were expected to organise local committees to create war memorials . britain had a strong tradition of local government and mayors , council chairmen or similar leaders would usually step forward to establish a memorial committee . these committees might then bring in a wider cross - section of local community leaders , including christian clergy , jewish leaders , voluntary organisations , rifle clubs and volunteer police , although sometimes committees were more tightly controlled by local government officials . former servicemen occasionally felt that their opinions were excluded from the formal processes , while in other cases complaints were made that the wealthier members of the community were given a disproportionate role in decision - making . in both britain and australia , local memorials were also supplemented by other memorials that reflected wider groups in society , such as military units or particular sports , hobbies or even animals . north america largely followed a similar process . in canada , the early memorials to the war were typically organised by groups of former soldiers , the canadian legion or local authorities . there was considerable discussion in the us during 1919 about the need to construct a suitably grand , national monument to commemorate the war dead , but the discussions failed to produce a consensus and no project was undertaken . in other countries , the state played a stronger role in the process of commissioning memorials . france , for example , mostly relied on local communities to organise and commission most war memorials , but the state played a comparatively larger role than in britain and similar countries . a law was passed in 1919 establishing an official role for local government officials in the process of commissioning memorials ; many towns then formed committees to take this process forward , typically at the commune level . members of the souvenir français organisation played an important role in many of the resulting local committees . in other cases , governments increased their role in commissioning memorials during the inter - war period . in romania , most memorials in the early 1920s were initially erected by local communities ; in 1919 the royal family created the societatea eroilor to oversee commemoration of the war more generally ; the organisation was headed by the patriarch of the romanian orthodox church . by the 1930s official concern over the diverse range of designs led to increased central control over the process . the rise of fascism in particular frequently encouraged greater state involvement . in italy , between the end of the war and 1923 local groups and organisations had established their own local memorials in villages and towns . not all villages agreed that memorials were appropriate , either for political or religious reasons . with the fascist revolution , this process became more centralised ; veteran groups were assimilated by the fascist government in 1926 , and a systematic attempt to construct suitable national and local memorials followed . in germany , the political and economic chaos of the immediate post - war years discouraged the construction of civic war memorials and comparatively few civic memorials in their larger towns , mainly due to the shortage of funds in the inter - war german economy and political disagreements between local groups as to what to commemorate and how . those memorials that were constructed were often built instead by local movements , representing particular factional interests . it was only after the rise of the german nazi party to power in 1933 that substantial funding began to flow into construction programmes , controlled from berlin . as a result of all these processes , large numbers of memorials , more than for any other conflict , were built across the world during the inter - war period . it is estimated that france built around 176 , 000 war memorials , including around 36 , 000 in the local communes . most of the local commune memorials were built by 1922 , but those in the towns and cities typically required more protracted negotiations , and their construction stretched into the 1930s . the 1920s were particularly busy for construction of memorials in britain , although the trend tailed off in 1930s , with the last inter - war memorial unveiled at the town of mumbles in 1939 . the commissioning of australian war memorials similarly reduced after the mid - 1920s . over 3 , 500 romanian memorials were erected . many german memorials were built during the 1930s . russia was unusual in building very few war memorials to the events of world war i , mainly as a result of the devastation of the civil war and the political views of the subsequent bolshevik government . community and civic memorials civic and private memorials in response to the war took many forms , from monuments , sculpture , buildings , gardens , artistic works or special funds to support particular activities . one of the major distinctions between proposed war memorials involved a distinction between utilitarian and non - utilitarian , symbolic designs ; in the us , utilitarian memorials were termed " living memorials " . utilitarian memorials were intended to commemorate the dead by having a practical function and typically include projects such as libraries , small hospitals , cottages for nursing staff , parks , clock towers or bowling greens , although in britain and canada , large - scale urban redevelopment projects were also proposed , including rebuilding the centre of westminster , to form a huge war memorial complex and building a subway under the detroit river . in contrast non - utilitarian memorials , such as monuments , remembered the dead purely through their symbolism or design . locations could be also contentious : in france , some arguments as to whether market places , for example , were suitable locations : was it good to choose a central location , or did this cheapen the symbolism ? in britain , in a shift from 19th century practices , memorials were typically placed in busy public places . in some countries , such as france and germany , utilitarian memorials were considered totally unsuitable ; the germans , for example , thought them unpatriotic and disrespectful to the dead . in other , particularly more protestant countries , however , a vigorous debate raged as to whether utilitarian or symbolic memorials were more appropriate . in britain , this debate was spurred on by the formation of various national societies to promote particular perspectives . some felt that practical memorials failed to remember the war dead properly ; others argued that these memorials helped support the survivors of the war and society as a whole . although these arguments frequently became embroiled in local politics , there was little correlation between national political views and opinions on the form of memorials . most memorials in australia were monumental rather than utilitarian , but practical memorials such as hospitals , schools or new roads were increasingly popular in the post war period , although some concerns were raised that these memorials might be later demolished as australia 's towns expanded . in america , utilitarian memorials were more popular , and the establishment of the national committee on memorial buildings supported this trend . the american " living memorial " movement was aided by widespread criticism of the war monuments to the american civil war , which many felt to have been purely executed . for symbolic memorials , numerous designs were possible , from simple monuments through to much more complex pieces of sculpture . obelisks had been a popular memorial form in the 19th century and remained so in the inter - war years , including in britain , france , australia and romania . one factor in this popularity was that obelisks were relatively cheap to build , while they also fitted well with the existing civic architecture in many towns . memorial plaques were another popular memorial style around the world . soldiers , either individually or in groups , were a popular sculptural feature in most countries , portrayed in various stances ; typically these were allegorical , although in france the style of the soldier could also carry political meaning and reflect local political sympathies . although the trend pre - dated the first world war , very few western war memorials portrayed heroic commanding officers , as had been