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Battle of Verdun took place in 1916 at the fortress of Verdun in France. To the Germans, it was and "ideal place to attack" (Chickering 67) for a variety of reasons. It was vulnerable, it was a sentimental favorite of the French, and the French had taken much of its artillery away for use at the front lines of the war. The Battle of Verdun actually stretched over several months and a large area in France known as the Meuse Valley. The battle began in February and lasted into December. While the French were greatly outnumbered at the beginning of the long battle, they shored up defenses at Verdun after Fort Douaument fell to the Germans in February. Neither side could gain a clear advantage, even though many German troops were taken from the area to fight on other fronts during the year. In the end, the French recaptured Fort Douaument and the campaign "expired in general exhaustion at the end of the year" (Chickering 70), the Germans had lost about 750,000 men trying to take Verdun.
This long-term battle seemed to epitomize the front warfare raged in World War I. Neither side could get an advantage, and both sides lost tremendous amounts of soldiers. In all, the Germans only gained about three miles of territory, and it came at a huge and lengthy cost. It seems that the Battle of Verdun took a long time while accomplishing very little. It also indicates that military leadership can become convinced of a certain line of attack no matter what, and it can lead to ultimate defeat. The Germans hung on too long at Verdun, and could have used their forces more effectively elsewhere. As the author notes, this prolonged and ineffectual offensive showed the Germans they would eventually lose the war (Chickering 71), and at a huge cost in men and machinery. This battle of Verdun on the western front showed the futility of fighting on the west, and allowed other forces to enter and attack from the east. Verdun might have seemed perfect on paper, but in real life, it was a disaster for the German Army.
Reference
Chickering, Roger. Imperial Germany and the Great War: 1914-1918. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
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