![]() Implementing a strategy of attrition will be done through constant attack and harassment of the enemy, aiming to exhaust them. Through a strategy of attrition, Falkenhayn believed that Germany must exhaust French forces.The general believed that Britain’s most valuable “weapons” in the war were the French, Russian, and Italian armies, but considered Russia as already paralyzed and Italy unlikely to affect the war, concluding that only France remained. Erich von Falkenhayn, a German general, thought that Britain was the most formidable among the Allies, but that it could not be directly assaulted.Countries belonging to the Central Powers were Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey. The Allied powers in WWI were Great Britain, France, and the Russian Empire. The Allied Powers, also known simply as the Allies, were allied countries in opposition to the countries belonging to the Central Powers in WWI.Key Facts & Information GERMAN OFFENSIVE PLANS See the fact file below for more information on the Battle of Verdun or alternatively, you can download our 27-page Battle of Verdun worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment. There were a total of about 400,000 French casualties, and about 350,000 Germans. The battle lasting 10 months is considered to be one of the longest and most costly battles of war. The Germans believed that attacking the French would be crucial in defeating the Allied Powers, instead of attacking Great Britain directly. The Battle of Verdun, which lasted from February 21 to December 18, 1916, was a battle during World War I wherein the French defended against German offensive on the Western Front in France. Download the Battle of Verdun Facts & Worksheets.The massive loss of life at Verdun-143,000 German dead out of 337,000 casualties, to France’s 162,440 out of 377,231-would come to symbolize, more than that of any other battle, the bloody nature of trench warfare on the Western Front. By early December, under Robert Nivelle, who had been appointed to replace Philippe Pétain in April, the French had managed to recapture much of their lost territory, and in the last three days of battle took 11,000 German prisoners before Hindenburg finally called a stop to the German attacks. In July, the Kaiser, frustrated by the state of things at Verdun, removed Falkenhayn and sent him to command the 9th Army in Transylvania Paul von Hindenburg took his place. READ MORE: Life in the Trenches of World War IĪs fighting at Verdun stretched on and on, German resources were stretched thinner by having to confront both a British-led offensive on the Somme River and Russia’s Brusilov Offensive on the Eastern Front. Among the weapons in the German arsenal was the newly-invented flammenwerfer, or flamethrower that year also saw the first use by the Germans of phosgene gas, ten times more lethal than the chlorine gas they previously used. From the beginning, casualties mounted quickly on both sides of the conflict, and after some early gains of territory by the Germans, the battle settled into a bloody stalemate. Falkenhayn believed that the French army was more vulnerable than the British, and that a major defeat on the Western Front would push the Allies to open peace negotiations. ![]() The battle had begun on February 21, after the Germans-led by Chief of Staff Erich von Falkenhayn-developed a plan to attack the fortress city of Verdun, on the Meuse River in France. The Battle of Verdun, the longest engagement of World War I, ends on this day after ten months and close to a million total casualties suffered by German and French troops.
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