The Germans in their secure defensive positions would out-kill the French. They then wanted to adopt a defensive posture and they would allow the French to destroy their army on repeated assaults in fruitless attempts to recapture Verdun. The Germans believed that once they had captured Verdun, they could fortify it and establish a strong strategic position. The Germans expected that the French would send all their strategic reserves to the battle. He and other generals estimated that the French would do all they could to recapture the area. Falkenhayn considered it unlikely the French would not do all they could to recapture the fortress. but only for an attack on the east bank of the Meuse. He and other members of the General Staff believed that the French would not take any offensive aimed at Verdun lightly. Von Falkenhayn provided five corps from the strategic reserve for the offensive at Verdun in the early spring of 1916. They hoped to seize the key fortress of Verdun, which had great symbolic and strategic importance for the French. The Germans tactics at Verdun was as follows. The Germans believed that they were the best soldiers and that in any battle, all things being equal, that they would emerge victorious. The strategy adopted by the Germans was to force the French into a battle of attrition. This was based on the idea that the French would not be able, to fight the Germans by themselves and had only been able to continue the war with the support of the British.
Von Falkenhayn believed that if the Germans killed enough of their soldiers that the French would simply give up. He argued that if the French suffered enough casualties then they could be forced to the negotiating table.
The German commander on the western front, Erich von Falkenhayn, believed that a German victory would not be possible in a set piece battle because of the nature of the war. Some in the German High Command became concerned that if Germany could not deal a blow to the allies and force them to the negotiating table that the Imperial Army would eventually collapse, as it struggled against the allies with their superior numbers and resources. The Germans did not have the resources of the allies, mainly as they had no colonies and also the western allies had the tacit support of the Americans. By 1916, both sides had suffered hundreds of thousands of casualties and all the participants began to feel the strain of waging absolute war. Both sides dug in and they engaged in bloody attempts to seize each other trenches. After the Autumn of 1914, the war became a stalemate. The French army had saved Paris but its country was still under grave threat and much of northern France was under the control of the Germans. However, at the battle of Marne in 1914, the French were able to defend Paris and even managed to push the Germans back. It invaded France via Belgium and pressed onward towards Paris. In 1914, Germany came close to repeating the success of the Franco-Prussian War. These factors included the Somme offensive, German overconfidence and dogged French defence under their commander Petain. This article will determine what were the factors that denied Germany an outright victory at Verdun. Verdun was not a victory for France, rather it was a bloody draw. The Battle almost resulted in the collapse of the French army and Verdun was the occasion when the Imperial German army came close to a decisive victory on the western front.
#VERDUN BATTLE 1916 SERIES#
It was rather a series of battles fought over the region in and around Verdun.
The battle lasted for almost 11 months for in 1916. It was fought between the armies of Germany and France. The Battle of Verdun was one of the bloodiest of World War I.
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