Battle of Verdun

The Battle of Verdun (1916) was a battle during World War I in which the Germans attacked the French fortress of Verdun, in northeastern France. The battle was Falkenhayn's idea. When the war of maneuver devolved into a stalemate with both armies locked into trenches, he decided that the best way to defeat the French was to attack a position important to them but where the Germans held a strategic advantage. The ring of forts protecting Verdun were emotionally valuable to the French, and they fought fanatically to defend them. The Germans surrounded them on three sides and had good rail access for resupply. The French, on the other hand, resupplied via the Voie Sacree, or "sacred road", which was shelled by German artillery.

In the early stages of the battle Falkenhayn's strategy appeared to be working. The French sacked their more conservative commander, Joffre, and replaced him with the aggressive Philippe Petain, who obliged the Germans by feeding tens of thousands of French into the grinder, and the fiery Nivelle, who proclaimed, "They shall not pass." However the Crown Prince intervened and expanded the German attack to the west, leading the Germans to take many casualties as well.

Far to the west, the British then attacked at the Somme to relieve some of the pressure on their ally.

Following the battle Falkenhayn was relieved, and sent to Romania and then Turkey where he helped organize the Ottoman defense in Palestine.

The French army held the field, but it was a pyrrhic victory. It went on to mutiny in 1917 due to so many casualties and the poor conditions, but somehow Petain emerged from World War I as a war hero.