Research Paper On The Battle Of Verdun

The battle of Verdun is considered the greatest battle in history. It was fought from the 21st of February 1916 until the 19th of December 1916 which is the lengthiest battle. It was fought on a tiny piece of land but it caused over 700,000 casualties. The location of the battle was fought about 10km North-East from Verdun at a place called Fort Douaumont (Source 1). The battle of Verdun started because General Philippe Pétain wanted to become a hero in France (History Learning Site, 2015). There were many armies involved including 1,140,000 French and the Germans had 1,250,000 in their army. The battle had 315,000-542,000 French casualties and 281,000-434,000 German casualties. Between March 1916 and November 1918 more than 295,000 Australians
The weather was wet and windy which caused a large amount of thick mud around the battlefield. Soldiers would move very slowly and would sometimes take 3 hours to walk 100 metres. If a soldier was wounded they would sometimes trap them and they would drown in the thick mud. Because of this, thousands of soldiers could not be found; lost in the mud and were put under the category of 'missing, presumed dead' (Unknown, 2015). The mud was infested with human waste and was infested by rats. The diseases throughout the battle came from the mud and wet grounds as well as contaminated food and water. Malnutrition was a big issue at Verdun and there were huge food shortages. A German officer stated in his diary "Because of the failing provisioning the men are forced to use up their emergency rations of salty meats. They quenched their thirst with water from the shellholes." Flamethrowers were used to clear out the muddy trenches and were first used by the Germans in the battle of Verdun. The other weapons include rifles, grenades, poisonous gases, heavy weapons, etc. Both teams had advantages over the other team in different areas such as the Germans with the flamethrowers and the French with the heavy weapons.

The battle of Verdun ended in a French win with many casualties. The battle itself was a primary reason for the British staring the battle of Somme in July 1916. The Australians didn’t take place in the battle but did help for further battles. The French and German armies didn’t make much ground and the Germans didn’t take over the forts that they were attacking. The longest battle in history went for 9 months with only two countries fighting it out. The battle is and will be one of the most significant fights ever and will be remembered by many people years