Verdun

• battle of Verdun
• World War 1
• Germany vs. France
• 1916 -> february - december
• tactical victory for France, Phyrric victory

facts

background

• battle of Marne

-> trenches, no movement

• attack on Verdun

-> former strongest fortress of France

-> symbolic for the french

• same time battle of the Somme

• 21st february 1916
• 9 hours heavy shooting
• capture of Fort Douaumont
• heavy casualties with every hill
• fast german advance until march
• "All quiet on the Western Front" until april
• french attack
• august: first retreat thoughts on german side
• step by step recapture
• last french offensive on 17th december

the battle

Casualities

• 150.000 germans
• 167.000 french

Battle of the Somme

• 125.000 germans
• 419.000 brits
• 204.000 french

• THE material battle in history

-> wasting of material and men

• symbol for hopelessness and pointlessness of war
• people lost humanity
• inhuman unimaginable conditions

-> trenches, mud, sickness, buried alive

• no enemy in sight

-> fighting against ghosts

significance