battle of Verdun

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battle of Verdun

battle of Verdun the longest and one of the bloodiest engagements of World War I . Two million men were engaged. It began on Feb. 21, 1916, when the Germans, commanded by Crown Prince Frederick William, launched a massive offensive against Verdun, an awkward salient in the French line. The outlying forts of Douaumont and Hardaumont soon fell, but the French rallied under General Pétain (with the cry "They shall not pass" ) and resistance stiffened. A British offensive on the Somme relieved the pressure on Verdun in July, 1916, and by December the French had recovered most of the ground lost. The intention of the Germans had been a battle of attrition in which they hoped to bleed the French army white. In the end, they sustained almost as many casualties as the French; an estimated 328,000 to the French 348,000.

Bibliography: See studies by A. Horne (1962), W. Hermanns (1972), and I. Ousby (2002).

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Verdun, Battle of

The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable | 2006 | | Â© The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable 2006, originally published by Oxford University Press 2006. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Verdun, Battle of a long and severe battle in 1916, during the First World War, at the fortified town of Verdun in NE France, in which the French, initially unprepared, eventually repelled a prolonged German offensive but suffered heavy losses.

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ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Verdun, Battle of." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Oxford University Press. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 7 Dec. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Verdun, Battle of." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Oxford University Press. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (December 7, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-VerdunBattleof.html

ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Verdun, Battle of." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Oxford University Press. 2006. Retrieved December 07, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-VerdunBattleof.html

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Free newspaper and magazine articles

	Trucks made the difference at Verdun: the titanic World War I Battle of Verdun is best known for its unprecedented carnage. But the battle also featured a logistic innovation: the first extensive use of motor vehicles for military supply and transportation. Magazine article from: Army Logistician; 9/1/2003
	Theater of Blood.('The Road to Verdun: World War I's Most Momentous Battle and the Folly of Nationalism') Magazine article from: National Review; 6/17/2002
	German Strategy and the Path to Verdun: Erich von Falkenhayn and the Development of Attrition, 1870-1916.(Book review) Magazine article from: The Historian; 3/22/2006

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