popular earlier in the 19th century ; if soldiers were depicted , they were invariably ordinary soldiers , usually infantrymen . after the unveiling of the cenotaph in london , it became a popular design in many other locations in britain and australia too . in other respects , individual countries had different preferences for styles of memorial . french communities usually chose simple monuments , located in public spaces , and deliberately avoided political or religious imagery and rhetoric . in australia and the us , memorial halls – some of which were large , grand structures – were popular . australia also created the idea of an avenue of honour , involving lines of trees , with memorial plaques , along a road . canadians often brought back various material from europe for their memorials , including pieces of local european churches and soil from the relevant battlefields . individual countries also had typical national symbols that were widely incorporated , from the british britannia , to the gallic rooster to the romanian vulture . postcards of war memorials were widely produced in britain and italy , and ceramic models of the more famous ones , such as the cenotaph , were sold as souvenirs . cemeteries the world war i war cemeteries represented important memorials sites to the conflict and typically incorporated specific monuments commemorating the dead . under the treaty of versailles , each country was made officially responsible for maintaining the military graves inside their territories , but the relevant countries of the fallen soldiers were typically granted the freedom to design and build the military cemeteries themselves . some countries ' cemeteries would naturally be on their own soil , but in other cases , such as for britain and the dominions , the cemeteries could be relatively distant ; the failure to repatriate british war dead from europe early in the war had proved domestically controversial , and when the us joined the war in 1917 their government had promised relatives that bodies would be repatriated to the us ; around 70 percent of the us war dead were sent back . along the western front , the cemeteries were typically concentrated in specific locations , with the bodies brought in some distances to form larger cemeteries ; elsewhere , the cemeteries tended to be smaller and more scattered . there was much discussion across the british empire about how the iwgc should commemorate the war dead . the construction of war cemeteries was a clear priority , but there was an ambition to produce a ground - breaking series of memorials to the fallen soldiers and the key battles along the western front , while in the east there was an urgent political requirement to construct memorials to reinforce britain 's inter - war claims to influence and territories across the region . the dominions also wanted to have their own national monuments as part of the programme of work . initially twelve major memorials were planned , each of which would combine a memorial to a key battlefield , a cemetery and a monument to a specific dominion , but the french government raised concerns over the considerable number and size of these memorials , leading to the plans being halved in scale . iwgc war cemeteries featured grass and flowers within a walled area , intended to resemble an english garden ; almost all were constructed around a war stone and a cross of sacrifice , described in more detail below . the style varied slightly by architect and location , but typically the cemeteries followed classical influences in buildings and monuments , sometimes adapted slightly to appeal to the style of a particular dominion . the buildings at the cemeteries were important symbolically and formed a key part of these designs . the graves proved controversial : initially they were marked by wooden crosses but , after some argument , it was agreed to replace these with portland stone markers ; the original wooden memorials were in some cases returned to the soldier 's next of kin . each marker was identical in shape and individualised only through the inscription of the name , regiment , date of death , a religious symbol and a short text agreed by the next of kin . public debate ensued about these graves throughout the 1920s . british officials were concerned about families erecting their own memorials on the sites and detracting from the appearance of the cemeteries ; critics complained about the secular nature of the memorials , the limited options for families to the graves and the excessive role of the iwgc in determining how the soldiers were buried . the construction of the french cemeteries was complicated by even more heated arguments over how the bodies of the war dead should be dealt with . during the conflict the french war dead had ended up being split between special war cemeteries , local civilian cemeteries and some had been returned to their original villages . catholic traditionalists in the government called for the bodies to be buried together in special cemeteries along the western front , while others campaigned for them to be returned to local cemeteries . in 1919 , the decision was taken to use special war cemeteries and to ban the repatriation of bodies , but by 1920 this decision had been reversed and 300 , 000 french bodies were repatriated to their original homes . the french war cemeteries were typically much larger than their iwgc equivalents and used concrete catholic crosses for all the graves , with the exception of the islamic and chinese war dead . german war cemeteries are somewhat different from french and british ones , being more austere and simple in design . they were built around lawns , without flowers or other decorations , intended to highlight acceptance of the tragedy and avoid the expensive and pretentious sentimentality that the german vdk felt allied cemeteries invoked . german war cemeteries also included , heroes ' groves populated with oak trees and large boulders , dolmen . both symbolising nature ; this landscaping was considered to be particularly important for german war cemeteries . the cemeteries used slate grave markers , less individualised than british or french equivalents , and felt to better symbolise the importance german nation as a whole . in eastern europe , romania built what were termed heroes ' war grave cemeteries , either in existing heroes ' cemeteries , on the sites of the world war i battles , or in new cemeteries symbolically placed on the edges of towns . the situation was somewhat different in russia , however , where the moscow city fraternal cemetery was used not just for the war dead of world war i , but also for the casualties of the civil war , and then the victims of the secret police . it was finally closed by the bolsheviks in 1925 and turned into a park ; subsequently , possibly on the orders of joseph stalin , the eastern orthodox church and the headstones were systematically destroyed until almost no trace of the cemetery remained . a final wave of war cemetery memorials were completed in the 1930s under the fascist governments of germany and italy . the main italian war cemeteries were not finished until 1938 , and their positioning in some cases carried special political meaning , emphasising italy 's right to claim important , but ethnically diverse , border regions . in germany , the same decade saw the completion of , fortresses of the dead , used as war cemeteries and memorials . these were in some senses an extension of the cemetery designs of the 1920s , celebrating a natural german landscape , but included extensive modernist , monumental features , intending to highlight german artistic skill . battlefields most nations considered certain battlefields particularly important because of the national losses that had been incurred there , and took steps to erect special memorials to them , alongside the cemeteries that held their war dead . the french regarded the battles around verdun as symbolic of the entire war , while for the british the battle of ypres in belgium and the battle of the somme in france — in particular thiepval hill — had similar resonances . australian and new zealand forces placed special significance on the events of gallipoli . in the same way , romania regarded the battles of mărăşeşti and mărăşti as hugely significant sites , worth of special remembrance . in the inter - war years , these battlefields were frequently described as forming " sacred " ground because of the number deaths that had occurred there . national governmental bodies and charities were rapidly formed to produce memorials for these sites . the british government , for example , set up the battle exploits committee in 1919 to create national battlefield memorials , alongside the work of the iwgc . initially their intent was to celebrate the more heroic aspects of the fighting , and to avoid the flavour of memorials to the fallen that were being built elsewhere ; by 1921 , however , the committee had entered into a partnership with iwgc and adopted the same focus on the sacrifice of the fallen soldiers . the canadian battlefields memorials commission ( ) was similarly established in 1920 to produce war memorials for the major battlefields involving canadian forces . a range of battlefield memorials emerged . the huge douaumont ossuary was built to remember verdun through a private french charity , organised by the bishop of verdun . the ossuary was deliberately multi - faith , however , with catholic , protestant , jewish and islamic facilities . the romanian authorities built a similar mausoleum at mărăşeşti , explicitly likened to the use french ossuary at verdun . canadian vimy monument . amidst some concerns about denigrating the importance of other battlefields , the focused on producing a single major memorial at vimy . in turkey , the entire battlefield of gallipoli was ceded to britain and her imperial allies in 1923 , and the area was turned into an extended memorial to the war dead . there were no settlements to reconstruct , so the graves were largely left scattered in individual graves or small cemeteries , and the slopes were planted with australian vegetation . obelisks were particularly popular memorials at gallipoli along the ridges , including one obelisk 100 ft high . there was uncertainty as to how to treat the wider battlefields surrounding these monuments . at the end of the war , visitors and tourists could easily see the damage caused by the war and the detritus of the fighting , but post - war reconstruction meant that by the 1930s most of this damage along the western front had been restored . in several cases , veterans felt that the battlefields should be maintained in their immediate post - war condition as memorials ; the reconstruction of the town of ypres was opposed by some who favoured keeping the ruins as a memorial . it was proposed to leave the fortifications of douaumont in ruins as a memorial to the dead of verdun , and the issue of whether or not to replant the region with trees in the 1930s proved controversial with veterans . some parts of the trench systems were preserved intact as memorials , however , including the beaumont - hamel newfoundland memorial and the trench system at the canadian national vimy memorial . in other theatres , such as iraq and palestine , reconstruction took much longer and bodies remained unburied at least until 1929 . economics resources and funds were needed to construct most memorials , particular larger monuments or building projects ; sometimes professional services could be acquired for nothing , but normally designers , workmen and suppliers had to be paid . different countries approached this problem in various ways , depending on local culture and the role of the state . despite the special nature of the memorials , contractual arguments and issues over costs , timings and specifications were common , from smaller works in villages through to major works , such as the vimy memorial . the sheer volume of work encouraged industrial innovation : carving the inscriptions into the many thousands of british memorial stones had to originally be undertaken by hand , for example , until a lancashire company invented an automated engraving process . in britain , voluntary subscription , rather than funding from local or central government , was considered the only correct way to pay for a war memorial , although it was disputed whether active proactive fundraising was appropriate . raising the sums required could be quite difficult , and many committees tried various means , including moral blackmail , to exhort larger sums out of the more wealthy members of the community . the amount of money successfully raised varied considerably : the city of glasgow , with a million inhabitants , raised approximately £ 104 , 000 for memorials ; leeds , with around half a million inhabitants , only £ 6 , 000 . a typical memorial monument in britain costed between £ 1 , 000 and £ 2 , 000 , but some could be cheaper still ; larger pieces , such as the royal artillery memorial , could cost as much as £ 25 , 000 . australian communities raised funds in similar ways to their british equivalents , but the process of fund - raising was much more open , and included directly canvassing for donations . typical australian projects cost between £ 100 and £ 1 , 000 , with the larger memorials costing up to £ 5 , 000 ; bank - loans were also sometimes used . memorials along the western front , being larger , cost rather more than their civic equivalents ; the villers – bretonneux australian national memorial , for example , cost the iwgc and australian government around £ 40 , 000 . the french approach to funding memorials also relied mainly on voluntary fundraising , but featured a greater role for the state . a law passed in 1919 provided for a subsidy from central government to local authorities to assist in building memorials ; the money was distributed in proportion to the number of local citizens who had died in the war . nonetheless the largest french projects , such as the ossuary of douaumont , were still paid for mostly through private fund raising across france and the international community : it could take many years to raise the sums required . the ossuary cost 15 m francs to build ; at the other end of the scale , more modest urban memorials cost around 300 , 000 francs . much of the inter - war period saw economic recession or stagnant growth , making fund - raising more challenging . partially as a result , many memorial projects had to be cut back or altered due to lack of money . the final size of douaumont had to be cut in size by a third when fund - raising slowed . proposals to turn the planned imperial war museum into a grand memorial for the war dead were shelved due to lack of funds . the construction of memorials produced a lot of business in all the countries involved in the war . in britain and australia , stone masons provided large quantities of mass - produced design , often advertising through catalogues , while professional architects acquired the bulk of the specialised commissions for war memorials , making use of their professional organisations . professional sculptors argued that their work was superior and more appropriate than that of architects , but they received far fewer commissions . british stone masons provided cheap products through catalogues . in france , funeral directors played a large part in the business of producing designs , producing catalogues of their designs for local communities to choose from . in the us , there was sufficient interest that a specialist magazine , monumental news , was created to support the trade in war memorials . innovation and grieving naming the dead the deaths caused by world war i were difficult for post - war societies to cope with : their unprecedented scale challenged existing methods of grieving . furthermore , an expectation had arisen during the war that individual soldiers would expect to be commemorated , even if they were low ranking members of the military . one method used to address this was the inclusion of lists of names . in part , this was a response to the practical problem of commemorating such large numbers of dead , but it carried additional symbolic importance ; in some ways , the physical presence of a name acted to compensate for an absent body . the lists could vary in size from the 21 names listed in a small english village like east ilsley , to the 54 , 896 names inscribed on the menin gate and the 73 , 357 on the thiepval memorial . civic memorials in britain and france typically had names inscribed ; in britain , these were often combined with other mottos or script , in france , where the significance of the name took even greater importance , just the names were used with a simple introduction . in france the names were usually listed in alphabetical order , resembling a