The invading forces will carry cameras and credit cards, not rifles and bayonets this time around, but war will still be uppermost in their minds.

The year 2014 is particularly significant for Belgium and France since it marks the centennial of the beginning of the First World War. Much of the fighting took place on what came to be known as the Western Front in those two countries. Over the next four years, millions of visitors are expected to descend upon the battlefields, war cemeteries and military museums in memory of the fallen.

With so many victims of the 1914 to 1918 campaign buried in unmarked graves, the exact number of casualties is unknown. Historians generally agree that about 10 million military personnel were killed. Roughly seven million civilians also died. Another 20 million individuals were wounded.

As research for a book entitled Rising from the Ashes, we recently visited cities and towns destroyed or badly damaged in the war and subsequently rebuilt by those determined to get their lives back together.

The idea for a book about these cities came to us several years ago as we stared up at the clock tower of the magnificent Cloth Hall in Ypres, Belgium. Completed in 1304, this ornate building, originally a marketplace for locally made textiles, was reduced to rubble during major battles that took place a century ago in this city of Flanders - the Dutch-speaking area of Belgium.

Like most tourists, we believed we were standing in a medieval city square steeped in centuries of history. Upon entering the Hall to tour the information-packed In Flanders Fields Museum, we soon realized that the "ancient" buildings we'd been admiring had actually been built within the past hundred years. Structurally speaking, Ypres is not as old as Hamilton or Burlington.

There were three options for postwar Ypres. One faction wanted the city left in ruins as an anti-war statement. Others lobbied to create a brand-new city showcasing early 20th century design. The prevailing opinion saw the city returned to its earlier magnificence using the many drawings still in existence.

Ypres - or Wipers as Allied soldiers dubbed it - is one of many beautifully refurbished Belgian communities that can be toured on day trips using Brussels as a base. And the Belgian capital itself is a great place to explore on days when the wandering spirit flags.

But if time is short, two other reconstructed cities warrant a visit. The first, Leuven, is about 30 kilometres east of Brussels. Today, vibrant and colourful Leuven offers a number of must-see attractions such as the multispired town hall that was spared during the German occupation since it served as the conquering army's headquarters. Less fortunate was the nearby Catholic University Library that was burned to the ground, with the loss of irreplaceable manuscripts, books and other documents.

The library was rebuilt after the war with donations from around the world - most notably from universities and fundraising groups in the United States and Great Britain.

Dinant is another Belgian community extensively damaged during the First World War. Located astride the Meuse River about 90 kilometres southeast of Brussels, this city of Wallonia - the French-speaking area of Belgium - is the birthplace of Adolphe Sax, inventor of the saxophone. The local museum to his memory is a hornblower's delight. And gigantic multicoloured saxophones line both sides of the bridge over the Meuse.

That span is named for a French lieutenant wounded there in 1914. The officer, Charles de Gaulle, would go on to become president of France. The bridge gives an unobstructed view of the Collegiate Church of Notre Dame, nestled against a sheer rock cliff topped by a fortress called The Citadel. A cable car ride affords a breathtaking panoramic view of the Meuse Valley.

Moving on to the battle areas of France, we set up headquarters in Amiens, the capital of the Somme Region of Picardy about 120 kilometres north of Paris. For Canadians, the Somme conjures up horrific mind pictures of muddy quagmires and men dying in agony during one of the most fiercely fought campaigns of the war.

Today, the area is serene and picturesque. In Amiens, the Saint-Leu section of the city features colourful canal-side caf�s that have earned the community the nickname of Little Venice. Diners enjoying a cr�pe and cider lunch can glance up at Amiens Cathedral several blocks away and plan an afternoon tour of this lofty structure - perhaps after another glass of cider.

One city that used German reparation payments to rebuild itself in early 20th-century style is Saint-Quentin, about 70 kilometres east of Amiens. The community is an Art Deco showplace. And the beautiful Basilica, damaged by heavy shelling and repaired after the war, offers a mixture of ancient and modern stained glass windows as well as a postwar pipe organ replacing the one melted down by the Germans for use in the manufacture of munitions.

A visit to the nearby town of P�ronne can turn into an all-day affair due to the extensive collection of First World War artifacts at the Historial de la Grande Guerre museum. Uniforms, weaponry, patriotic posters, newspapers, magazines and myriad other war memorabilia are informatively exhibited in glass cases throughout the building.

On a par with the P�ronne historical display is the Mus�e de la Grande Guerre du pays de Meaux, located about 150 kilometres southeast of Amiens and just 40 kilometres east of Paris. Built near the site of the Battle of the Marne that stopped the Germans from overrunning the French capital, the museum features a small theatre that, through newsreels and slides, simulates a time machine back through history.

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In addition to displays similar to those at P�ronne, the museum at Meaux (pronounced Mo) houses a number of military vehicles, including a pigeon truck that served as an avian condo for the carrier pigeons used for communication.

In his immortal poem In Flanders Fields, John McCrae urges us to hold the torch high in memory of those who paid the supreme sacrifice. One way to do so is to take in the commemorative ceremonies being held in various European centres over the next four years. The experience might underline once and for all the futility and insanity of war.