The Battle of Verdun, WWI.

History's Greatest Battles

The unimaginable loss of life, a gruesome testament to the unyielding carnage on the Western Front during World War I, left a deep, festering wound in the French psyche, one that bled into their military and political decisions for years to come. This haunting trauma became an inescapable force, driving a fearful and defensive stance that would cripple their resolve and doom their engagement at the onset of the nightmare of World War Two.
Verdun. 21 Feb - 18 Dec 1916.
French Casualties: 542,000
German Casualties: 434,000
Additional Reading and Research:

• Horne, Alistair. The Price of Glory: Verdun.
• Liddell, Basil. The Real War, 1914-1918.
• Romains, Jules. Verdun: The Prelude, The Battle.

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Chapters

1. The Battle of Verdun, WWI. (00:00:00)

2. The Fields of France (00:00:55)

3. German High Command's New Strategy (00:02:52)

4. French Military Doctrine, Their Weakness (00:04:13)

5. Largest Concentration of Artillery in History (00:06:32)

6. Petain (00:11:11)

7. "They Will Not Pass!" (00:12:42)

8. The Dead Man (00:15:08)

9. The Sacred Way (00:18:38)

10. The Somme (00:20:24)

11. Prince Wilhelm Accepts Verdun's Impossibility (00:21:48)

12. Verdun's Butcher's Bill (00:24:38)

13. The Savagery (00:25:14)

14. "Wastage" (00:26:48)

15. Falkenhayn's Meat Grinder (00:28:07)

16. Verdun as the Paradigm Shifter in French Military Doctrine (00:30:38)