military presentation . the british phrase , adopted by iwgc , " their name liveth for evermore " , was popularised by rudyard kipling , who had lost a son during the war . british lists often omitted the soldier 's rank , creating an impression of equality in death . long lists of names — up to 6 , 000 — incorporated into churches in england and germany . in australia , where the forces were solely volunteers , all those who served were typically recorded on memorials , while in new zealand , where conscription applied , only the fallen were recorded on memorials . touching the names of the dead on memorials was common gesture of grieving in the inter - war period ; sometimes mourners would also kiss the names . visitors to the memorials on the western front would often photograph or trace on paper the relevant names on the memorials , taking these reminders back with them to their homes . by contrast , the naming of the dead played a less significant role in italy , where formal lists of the war dead were not established until the mid - 1920s ; local communities compiled their own lists , used to produce local memorial plaques , but the national lists remained inaccurate for many years . after the war , a bronze memorial plaque , inscribed with the name of the deceased alongside britannia and a lion , and a scroll , sent to the next of kin of those had died in the service of the british empire . honour rolls in canada were very popular , particularly immediately after the end of the war , although the decision on which names to include on them proved contentious : should accidental deaths , for example , be included ? where it was impractical to inscribe names in churches , usually due to the number of casualties and available space , books of names were often recorded instead . and tombs of the unknown soldier a large number of soldiers who died in the war were never found , and similarly bodies were recovered that could not be identified ; once again , this required new forms of memorial . the scale of the issue was once again huge : 73 , 000 allied dead were never found at the somme , for example , either because their bodies had been lost , destroyed or were unrecognisable , more than one in ten of the losses in the battle . one of the key developments in memorials to the war , the cenotaph , used an empty tomb to symbolise these aspects of the war . in 1919 , britain and france planned victory marches through their respective capitals and as part of this france decided to erect a temporary cenotaph , an empty sarcophagus monument , which would be saluted by the marching troops . the british prime minister david lloyd george decided that a similar memorial should be built in london , despite ministerial opposition that a cenotaph was an inappropriate , catholic form of monument . the victory marches went ahead ; french political leaders had the memorial in paris removed immediately after the parade , on the basis that it was too germanic in appearance , but the london cenotaph proved very popular and hundreds of thousands flocked to see it . the popularity of the temporary cenotaph resulted in it remaining open until the following year , when the decision had to be taken about what to do with the decaying structure : there was concern from the government that a permanent memorial might be vandalised , while the popular press criticised any suggestion of dismantling the existing structure . a new , permanent cenotaph designed by edwin lutyens was commissioned and unveiled on whitehall street on armistice day 1920 , effectively turning this part of london into a memorial to the war ; over a million people visited the site during november that year . the memorial style became very popular and spread to other countries in the subsequent years . in contrast to the empty cenotaph , another new form of memorial , the tomb of the unknown soldier , used the idea of burying one of the unidentified bodies from the war as a symbolic memorial to all of the lost soldiers . this idea had begun to emerge towards the end of the war , and was actively promoted by some british veterans ' groups in 1919 . initially , however , it failed to gain traction with the government because of the success of the whitehall cenotaph , and a second memorial was felt to be unnecessary . finally , in 1920 , following lobbying by british cleric david railton , britain and france both decided to create a tomb of the unknown soldier , choosing an unknown body and creating a special memorial around it ; the tombs were inaugurated on armistice day . the choice of location for the french tomb proved controversial , however , and it was not finalised until the following year , when the body was laid to rest under the arc de triumph . the concept proved popular , and encouraged similar memorials in other countries . in italy , the idea of an unknown soldier memorial was particularly popular , both because lists of memorial names were less common and because the italy had suffered particularly heavily from unidentifiable casualties as a result of the campaigns in the alps — as many of 60 % of the corpses buried at were unidentifiable . the tomb of the unknown soldier in rome was built in 1921 , with other unidentifiable bodies being adopted by local cults of the dead across italy . the italian tomb was significant in political terms ; italy was deeply divided in the post - war years and the liberal government hoped that the opening would reunify the country . in practice , the tomb became a point of tension between the liberals and the italian fascist movement , and benito mussolini claimed to have timed his seizure of power the next year to ensure that the 1922 ceremonies at the tomb would occur under a fascist government . other countries considered similar memorials . the us constructed a tomb of the unknown soldier in 1921 ; while the idea was clearly a foreign concept , it proved very popular with the american public and by 1936 was attracting over 1 . 5 m visitors a year and acting as an informal national monument to the war . edwin , part of the german government , supported a similar scheme in 1925 , but without success , and mainz cathedral and ulm minster were later proposed as options for a tomb . in germany , a tomb was not finally built until 1935 , when it was sponsored by the nazi government ; the final memorial contained 20 bodies of unknown german soldiers from the eastern front . other countries also constructed tombs , including belgium and portugal , and as in france and britain these tombs were placed in capital cities ; there was an abortive attempt to place the romanian tomb at mărăşeşti , but this proved impractical for both logistic and ceremonial reasons . canada , australia and new zealand declined to build their own tombs , as they were considered to be represented by the burial in london . ceremonies ceremonies came to surround many memorials ; many memorials were formally opened or unveiled in public ceremonies , while others were used for recurring ceremonies on commemorative days . memorials in britain and france were typically opened in civic ceremonies involving local dignitaries , veterans and the next - of - kin of fallen servicemen . some memorials acquired daily ceremonies ; in 1928 it became customary to play the last post bugle call at the menin gate memorial each evening , for example , and this practice spread to many other similar memorials in france . some ceremonies were formed around the memorials on specific days of the year . during the war , the british had commemorated the 4 august as remembrance day , but this was superseded at the end of the conflict by armistice day on 11 november each year . it became the norm for ceremonies to be held at memorials across britain at 11 am on this day , supported by two minutes of silence , instituted by the government , police and local authorities . the london cenotaph formed the national hub for these ceremonies from 1919 onwards ; at the first armistice day ceremony , it received 500 , 000 visitors in four days . the ceremony at the cenotaph was equated to a religious event : the daily mail , for example , described the emotion and the " mystic meaning " at the ceremony which combined to produce a special " halo " and an " aura " . ceremonies at the cenotaph were covered and photographed by the national papers , and national radio broadcasts of the event commenced in 1928 . armistice day ceremonies also became