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The battle of verdun student essay
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The Battle of Verdun took place in France and was the longest single battle to transpire in World War I. It was also known to the world as the deadliest battle of World War I. The battle commenced on February 21, 1916 and lasted until December 18, 1916. Since the beginning of the battle, the armies suffered substantial losses. The tragic loss of many men also classified this battle as the bloodiest of World War I. Although both sides endured harsh fatalities, the strategies and technology of the French were remarkable in their victory over the German Army in the Battle of Verdun. A leading cause of this battle was the attack on Fort Douaumont. The French had a plan to reclaim their fort that was taken by the German Army. About 500,000 men were positioned into two forts, Fort Douaumont and Fort Vaux. The Germans did not have the advance in the war as they anticipated. Both armies believed that they were skilled enough to win this battle, but the French would soon take over and recover the territory that they had lost. On October 24, 1916, the French repossessed Fort Douaumont. Erich von Falkenhayn was not happy with the retrieval of the land because of the rank of the French Army at this point in the war. Falkenhayn took part in the starting of the Battle of Verdun. He sent a letter to Kaiser Wilhelm II stating that the answer to victory was not in Russia. Falkenhayn came up with a plan to attack France. By attacking France, it could benefit his army by possibly moving up in status. He intended to continuously attack the men on the opposite side to wear them down. This plan was used because Falkenhayn wanted the French to give up. Though Erich believed this would work, the rank of the French still remained higher than the r... ... middle of paper ... ... defeat the German Army, the French had to create strategies on how they were going to accomplish a victory over the German Army. World War I also brought new technology that would assist the men involved in the battle. A variety of new weapons were introduced to the French and German armies during the Battle of Verdun. One of the newest weapons was Diphosgene gas. Diphosgene was used to harm a large amount of people at once. It is a poisonous gas first introduced in World War I because of the effects. Henri Philippe-Petain possessed a huge quantity of supplies. Being prepared for the war was vital to the troops. They had to be aware of their surroundings while in combat and always have weapons handy because of the fear of a surprise attack. In addition, the strategies and new technology used by French were significant in the victory over the Germans in world war I.
World War I, also known as the Great War, lasted from the summer of 1914 until the late fall of 1918. The war was fought between the Allies, which consisted mainly of the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire, and the Central Powers, which consisted mainly of the German Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria (Alliances - Entente and Central Powers). In total, it is estimated that twelve million civilians and nine million combatants died during this horrific and devastating war (DeGroot 1). When the war first began in 1914, many people thought that it would be a war of movement that would quickly be over. However, that changed when the Germans, who were trying to reach and capture the city of Paris in France, were forced to retreat during the Battle of the Marne in September 1914 (Ellis 10). German General von Falkenhayn, who felt that his troops must at all cost hold onto the parts of France and Belgium that they had overtaken, ordered his men to dig in and form defensive trench lines (Ellis 10). The Allies could not break through the enemies lines and were forced to create trenches of their own (Ellis 10). This was only the beginning of trench warfare. A war of movement had quickly come to a standstill on the Western Front. A massive trench line, 475 miles long, quickly spread and extended from the North Sea to the Swiss Frontier (Ellis 10). With neither side budging, soldiers were forced to live in the most miserable of conditions. Simply put, life in the trenches was a living hell. A lieutenant of the 2nd Scottish rifles wrote, “No one who was not there can fully appreciate the excruciating agonies and misery through which the men had to go [through] in those da...
The Anglo-French alliance intended to wear down the German army at Verdun before engaging in the Battle of Somme however, due to the large French losses at Verdun, the date for the Battle of Somme was brought forward to the 1st of July. The battle of the Somme lasted for just 4 months from July 1916 to November 1916 but was easily known as one of the worst battles ever fought.
In September of 1914, the British and French troops met the German troops at the Marne River. The German troops had been advancing toward Paris. The British and French troops were victorious in this battle and they crushed the hopes of Germany who wanted a quick takeover of the Western Front. After this battle, both sides dug trenches to maintain their positions. Both sides entered into a stalemate over the next four years. Each side battled from trenches making very little progress in their efforts to defeat each other. The trench warfare that took place over a few hundred yards of territory and cost both sides enormous casualties. Trench warfare proved to be a failure for both sides.
The first month of the campaign began with successes and finished with defeats for the French troops. Under what circumstances did these come about? Our plan of concentration had foreseen the possibility of two principal actions, one on the right between the Vosges and the Moselle, the other on the left to the north of Verdun-Toul line, this double possibility involving the eventual variation of our transport. On August 2nd, owing to the Germans passing through Belgium, our concentration was substantially modified by Marshal Joffre in order that our principal effort might be directed to the north.
