VERDUN
WWI
tHESIS
The main long-term causes of WWI for the battle of Verdun were militarism, loyalty and nationalism. The Battle of Verdun was principally an artillery battle. Both sides made use of heavy artillery to destroy trenches in the front lines and cause as much damage as possible to allow their troops to move forward. 'Verdun' has come to represent all the horrors of the First World War, of the pointless massacres, the endless sacrifices of human lives in the battle over a tiny piece of land. As the Dutch author Richard Heijster once said, 'Verdun' is the symbol of complete annihilation: a fault line in our civilization.
Time line: Battle of verdun
Timeline
- January 1916 - President Woodrow Wilson will try to launch an effort to establish a peace conference in Europe.
- January 1916 - President Woodrow Wilson begins an effort to organize a peace conference in Europe.
- February 18, 1916 - In West Africa, the German colony of Cameroon falls to the French and British following 17 months of fighting. This leaves only one German colony remaining in Africa, known as German East Africa.
- February 21, 1916 - On the Western Front, the German 5th Army attacks the French 2nd Army north of the historic city of Verdun, following a nine-hour artillery bombardment. The Germans under Chief of the General Staff, Erich Falkenhayn, seek to "bleed" the French Army to death by targeting the cherished city.
- March 6, 1916 - Germans renew their Verdun offensive, this time attacking along the west bank of the Meuse River, targeting two strategic hills northwest of Verdun that form the main French position. However, by the end of March, the heavily defended hills are only partially in German hands.
- April 18, 1916 - President Woodrow Wilson threatens to sever diplomatic ties between the United States and Germany following the sinking of the passenger ferry Sussex by a U-Boat in the English Channel. The attack marked the beginning of a new U-Boat campaign around the British Isles. But in response to Wilson, the Germans call off the U-Boats.
- April 29, 1916 - In the Middle East, the five-month siege at Kut-al-Amara in Mesopotamia ends as 13,000 British and Indian soldiers, now on the verge of starvation, surrender to the Turks. The largest-ever surrender by the British Army comes after four failed attempts by British relief troops to break through to the surrounded garrison.
- May 3, 1916 - At Verdun, the Germans begin another attack on the west bank of the Meuse. This time they gain the advantage and within three days capture the two French hills they had been striving for since early March, thus achieving a solid position northwest of Verdun.
- June 1st, 1916 - Germany launched a massive attack at Verdun.
- June 23rd, 1916 - they got within 2.5 miles from Verdun itself - but this attack faltered as the German army itself had given all that it had and it could give no more.
- On 23 June three German army corps attacked. This was the first attack in which phosgene gas was used. 230 Guns fired a total of 110,000 of these poison gas shells.
- July 1st, 1916 - partly to relieve the French. The Germans could no longer afford to commit new troops to Verdun and, at a cost of some 400,000 French casualties and a similar number of Germans, the attack was called off.