important in france . the early ceremonies were organised by veterans ' associations on the 11 november , but in 1921 the french government became concerned that these ceremonies were impacting on industrial productivity and moved the commemoration to the first available sunday . following protests , a national french holiday was declared in 1922 . the ceremonies were heavily influenced by the state , with national and local officials playing an important part , and there was an expectation of universal national participation . attendees would march , often from the local church , past the local cemeteries to a relevant memorial ; tricolour flags , black wreaths and wreaths of flowers would be place on or around the memorials , but unlike britain there was almost no military symbolism involved in the ceremony . up to a hundred names of the dead would then be read out , typically by a war orphan , and the crowd would follow each name by saying " mort pour la france " – " he died for france " – in unison . other important days were commemorated at memorials around the world . australia commemorated armistice day , but held larger scale commemorations around anzac day on 25 april . anzac day was founded to remember the gallipoli campaign , and memorials were erected for the first ceremonies in 1916 ; dawn services at local memorials formed a key part of the national event . in france , the authorities in verdun organised the fêtes de la victoire on 23 june , centring on the city 's memorials and the nearby ossuary . these usually involved senior french military figures and pageantry . ceremonies to honour the fallen of the battle of the somme were held by the british at the somme memorials on the sunday nearest 1 july throughout the 1920s and 1930s . romania – inter - war years , the feast of the ascension used to commemorate the war dead . termed heroes ' day , civic processions under central guidance from the took place to the local war memorials . the 6 august was also used to commemorate the battle of mărăşeşti at the site . many of these adopted the british use of collective silence during the memorial ceremonies . in some locations , these ceremonies could prove controversial . canada – ceremonies on armistice day in the 1920s not straightforward in montreal ; predominantly anglican and english , with french and catholic elements largely excluded until the end . the opening of the vimy memorial drew criticism for its secular nature - no clergy were invited to speak - despite the religious symbolism of much of the building . the emotional character of the ceremonies around the memorials changed as grieving took place and many individuals , inevitably , continued with their lives . some early ceremonies around memorials were believed to be closely associated with spiritual events . the opening of the menin gate memorial , for example , inspired will longstaff 's dream that led to the famous menin gate at midnight painting , portraying the fallen dead rising and walking through the gateway , while the cenotaph ceremonies were photographed in 1922 , and believed by some to show the ghosts of the war dead . indeed , early ceremonies at the london cenotaph after the war were felt to be particularly emotional ; commentators felt that by the late 1920s , the events were more formal and less fraught with emotional than previously . initially foreign diplomats in britain were expected to lay wreaths on armistice day ; this requirement was reviewed in the 1930s . in australia , there were initially many local ceremonies at memorials on anzac day specifically for bereaved mothers ; by the 1930s , these had been discontinued and incorporated into the wider ceremonial occasion . pilgrimages organised or structured visits to war memorials became popular during the inter - war years . these were often termed pilgrimages , in keeping with the spiritual and religious nature of the journeys . these were frequently combined with other ceremonies at the sites . tensions existed between those who travelled to the sites as tourists and those who perceived themselves as pilgrims . along the western front these began quite early after the war and continued for several decades , dropping in number in the mid - 1920s , when interest in the war temporarily diminished , and again in the depression years of the early 1930s . flemish pilgrimages to belgium graves , particularly the , and memorials began in 1919 , continuing through the subsequent decades . the ossuary at verdun was the centre for many veterans pilgrimages in the 1920s , one of the better known groups being the fêtes de la bataille , which travelled to the site to undertake a vigil , processions and lay wreaths . these pilgrimages were typically low - key and avoided military symbolism or paraphernalia . ypres became a pilgrimage destination for britons to imagine and share the sufferings of their men and gain a spiritual benefit ; the ypres league was established by veterans , and sought to transform the horrors of trench warfare into a purifying spiritual quest . the menin gate memorial became a focal point for british pilgrims to the western front after it was opened in 1927 . pilgrims could come long distances : in the 1920s canadians began to journey to vimy and australians began visiting gallipoli from 1925 onwards , bringing back military souvenirs relics . guidebooks for english - speaking visitors became common , including a number of official publications , some extremely detailed . major dwight d. eisenhower spent years working on a guide to american battlefields . a 1920 british guide book , the holy ground of british arms captured the mood of the ypres league , stating : " there is not a single half - acre in ypres that is not sacred . there is not a single stone which has not sheltered scores of loyal young hearts , whose one impulse and desire was to fight and , if need be , to die for england . " in central and eastern europe , the state played a greater role in organising these pilgrimages . the national orthodox romanian women 's society , supported by the church and the state , played an important part in enabling regular pilgrimages to important romanian sites up until 1939 . in germany and italy , the fascist governments took a keen interest in organising such journeys . in italy , these involved large , state - influenced organisations , and the government steadily discouraged private visits or unofficial groups from taking part in alternative ceremonies at these sites . in nazi germany , pilgrimages were organised to the new war memorials sponsored by the government in the 1930s . politics the memorials to world war i were frequently politicised , either by the debates over their construction and design , or by the symbolism incorporated into them . even where attempts were made to ensure political neutrality , as in france where the inscriptions on memorials were usually deliberately neutral , avoiding political controversy , national politics influenced the symbolism and messages incorporated into the memorials . pacifism slowly began to emerge after the war , but very few war memorials communicated a pacifist message , largely because in the 1920s , most in the victorious countries felt that the war , while costly in human life , had been worth fighting . anti - war protests in the inter - war years did use war memorials , however , as locations to communicate their messages ; the communist party in france , for example , held rallies at them . in britain , political views about the war influenced attitudes towards memorial design and the ceremonies that surrounded them . those who supported the war were keen to see the ideals of justice and freedom embodied in the designs ; those who opposed the conflict sought memorials that would convince people to avoid future slaughter . the opening of the tomb of the unknown soldier was criticised for what anti - war campaigners felt was its pro - war pomp and ceremony , and the burial of the unknown soldier in westminster raised controversy between those who liked the ceremony , and those who thought that the pageantry was designed to distract from the poor living conditions faced by the survivors of the war . religious differences and tensions could make it difficult to design inclusive war memorials . in us , the separation of church and state meant that crosses were discouraged . despite being banned from onwards 1905 , many french monuments were