Although Germany had perhaps not been planning for this conflict to materialize in the exact manner that it had, they did have a “contingency” plan. That plan was known as the Schlieffen Plan. The Schlieffen Plan consisted of war plans for the invasions of all the European nations. The German Military leader Moltke determined that the war had to be fought and won on the western front in order to defeat the Russians (Germany in World War One, Holburn) . Germany then declared war on France on August 3rd , 1914, and invaded Belgium the following day. Belgium tried to resist the oncoming Germans, but fell in three days.
Many of the men didn't even die to bullets, but infection. According to History.com, Trench foot, a gangrenous condition caused by standing in unsanitary water and mud over long periods, was common (History 1). The Battle of Verdun was the longest and costliest battle of WWI. The battle also contained some of the greatest generals from World War 1. According to Stock and other historians, The Battle of Verdun, was and is, known as one of the most famous battles of all time. Fun Fact: It is the 2nd most famous battle to ever be put into fiction novels (Stock
If difficult decisions were made to change the French alliance policy, arms production schedules, military organization, and military training, or even just one change was made could have created a different outcome. France hoped that with the maginot line, France and Belgium armies would prepare together to fight the Germans. France should have been able to defend themselves with their inexpensive anti-tank mines and powerful anti-tank guns, which would beat Germany’s tanks, but could not due to their poor organization. France failed to properly train their soldiers to use their fantastic weapons, but could have easily avoided it by French officers conducting their training as well as Germany. Additionally, France could have made progress by negotiating with the Soviet Union, winning over Belgium with a policy of neutrality, and convincing Great Britain to use resources to defend continentally, but did not because of a lack of good leaders. Despite the defeat of the French soldiers in the north, if there had been French leaders to inspire the people of France to resist in the south, and surrender the urban armies and put up a fight with France’s vast colonial resources the French could have fought for
World War I was a four year conflict involving European superpowers and the U.S. The war consisted of multiple superpowers forming alliances and overall, fighting battles for their allies. On one side of the war was the Triple Alliance, consisting of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. On the othe side was the Triple Entente, which included Great Britain, France, and Russia. With the formation of alliances between world superpowers, many dangerous and deadly battles took place during World War I. Perhaps the most deadly battle in World War I and one of the most deadly in military history would be the Battle of the Somme. The battle took place along the Somme River in France and lasted nearly five months until it officially ended on November
The Battle of Fromelles (French pronunciation: [fʁɔmɛl]; 19–20 July 1916), was a British military operation on the Western Front during World War I, subsidiary to the Battle of the Somme.[a] General Headquarters (GHQ) of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) had ordered the First Army and Second Army to prepare attacks to support the Fourth Army on the Somme 80 kilometres (50 mi) to the south, to exploit any weakening of the German defences opposite. The attack took place 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) from Lille, between the Fauquissart–Trivelet road and Cordonnerie Farm, an area overlooked from Aubers Ridge to the south. The ground was low-lying and much of the defensive fortification of both sides consisted of breastworks, rather than trenches.
During the fall of 1944, the “Atlantic Wall” had diminished after the invasion of Normandy and the American and allied forces were making their way towards Germany. One of the offensives directed to counteract this; Adolf Hitler focused in on and was attacking the inadequately defended Ardennes front. Had this plan succeeded, through the capture of Antwerp, the Germans would have divided the American and British forces in the area, depriving the American Soldiers and allies of a seaport for resupply.
On the 29th august, Von Cluck (German general) changed the plan, so that they didn't attack Paris as planned, instead they went east and sent more troops to attack the forts.
The location of the battle was significant to World War One because the first day alone was the bloodiest and the heaviest battle on the Western Front. During 1916, the Germans went to Verdun, to get a closer
The war that was fought from July 1914 to November 1918 was the first ever World War. The casualty count reached into the millions. The Allied Powers and the Central Powers have fought many bloody and courageous battles like the first Battle of the Marne, Battle of Tannenberg, Battle of Somme, and the Battle of Verdun win the war.
An offensive called Case Yellow was the means of operation. A plan that started as a virtual replay of the Schlieffen plan quickly changed when a German transport plane crashed in Belgium carrying an officer who had details of case yellow with him. “The German high command now had to assume that their scheme was known to the allies.” (War Made New 226.) The Germans began planning a new strategy playing war games until they came up with a new final version of Case Yellow. This is where you first start to see the flexibility of the German Army. Faced with friction Hitler devised a new strategy that would ultimately prove to be effective. Even though Hitler could not predict that his original plan would be discovered by the allies he remained flexible and proved that patience and fluidity are an important role in war. Hitler remained confident in his plan and smelled out the inability of the French and English foes to act quickly and
The Battle of Verdun in 1916 was a battle between the French and German armies and was considered to be the longest single battle of World War One. The impact that the battle of Verdun had on the French armies were so severe that Britain decided to take action. On July 1916, Britain began the Battle of Somme, mainly due to the reason of wanting to take German pressure off of the French at Verdun. The battle of Verdun began on the 21st of February, 1916 and ended on the 16th of December, 1916.