Why did generals keep attacking at the Somme and Verdun?
Verdun was planned to make France bleed itself white, and the Somme was meant to end the war. Neither did what its planners hoped.
▶ Start the storyThey kept attacking because neither side could break through, and each decided that wearing the other down was the only way left to win. Both battles were fought in 1916, and together they show a turn towards , not , as the strategy.
At Verdun the aim was from the start. With too few forces to break through, the German chief of staff Falkenhayn tried to force the French to attack instead, by threatening a sensitive point at Verdun. His plan was that the French Army would bleed itself white in hopeless attempts to recapture the Meuse Heights. But he had underestimated the French, who saw victory at all costs as the only way to justify earlier sacrifices, and the French army never came close to collapsing. Philippe Pétain ordered that there be no retreat and that German attacks be , even though this exposed French infantry to German artillery. The battle lasted 302 days. In 2000 Hannes Heer and Klaus Naumann calculated 377,231 French and 337,000 German .
The Somme was supposed to be different: an Allied meant to hasten victory. When Verdun began, French commanders diverted many divisions meant for the Somme, and the British supporting attack became the principal effort. By May the Allied commanders Joffre and Haig had changed their hopes from a decisive battle to relieving Verdun and keeping German divisions in France.
The first day, 1 July 1916, cost the British 57,470 , including 19,240 killed, the worst in the history of the British Army. Together, more than three million men fought on the Somme, and more than one million were wounded or killed.
57,470
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Recap
Neither side could break through, so 1916 became about attrition: Verdun to bleed France, the Somme to relieve it and wear Germany down.
💡 A trick to remember it · Two doors in one wall: Verdun was a door Germany leaned on to wear France down, and the Somme was a door the Allies pushed that stayed shut.
Surprising fact · Verdun lasted 302 days, one of the longest battles in history.
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