WW1 battles research

Battle of Verdun
A major military engagement of World War I, the Battle of Verdun was a ten
month long ordeal between the French and German armies. The battle was part
of an unsuccessful German campaign to take the offensive on the western front.
Both the French and German armies suffered incredibly with an estimated
540,000 French and 430,000 German casualties and no strategic advantages
were gained for either side. The Battle of Verdun is considered to be one of the
most brutal events of World War I, and the site itself is remembered as the
"battlefield with the highest density of dead per square yard." (Horne, 1)
In the years preceding World War I, Germany became Europe's leading industrial
power. France felt increasingly threatened by German industrialization; and
although France ruled the second largest colonial empire in the world (Britain
was the largest), French leaders realized that France could not protect itself on its
own from the burgeoning power of Germany.
As a response to the German threat of invasion, France built a continuous line of
sunken forts in the hopes that an invading army would not be able to manoeuvre
through it. The line of fortifications extended from the Swiss frontier to the
French city of Verdun, thus making Verdun a vital strong point for the French war
effort.
The German attack began on February 21, 1916 with an intense artillery
bombardment of the forts surrounding Verdun. The French army retreated to
predetermined positions while the German army pounded through the French
lines. On February 25 1916, Fort Douaumont, near Verdun, surrendered to
German forces. On that same day, General Joseph Joffre, the French Commander
and Chief, dedicated to ceasing further French retreat, assigned General Henri
Philippe Petain to command the French army at Verdun. Petain fought with the
motto " Ils ne passeront pas," which means, "They shall not pass!" While the
exhausted German army was lingering at Fort Douaumont, Petain restructured
his troops and transported reserves to the region continuously. On March 6 1916,
the German commanders ordered an attack, and on March 22, 1916, another
French fort near Verdun, Harcourt, surrendered to the German army. A week
later, on March 22 1916, Malancourt, a French fort near Verdun, had fallen to the
Germans. Although three French forts near Verdun had capitulated to German
forces, Verdun itself remained undefeated. German attacks ensued, but by April,
the French Air Force had secured the sky over Verdun, which would help the
French to successfully defend the area. However, the French forts of Thiaumont
and Vaux had fallen to the German army in June, although the pressure on
France had diminished due to the British attack on German forces near the
Somme River. This British attack and a Russian offensive in the east forced the
German army to transfer troops away from Verdun. These events put Germany in
a defensive mode, and the French quickly took the offensive.
By November of 1916, Fort Vaux, Fort Thiaumont, and Fort Douaumont had been
reclaimed for France. By December, the French had advanced to their February
1916 lines, their original position. No new advantage had been gained for either
side.