2014 will be the centenary year of one of  the most violent and deadly wars that history has ever recorded - World War 1. Lasting 4 years, this war saw an involvement of millions of men from France, Britain, Germany, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, America, Russia, India and Senegal engage in daily combat. Claiming more than 9 million lives, the war paved the way for more major political conflicts and was instrumental in shaping the history of the world in the years to come.

The Indian Army was a significant contributor to the efforts of the Allied forces with a number of divisions and independent brigades provided to the European, Mediterranean and the Middle Eastern battlegrounds. In August 1914, as the German Army made rapid advances in Belgium and France, the Allies found themselves in want of more manpower to guard the Western Front. With its strength of 161,000 men, the Indian Army of undivided India seemed the best option and the Lahore and Meerut infantry divisions were selected for service in Europe. They were thrown into battle near Ypres soon after they arrived in early October and both divisions incurred heavy losses. After the First Battle of Ypres, Khudadad Khan became the first Indian to be awarded the Victoria Cross.

100 years later, France offers its visitors a chance to relive the events of this war which shaped the world's history. Visitors coming to France can expect artistic depictions in the form of installations and exhibitions including bilateral collaborations, remembrance trails in French regions and new site openings and renovations. Some endeavours include:

2 April - 3 August  – Jardin du Luxembourg railings- Paris

Fields of Battle – Lands of Peace 1914-1918

The contemporary photographic exhibition by Mike Sheil, on the Jardin du Luxembourg railings, creates a path between the settings of today and the battlefields of the past by simultaneously paying homage to soldiers from over 30 nations and embodying the messages of Peace - building and intergenerational dialogue.

War Tragedies at the Louvre Museum in Lens ( 28 May - 6 October): An exhibition presenting a rich collection of works inspired by disenchantment with war. One of the main sections will shed new light on representations of the First World War.

14 July - 11 November at Paris Gare de l'Est

Presented at the emblematic Paris Est station, from which the soldiers departed for the front, this photographic collection is unique. It consists of portraits taken between 1996 and 2007, showing the last survivors of the conflict who were the 100 years old. In 2008, after the death of Lazare Ponticelli the last of the WWI French soldiers, Didier Pazery worked on the pictures of the old frontline, and on still-life photos of objects belonging to The Great War Museum in Meaux. This series appears in the exhibition, alongside the portraits of the last survivors.

September 2014 - February 2015 – Musée des Beaux-Arts, Reims-Champagne

Peace, 1910-1925? Fronts and wings of Franco-German art: This exhibition brings together the work of German and French artists on a selection of topics illustrating the consequences of the Great War on the lives of men and women.

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