explicitly catholic in character , including a catholic cross . australia also minimised the use of crosses , partially for similar reasons , but also because over concerns about excluding their jewish community . decisions to incorporate christian imagery into memorials in britain could also exclude minority groups , such as jews , from participating in a memorial . in britain , the religious differences between anglicans , nonconformists and roman catholics were frequently played out at a local level in arguments over the location and symbolism to be used in memorials . in canada , where these differences were overlaid across the english and french speaking national divide , war memorials attempted to reunify the country ; the cross of sacrifice memorial in montreal , for example , was deliberately situated in between the catholic and protestant war cemeteries . this was only partially successful – inauguration ceremony and the military parade resulted in shouted arguments between french and english speaking parts of the crowd . world war i memorials were also involved in the civil wars and ethnic disputes of the inter - war period . after independence and the civil war , for example , the republic of ireland did not prioritise commemorating the dead of world war i , and indeed the events were largely ignored . attempts to construct memorials during the 1930s , such as the national war memorial gardens in dublin , were discouraged by the republican movement and finally blocked altogether in 1939 . by contrast , unionists in northern ireland made the war a key part of their political narrative , emphasising their role in events such as the battle of the somme . monuments were erected in prominent locations in the centres of key northern ireland cities . other multi - ethnic parts of europe frequently found war memorials equally contentious . in flanders , the ijzertoren , a controversial flemish memorial tower , was opened in 1930 , commemorating the sacrifices during the war , but also celebrating flemish identity and marking the hard treatment of flemish activists by the belgian authorities during the conflict . in disputed multi - ethnic territories in the east , such as transylvania , the war had created bitter memories between hungarian and romanian inhabitants . the arguments were played out in differences as to how the dates of the war - in which hungary and romania had entered and left at different times - were recorded on tombstones and other memorials . in serbia , the kosovo maiden was extensively used in war memorials , drawing a link between the war and the battle of kosovo . the fascist movements in italy and germany in the 1920s and 1930s made extensive use of world war i memorials to communicate a political message . war memorials were a key part of the italian fascist government 's programme , with memorials set up in the name of the fallen and the fascist revolution . local fascist organisations made extensive use of the war memorials and associated ceremonies to promote loyalty both to italy , and to the revolution . the government promoted the " cult of the fallen hero " , stressing that the war dead had played a vital role in transforming italy 's position in europe and transforming history . the fascist leader mussolini was less enthusiastic , however , about the tomb of the unknown soldier , which he felt was associated with the former regime ; he discouraged its use , although remained sensitive to its symbolic importance to various parts of italian society . military fly - pasts were added to the armistice ceremonies and the tomb itself was moved in 1935 , to make it easier to use the memorial in military parades . the later german monuments constructed by the nazi government were substantial , but communicated a limited range of symbolic messages , focusing on german heroism , conservative nationalism sentiments and masculinity . use of mass graves symbolised the sense of german community . when paul von hindenburg died in 1935 , the tannenberg memorial was then used as his mausoleum , commemorating elite military leadership during the war . the nazi government attempted to have the jewish names removed from the war memorials , but this proved impractical and instead a law was passed forbidding their addition to any future memorials . the government also removed more experimental earlier war memorials which were felt to communicate an inappropriate message about the war , such as the work of ernst . architecture most world war i war designers attempted to produce memorials that were , as cultural historian jay winter describes , noble , uplifting , tragic and sad . there were various architectural styles used on memorials , but most were essentially conservative in nature , typically embracing well established styles such as classicism and embracing mainstream christian symbolism . this conservatism in part resulted from the age and background of the committees that were commissioning the memorials , and also from a sense that established architectural styles , rather a potentially more transitory but fashionable style , would be more enduring and appropriate . professional concern was raised in several countries about the quality of memorials . australians expressed critical concern from 1919 onwards about the poor quality of the sculptures of soldiers on memorials , the blame being placed on the cheap reproductions by stone masons . their government responded by establishing advisory boards to discourage this trend . britain also saw concerns over the " stereotyped designs " being supplied by firms of stone masons , and here again numerous bodies issued guidance on better practices , including the royal academy of art , the church of england ; the civic arts association was formed specifically to help . the opinion of professional artists and critics remained quite important for committees when choosing designs , however , and there was vigorous discussion between supporters of different styles and architectural traditions . many designers were involved in the construction of memorials , but some became particularly well known for their work in this area . many of the sculptors active on the memorials were established , victorian - era individuals ; the war had disrupted the training of a new generation , and many young sculptors had been killed . some attempts were made to give preference to designers who had fought in the war , but this was far from universal . in british circles , edwin lutyens , herbert baker , reginald blomfield and charles holden formed the core of the established artists ; these were joined by charles sargeant jagger , gilbert ledward and eric gill from the younger generation . pietro was a particularly prolific australian designer . in germany , käthe kollwitz memorial of a grieving mother at the cemetery particularly famous , and based on her own loss of a son during the fighting in the war . symbolism world war i memorials made extensive use of symbolism and allegory . some of these symbols were national in character , carrying a simple message about national victory – a gallic rooster triumphing over a german , the croix de guerre , or the romanians ' symbol for their heroes ' cult for example – but others , such as images of infantrymen , could be used in different ways , depending on how they were portrayed . some sculpture of french infantrymen , for example , aims to capture the spirit of french republicanism , while others are designed with more right - wing , nationalist attributes . major memorial themes , such as victory and death all had their symbols . many canadian and british soldiers are shown raising a hat or a rifle , a sign of victory first introduced into boer war memorials . the greek goddess nike herself frequently appears on civic memorials , particularly in britain and canada , personifying victory , often pointing the way to soldiers : the image is far less , common , however , on more sombre memorials in battlefields and graveyards . of death rarely feature on these memorials , however , probably because the emphasis is typically on the self - sacrifice of the soldiers involved , rather than their being taken or claimed by death . death is more typically presented through images of widows , orphans and elderly parents on memorials , all popular inter - war allegorical forms for death and grieving . figures of women often represented peace , civilisation or wider humanity . by far the