Ceremonies were held around the world Tuesday to mark the 90th anniversary of the end of the First World War.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Britain's Prince Charles attended the solemn ceremony in the northeastern French town of Douaumont, near the site of the Battle of Verdun.

"France will never forget the children who have fought for her," Sarkozy said Tuesday. He said leaders had come together on this day to honour "all those who fought to the extreme limit of their strength, their hearts full of love of country, and the conviction they were defending a just cause."

Sarkozy also paid respect to the soldiers from Europe, North America, Africa and Australia "who died far away from their countries to defend our liberty."

Sarkozy, Prince Charles, Australia's governor-general Quentin Bryce, and Peter Mueller, president of German Bundesrat, all laid wreaths at the foot of a massive French flag situated between two large fields of crosses marking the unknown dead.

At that site, an estimated 300,000 soldiers lost their lives in the 300-day battle between French and German troops. The countries were fighting for control of River Meuse, an important strategic post on the eastern approach rout from Germany to Paris.

French forces eventually prevailed in December 1916.

Canada's Veteran Affairs Minister, Greg Thompson, was also in attendance along with a contingent of Canadian veterans from the Second World War.

"It's all about remembering and honouring our men and women in uniform because they paid the ultimate sacrifice," Thompson told CTV Newsnet Tuesday from Douaumont.

Thompson said it has been a very emotional day.

"Huge crowds have come out to say thank you to Canadians and all those other nations that helped liberate France in both wars," he said.

In Britain, the Duchess of Gloucester and Prime Minister Gordon Brown took part in ceremonies at the Cenotaph, a war memorial near the Houses of Parliament.

Also in attendance were Britain's three surviving First World War veterans -- Henry Allingham, 112; Harry Patch, 110; and Bill Stone, 108.

"Harry Patch... is actually the last survivor in this country of the actual trench warfare," CTV's London Bureau Chief Tom Kennedy reported Tuesday.

He said Allingham tried to rise from his wheelchair during the ceremony to lay his wreath.

"He couldn't of course but it just gives you an idea of the emotion people still feel," Kennedy said.

Kennedy said there were roughly 10 million military deaths in the First World War.

"It was the most horrendous, most destructive conflict in human history," Kennedy said. "Counting civilian deaths the total death toll was over 20 million."

The last of the 8.4 million Frenchmen who fought in the conflict, Lazare Ponticelli, died last March at age 110.

Germany's last veteran from the war also died earlier this year.

Meanwhile, Australians also paused Tuesday to remember those who died.

With a population of less than five million, about 60,000 Australian soldiers died in the war, which ended on Nov. 11, 1918.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivered a speech at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, the national capital.

Rudd called for the 90th anniversary of the war's end to become a symbol of peace.

"We have all endured a most bloody century," he said.

"Let us resolve afresh at the dawn of this new century... that this might be a truly pacific peaceful century."

In Chicago, President-elect Barack Obama plans to lay a wreath Tuesday in honour of fallen troops.

With files from The Associated Press