What were the immediate and long term consequences of the battle of

Verdun?
The battle of Verdun was the longest battle of World War 1. It happened
between the 21st of February 1916, and the 19th of December, and was fought
by the French and German armies.
It occurred in an important area of
northeastern France. At the beginning, in July there were around 300000 French
and 150000 German soldiers, but by December there were almost a 1000000
soldiers on both sides. In the end of the battle, there were almost 700000
deaths in total. The German leader was Erich Von Falkenhayn and the French
generals were Philippe Petain and Robert Nivelle.
In order to win the war the Germans need to first weaken the French army
because his strongest enemy Britain was hard to access. The Germans believed
that once France lost, England would collapse. To capture Verdun and achieve
their goal, they planned to use very few soldiers, and bombard France with
their superior artillery of around 1200 German guns. But the plan did not work
and many Germans died, and Germany gained a very small territory.
When the Germans attacked Verdun the area was not heavy surrounded
because the French didnt think that it would be an important target and they
didnt strength the fortresses around it with soldiers or gun power. If it wasnt
for the German delay to attack Verdun, due to bad weather Germany would
have probably won the battle, as the French sent two more divisions and more
defenses to Verdun just a little time before the start of the German attack.
Using heavy bombing that lasted for a whole day the Germans occupied one of
the strongest forts in Verdun the Douaumont. One French soldier that described
the bombs said: Men were squashed. Cut in two or divided from top to
bottom. Blown into showers; bellies turned inside out; skulls forced
into the chest as if by a blow from a club.
The strategy of Germany was to attack with 10% of his army on the border of
Russia and 90% on the border of France, almost all their army because the
Germans wanted verdun. By the 25th of February the Germans had captured
10,000 French soldiers. Near Verdun there was 56 gunners in the massive
fortress of Douaumont. This was positive for the French in the battle of Verdun,
but when this fortress fall, the French had to retreat. Immediate consequences
for the soldiers were that they could not drink water they did not have enough
food and the hurt people couldnt be taken out of the battle because the floor
was dangerous to walk in. Also there were very bad weather and many people
could die and get tortured because of the cold.
To help the Germans advance and capture Verdun flame throwers were used
which were things designed to releases long fires. Four days into the battle the
Germans had already captured almost 10000 prisoners. In France no one found

out about the taking of the Douaumont fortress and French media claimed that
the battle was going well for France. By April the Germans had also suffered
and the amount of German casualties increased to almost 120000 men.
The most significant consequence of the battle of Verdun was the loss of life
and the suffering of soldiers from both sides of the battle. It is impossible to
recount completely and correctly the number of victims, this battle took an
enormous amount of human life and sacrifice.
A long-term consequence of the battle of Verdun was the start of The Battle of
Somme between the French and British empires against the German empire.
This was a consequence because it is said that the British were attempting to
relieve the French in Verdun and weaken the Germans. Battle of Somme make
the Germans take out their artillery from Verdun to defend the British and
French in the north.
The battle of Verdun is a very important battle because it was a long battle with
a lot of consequences like many deaths and hurt people.