most important source of symbolism on memorials , however , is christian imagery and icons . religious imagery permeated many war memorials , even the secular . the most important of these symbols was the christian cross , a widely used symbol of hope and suffering . the cross could take multiple forms , from catholic designs in france , to orthodox crosses in eastern europe . celtic crosses were popular in britain and ireland , partially because they avoided catholic connotations , although they were considered vulgar by more classical architects such as blomfield . in france , les croix des bois , wooden crosses , became popular symbols at memorials after roland 's novel of the same name . german memorials made extensive use of the image of the virgin mary tending her son christ , following in the tradition of the pietà . the crucifixion was also a widely used symbol , as seen in derwent wood 's canada 's golgotha , although christ himself was relatively rarely typically seen on british memorials . the widespread use of christian symbolism led to questions about how to produce memorials suitable for non - christians . lutyens attempted to solve this problem for the iwgc through the design of the great stone of remembrance , or war stone . this was a large , simple stone , intended to resemble an altar and evoke the theme of sacrifice . in practice , many commentators felt it resembled a sarcophagus . lutyens wanted it to avoid conventional christian symbolism and based it on designs in chinese ming tombs . one of lutyens ' arguments in favour of his design was that explicit christian symbolism excluded the indian and jewish communities and atheists . the iwgc designs for the indian and chinese war cemeteries in europe deliberately did not use christian imagery – although , as historian xu notes , the chinese role in the allied armies remains largely through memorials . classicism many memorials drew on a classical style of architecture to produce their effect . this had been a popular style for many pre - war memorials , such as those for the dead of the boer war , and used greek or roman structures , styles and symbolism . a key feature of the classical style was the concept of the " beautiful death " — classical memorials might include figures of soldiers , sometimes dying in conflict , but always heroically and , ultimately , peacefully . soldiers in these memorials were still frequently depicted as homeric warriors , rather than more realist figures . the classical symbolism was often used to distance the event of death from the observer , appealing to allegories for sacrifice , justice and victory , in an attempt to make mourning easier to bear . some inter - war architects developed this approach further . some traditional classical memorials had been criticised in both england and germany as being fussy and overly ornate . men such as lutyens took the classical principles , but simplified them until the design became almost abstract . these memorials used abstract , beautiful designs intended to remove the viewer from the real world , and focus them on an idealised sense of self - sacrifice , a continuation of the principle of a " beautiful death " . in many ways the simplified , but still classical , forms of memorials like the cenotaph meant that mourners could read their own thoughts and concerns onto the memorial . where dead soldiers were shown , they were depicted in an image of serenity and peace , often physically distanced from the viewer on a high platform , the entire effect reflected by the silence that traditionally surrounds ceremonies at the cenotaph . many classical themes were used in this way . thiepval memorial , for example uses the classical themes of a victory arch and an abstract pattern of diminishing arches to produce what historian jay winter has termed " an embodiment of nothing " . the various adopt the principle of — greek method with apparently straight lines , that are in fact slightly curved . many memorials and war cemeteries used precinct walls to mark out the memorial as special and sacred , originally a roman feature made popular again in the 19th century . some features were more literally interpreted : the victoria state memorial in australia , for example , was closely based on a persian step pyramid . classical themes , like christian symbolism , emphasised the sacred nature of the memorial sites . nonetheless , there was some criticism of classicism by those who wanted a clearer separation of pagan and christian symbolism ; this was played out in arguments in germany over whether iron crosses or traditional christian crosses should be used on memorials . similarly , lutyens ' war stones were criticised for their blending of christian and non - christian design , while the london cenotaph was critiqued by the catholic herald as being " insulting to christianity " . some christian symbols were redesigned in the simplified classical style , however , including the cross of sacrifice . this cross , in a classical style and featuring a white cross and an inverted bronze sword , was designed by sir reginald blomfield for the war graves commission , widely used in commonwealth countries . the design was criticised by some who felt that it excluded other faiths from the memorial site , but nonetheless , over a 1 , 000 of these crosses were ultimately built . medievalism in some countries , particularly germany and england , memorials used a medieval style , reaching back to a more distant past . some of these medieval styled memorials were set in existing medieval buildings , fusing older and newer themes . memorial church windows , for example , could combine medieval and modern features , including armoured knights on horseback , modern weapons - including - tanks and aircraft - and modern national flags . other memorials deliberately chose medieval themes and symbols , such as the tomb of the unknown warrior in westminster , where the language of the inscriptions was deliberately archaic , and the tomb itself made from a medieval chest , decorated with a crusader 's sword . england 's patron saint , saint george , was a particular popular symbol in british designs , typically shown mounted and wearing armour . the arthurian round table and the medieval crusades proved popular themes in canadian memorials . new memorial buildings could also adopt a medieval style . the scottish national war memorial , for example , a scots baronial styled memorial hall complete with stained glass in edinburgh castle , attempts to blend in with the surrounding medieval fortress . in germany , the usually looked to the past for their style ; tannenberg , for example , was heavily medieval in appearance , resembling a castle , albeit combined with a huge cross and mass graves . the dolmen boulders used around the outside of many german memorials reinforced the archaic feel of the monuments . in other cases germans chose to preserve or rebuild real medieval buildings and architecture to form war memorials , such as parts of dorsten and . medievalism was popular with mourners because it reached back to the past , attempting to heal some of the discontinuities and ruptures of the war . in a period of great uncertainty , the style was reaffirming and apparently immutable , lost in a distant past . by placing the recent dead alongside those who had fallen before , the style gave reassurance that the world war i dead would not be forgotten ; in westminster , the dean of westminster , emphasised when he noted that the unknown warrior would be resting alongside his " saxon and norman , plantagenet and tudor " predecessors . the style was actively promoted by a number of extant artistic and architectural institutions and groups , such as the victoria and albert museum , the arts and crafts movement and gothic revivalists . alternative styles only a minority of war memorials used some of the newer styles emerging in the inter - war period , such as modernism , realist and art nouveau approaches . as noted above , typically existing , traditional themes were preferred for memorials as a way of grounding mourning in a more familiar perspective . nonetheless , some of the memorials to use the newer styles became particularly famous . there are a handful of memorials conducted in an art deco style , including the anzac war memorial in sydney which uses the delicate aspects of the art deco style to invoke sadness in the viewer , and is the only war memorial in the world to depict a naked soldier . the douaumont ossuary also draws on art deco principles in its structural architecture , avoiding straight lines in favour of gentle , soft , intersecting curves . modernist principles were taken further in a small number of british memorials designed by eric gill , characterised by their highly abstract , simplified forms . realism and early modernist principles were applied in britain to produce a critique of the conventional classical approach and the concept of a " beautiful death " , most notably by charles jagger . jagger 's later work during the inter - war period , most notably his royal artillery memorial , uses realism techniques to portray an oversized bl 9 . 