Verdun and the Somme: the war of attrition and total war
- Date
- 21 February – 18 December 1916 (Verdun and the Somme)
- Category
- Military & conflict
- Region
- Western Europe (France)
- Era
- Modern
- Significance
In 1916 the Western Front produced two of the deadliest battles in history, epitomising the industrialised attrition warfare of World War I.
At Verdun (21 February – December 1916), the German offensive aimed to 'bleed France white'; the months-long struggle inflicted roughly 700,000–750,000 combined French and German casualties. The Anglo-French offensive on the Somme (1 July – 18 November 1916) opened with about 57,000 British casualties on the first day alone — the bloodiest day in British military history — and produced over a million casualties on all sides while advancing only a few kilometres. The battles displayed the lethal dominance of artillery, machine guns, and entrenched defence, and saw the first use of the tank by Britain in September 1916. They also exemplified 'total war': entire national economies, populations, and colonial manpower were mobilised for sustained mass slaughter, with no decisive breakthrough achieved.
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Empires active in 21 February – 18 December 1916 (Verdun and the Somme)
- Empire of Japan1868 CE – 1947 CE
- French Colonial Empire (Second)1830 CE – 1962 CE
- German Empire1871 CE – 1918 CE
- Russian Empire1721 CE – 1917 CE
- British Empire1583 CE – 1997 CE
- Spanish Empire1492 CE – 1976 CE
Related military & conflict events
- D-Day: the Normandy landings6 June 1944
- Fall of FranceMay–June 1940
- Assassination of Franz Ferdinand and the outbreak of World War I28 June – 4 August 1914
- Russo-Japanese War and Japan's Rise as a Great Power1904–1905
- Italy Invades Ethiopia1935–1936
- Second Sino-Japanese War and the Nanjing Massacre7 July 1937 – 2 September 1945
Also relevant
Further reading
The wider story
Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire
Fast-paced narrative of Portugal's seaborne empire.
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