Battle of Verdun Begins in World War I

Context

By the start of 1916, the Western Front had settled into a prolonged stalemate of trench warfare following the failure of mobile operations in 1914. German Chief of the General Staff Erich von Falkenhayn concluded that a decisive victory over France on the Western Front offered the best path to overall success, especially when combined with unrestricted submarine warfare against Britain. He selected the Meuse River sector around Verdun for its combination of symbolic value as a historic French stronghold and its vulnerability to a three-sided attack.

French high command under Joseph Joffre had shifted resources away from Verdun in 1915 to support offensive plans elsewhere, leaving the fortified region understrength in artillery and ammunition. The city’s ring of forts, constructed in the late nineteenth century, had been partially disarmed and even prepared for demolition in some cases. This redistribution reflected a broader French emphasis on aggressive operations rather than static defense.

Falkenhayn’s plan, code-named Operation Judgment, deliberately avoided an all-out push for quick territorial gains. Instead, it relied on overwhelming artillery fire to inflict unsustainable casualties on French forces drawn into the defense of the salient, thereby bleeding the French army white while preserving German infantry strength for later phases of the campaign.

What Happened

At 7:12 a.m. on February 21, 1916, a German 38-centimeter Krupp gun fired the opening shot of the battle, striking Verdun’s cathedral and signaling the start of a massive bombardment across a roughly 20-kilometer front east of the Meuse River. More than 1,200 German guns, many of them heavy pieces, unleashed a deluge of shells that devastated French forward positions and supply routes. The initial German infantry advance on the right bank of the Meuse quickly overran several villages and outposts, though poor weather and French resistance slowed the momentum after the first days.

French defenders, caught with depleted artillery and incomplete defensive preparations, suffered severe early losses. Within four days, forward divisions had incurred casualties exceeding 60 percent. German forces captured the key strongpoint of Fort Douaumont on February 25, providing observation posts overlooking the city. French commander-in-chief Joffre responded by rushing reinforcements and placing the sector under the newly promoted Philippe Pétain, who organized a more coherent defense in depth and established the famous “Voie Sacrée” supply route to sustain the garrison.

The battle rapidly expanded beyond the initial German objectives. Pétain directed aggressive counterattacks while insisting that every position be held or immediately retaken, exposing French troops to continued German shelling. By early March the fighting had spread to the left bank of the Meuse as German commanders sought to neutralize French artillery firing across the river, turning the engagement into a grinding contest of artillery duels and repeated infantry assaults.

Aftermath

The immediate German advance slowed into a costly stalemate as French reinforcements stabilized the line and artillery from both sides exacted heavy tolls. By the end of the first month, casualties on each side already numbered in the tens of thousands, with no decisive breakthrough achieved. German resources soon faced competing demands from the British offensive on the Somme, forcing a reduction in the scale of attacks at Verdun.

French forces under Pétain and later Robert Nivelle gradually regained ground through methodical counteroffensives, recapturing Fort Douaumont in October and Fort Vaux in December. The German high command relieved Falkenhayn in August 1916, replacing him with Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff, who halted the offensive in December after nearly ten months of fighting.

Legacy

Verdun became the longest single battle of the First World War and a defining symbol of the Western Front’s attritional character. The estimated 700,000 combined casualties underscored the futility of seeking victory through prolonged artillery and infantry engagements, shaping postwar French military thinking and national memory of the conflict.

The battle reinforced French resolve under the motto “They shall not pass” and contributed to the elevation of Pétain as a national figure. Historians continue to debate Falkenhayn’s precise intentions, but the engagement remains a textbook illustration of the strategic and human costs of static warfare in the industrial age.