2 inch mk i howitzer in detail , mounted on a huge , architecturally simple plinth with detailed carvings of military events involving ordinary artillerymen . the sheer size of the piece creates a dehumanizing impact , despite the portrayal of a team of artillerymen , including a covered corpse . by much of the british press when unveiled in 1925 , many veterans however felt that the style connected to them in a way that more classical themes could not . while the royal artillery memorial is unique , elements of the style can be seen in some other memorials , such as the cameronians memorial which includes a realist , almost tactile depiction of a machine gun position . historical accuracy was important to many british designers , resulting in the use of genuine military equipment as models for memorials , and long discussions with committees over the details to be incorporated into designs . in contrast , the british interest in accurately depicting real weaponry from the war was far less common on german monuments , where usually stylised medieval weapons and armour were used . second world war and post - war the second world war that broke out in 1939 consumed the attention of a new generation . across most of the theatres of conflict , the participants attempted to respect the memorials to world war i. after the second world war there was no equivalent mass construction of memorials to the war dead ; instead , often local world war i memorials were adapted for use instead : additional names might be inscribed to the existing lists . in some cases , this resulted in memorials losing their exclusive focus on world war i. the tomb of the unknown soldier in washington , for example , was expanded in 1950s to include corpses from the second world war and korea war , broadening the memorial 's remit to commemorate most modern wars . in other cases , such as the australian war memorial , begun in the inter - war years but only opened in 1941 , an essentially new memorial was formed to honour the multiple conflicts . in italy and germany , 1945 saw the collapse of fascism ; many memorials in italian towns and cities were used to execute and display the bodies of the overthrown regime , and the inter - war fascist pilgrimages and ceremonies around the memorials were abandoned and quickly forgotten . the world war i memorial sites continued to be used , but a combination of anti - war feelings and their residual fascist links limited the attendance at their public ceremonies . due to the changes in national borders , in the post - war era some sites favoured by the nazi government , such as the tannenberg memorial , found themselves in poland ; the demolition of tannenberg began in 1949 and its stonework was reused for soviet party buildings . elsewhere , changes in post - war politics impacted considerably on the in belgium , the flemish ijzertoren tower had become associated with fascism during the second world war and was blown up in 1946 by anti - flemish activists , leading to outrage . proposals were put forward to build a national monument on the site , but ultimately a second flemish memorial was constructed instead . in romania , the communist post - war government moved away from commemorations around ascension day , which was seen as carrying too many religious meanings . the romanian itself was abolished in 1948 , pilgrimages to the memorials ceased and the focus of the communist government was almost entirely placed on commemorating the sacrifices of the soviet army during world war ii . unusually , political changes in canada led to the construction of new world war i memorials ; some of the inter - war tensions eased , and 35 new memorials were added in quebec to the existing 68 in the post - war years , often built as combined memorials to later conflicts . as a whole , interest in the war memorials diminished considerably in the 1950s and 1960s , reflected in a reduced level of ceremonies and a simplification of the commemorative events around memorials . in the post - war years , for example , the separate official and veterans ceremonies at the verdun memorials blended into one ; in 1956 , german and french ceremonies were also united into a single event . attendance at events like anzac day diminished . many memorials slowly deteriorated : in some cases the original inter - war funding had never included maintenance , in other cases the materials used to construct the memorials were not durable . in some towns and cities , the memorials were moved to less prominent locations as part of urban renewal projects , or hidden by new buildings . world war i memorials were commonplace in many countries and were paid little attention . since 1990 in the 1990s , however , there was a resurgence of interest in world war i memorials . this was driven partially by a sequence of academic works on the social and cultural character of the conflict , aided by a sequence of artistic exhibits of some of more famous designers in the 1980s , and partially by generational change in many countries . as the generation who had lived and fought during the war died off , explaining the context of the memorials became more important . in france , veteran groups had begun to build memorial museums alongside the major monuments and battlefields from the late 1930s onwards . similar efforts made at the end of the 20th century to create additional museums to explain the events of the war and the memorials ; these initiatives have the support of the commonwealth war graves commission – the successor to the iwgc – but caused concerns amongst british government officials , due to concerns that they might cheapen the symbolism of the memorials . as old imperial links declined , in 1993 , australia decided to repatriate one of its unidentified war dead from the western front to form its own tomb of the unknown soldier in canberra . meanwhile , some of the political tensions of earlier generations faded , allowing new memorials to be built . in the republic of ireland , new war memorials were built , trips organised to war memorials in europe , and the national war memorial gardens were restored and finally officially opened in 1995 . in russia , the memorial park complex of the heroes of the first world war was built on the site of the former moscow city fraternity cemetery after the fall of communism , opening in 2005 at a cost of 95 million roubles . the park includes 12 monuments , amongst which was the only surviving headstone from the cemetery and a new memorial chapel . in contrast , by the early 21st century , the numbers visiting the ijzertoren tower during the annual pilgrimages declined significantly as memories of the conflict faded . in the late 1990s and start of the 21st century visitor numbers to the western front memorials have risen considerably , and australian visitors to the memorials at gallipoli have increased hugely in recent years ; the prime ministers of australia and new zealand opened a new memorial at the site in 2000 . world war i memorials remain in ceremonial use on remembrance day — the post - world war ii successor to armistice day – anzac day and other national occasions , while many utilitarian memorials are still in use by local communities in the 21st century . systematic efforts are being made to catalogue and record the memorials , with a number of individual restoration projects undertaken with public and private funding . in the centennial of world war i , the memory of the war has become a major theme for scholars and museums . many museums and historical societies have set up special exhibits , websites , and multimedia exhibits . proposals were put forward to construct a new national u.s. memorial to the conflict in washington .