Volume 16 , Issue 19

WWI: Battle of Verdun

The Battle of Verdun through June 1916 was the longest single battle of World War One. The casualties from Verdun and the impact the battle had on the French Army was a primary reason for the British starting the Battle of the Somme, July 1916, in an effort to take German pressure off the french at Verdun. The Battle of Verdun started on February 21, 1916, ending on December 16, 1916.

The attack on Verdun came about because of a plan by the German Chief of General Staff, von Falkenhayn, who wanted to bleed France white by launching a massive German attack on a narrow stretch of land that had historic sentiment for the French, Verdun.

Twenty major forts and fort smaller ones protected the eastern border of France. Falkenhayn believed that the Frech simply could not allow these forts to fall as the national humiliation would have been to much. Falkenhayn's plan had one major weakness, it assumed that the French would be an easy opponent and that it would be the French who would take massive casualties, not the Germans.

By the end of April, 1916, the germans had lost 120,000 men and the French 133,000 men.

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