1/1/2023 0 Comments Battle of verdun significance![]() ![]() #Battle of verdun significance series#The Chantilly conferences in northern France were a series of conferences that were held thrice during different intervals between 19. Chantilly Conferences a prelude to the Somme offensive The war was later categorized as one of the deadliest battles during World War I. The battle took place between July 1916 and November 1916. As the field of the battle was situated in the areas around the Somme river it was named as Battle of the Somme. The Battle of the Somme is also known as the Somme offensive.īasically, the Somme is a 245-km long river in France. The Battle of the Somme is regarded as one of the most lethal battles in World War I. The end of the war was followed by a pandemic Spanish Flu which played havoc with the population of the world claiming 2.64 million deaths in Europe and approximately 675,000 in the United States. Along with it, 13 million civilians died as a direct result of this war. This war involved the mobilization of 70 million military personnel in the different zones and claimed 8.5 million deaths on the battlefields in different regions of the world. World War I was a long war that remained active for almost four years between 1914- 1918. Links : BBC – History – Battle of Verdun: 21 February 1916 – July 1916 (), The Battle of Verdun – the greatest battle ever (), Battles: The Battle of Verdun, 1916 (), Verdun book excerpt ().Men of the 10th (Service) Battalion marching Photo taken on 28 June 1916 photo credit Wikipedia.by Frances Frenaye (1964) Horne, Alistair, Death of a Generation: From Neuve Chapelle to Verdun and the Somme (1970) and The Price of Glory: Verdun, 1916 (1962 repr. The Germans achieved their initial aim, to inflict heavy losses on the French, but their own casualties were comparable. France’s troops remained in their trenches, willing to fight only in a defensive capacity.Īt the significance of the Battle of Verdun became a symbol of French determination, inspired by Petain’s declaration “they shall not pass”. France’s army was subsequently plagued not with desertions, but rather with a general refusal to march face-first into the teeth of Germany’s impregnable positions. The obvious successes of the fixed fortification system (with the exception of Fort Douaumont) led to the adoption of the Maginot Line as the preferred method of defense along the Franco-German border during the inter-war years. By the time the fighting at Verdun had ended in mid-December, the French had advanced almost to their February lines. Charles Mangin they recaptured Fort Douamont (October 24) and Fort Vaux (November 2). During the summer, however, the Anglo-French Somme offensive and the Russian Brusilov offensive drew off German manpower, and in the late summer the Germans adopted a defensive posture on the western front. ![]() German assaults continued into early July, and Petain, who had been promoted and replaced as local commander by Gen. A third offensive, from both east and west, began on April 9, but again the Germans were stopped. ![]() On March 6 the Germans attacked the western face of the salient they were halted after initial advances, but the loss of life on both sides was enormous. Petain, fighting under the famous motto Ils ne passeront pas! (“They shall not pass!”), reorganized his command and brought up reinforcements while the weary German troops paused. Henri Philippe Petain to head the Verdun defense. Joseph Joffre, the French commander in chief, was determined to halt further retreat for reasons of morale as well as strategy. Initially successful, the Germans captured Fort Douamont (February 25). Erich von Falkenhayn, began with a furious bombardment followed by an attack on the region surrounding Verdun, which lay in the middle of an Allied salient jutting into the German zone in northeastern France. ![]()
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