President Francois Hollande: "A mechanised madness was set in train... and a hellish exercise begun"
The French and German presidents have been commemorating the 100th anniversary of Germany's declaration of war on France on 3 August 1914.
Francois Hollande and his German counterpart, Joachim Gauck, made a joint tribute in Alsace to soldiers killed during World War One.
They were to lay the first stone for a memorial at Vieil Armand cemetery.
On Monday, events will be held in Belgium to mark the UK's declaration of war on Germany.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron will take part in that ceremony in recognition of the day that the UK went to war.
Some 30,000 men were killed in the mountains around Vieil Armand, known in German as Hartmannswillerkopf.
The cemetery there contains the remains of 12,000 unidentified soldiers.
Mr Hollande and Mr Gauck have been paying tribute to the sacrifice those men made and celebrated the importance of the modern Franco-German relationship in Europe.
They were to lay the foundation stone for a Great War memorial and exhibition centre on the site, which is due to open its doors to the public in 2017.
The two leaders will meet again on Monday in the Belgian city of Liege, where heads of state from across Europe will mark the escalation of the war after Germany invaded Belgium.
The Vieil Armand cemetery ontains the remains of 12,000 unidentified soldiers
The two leaders paid their respects in the crypt of the National Monument of Hartmannswillerkop
Some 30,000 French and German soldiers died during WWI on the Vieil Armand site
A trench network at the Hartmannswillerkopf battle site
The French and German presidents are marking the 100th anniversary of Germany's declaration of war on France
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