Bonekickers

History behind ‘The Lines of War’: Verdun

The Battle of Verdun was one of the most savage of the First World War, with around 700,000 casualties. It was fought between German and French forces from 21st February - 18th December 1916, for control of the strategically located town of Verdun-sur-Meuse in Alsace-Lorraine, in northern France.

The frontier town had been part of the Holy Roman Empire since the death of Charlemagne, but in 1648 became French territory, and was heavily fortified during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. It became a symbol of French sovereignty and many of the French soldiers were rotated through the battle with all its horrors, while German tactics were to wear down the enemy disproportionally to their own forces.

The horrors of Verdun and the exceptionally harsh winter of 1916-17 had a significant effect on French morale. The guns were largely silent, and the cold affected their operation. An increasing threat of desertion escalated into a full-scale mutiny that begun on 28th April 1917, during the offensive at Chemin des Dames.

It was a particularly sensitive time and the civilian population in France was also short of food, with high inflation and strikes by key workers for better conditions. There was a real possibility that the war could have ended in 1917, if the mutiny had spread and peace talks opened with the Germans.