The longest and most famous of the battles of World War I, Verdun was a 10-month-long offensive launched by German troops against the French in February 1916 and continued, with both sides alternating as attackers and defenders, until December of that year. Verdun is an ancient city in northeastern France, ringed by a number of forts built in the wake of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Its status as an impregnable fortress symbolized for the French people the invincibility of their nation.

The area around Verdun had seen some heavy fighting in 1914 but was relatively quiet until the Germans launched an all-out attack on February 21. The German commander Erich Von Falkenhayn chose Verdun as much for its symbolic as its strategic value. If the Germans could break through there, it would constitute a crippling blow to the morale of the French, whose soldiers were already exhibiting the war-weariness that would eventually erupt in a full-scale mutiny in 1917. The initial attack was preceded by a furious 12-hour artillery barrage that laid waste the French positions, enabling German troops to make significant gains in the first few days. In an attempt to stop the hemorrhaging, the French high command appointed General Henri Petain, a defensive specialist, as commander of the French forces. Petain's managerial skill brought order to the French army, enabling it to push back the invading Germans.

Subsequent fighting raged back and forth for the rest of the year, bringing with it staggering casualties. By the conclusion of the offensive in December 1916, close to 1 million men had been killed or wounded, more than 500,000 French and 400,000 German. Although next to nothing of military value had been gained in the battle, it represented a significant psychological victory for France and a personal triumph for Petain, who became known as "the hero of Verdun," a title that was to acquire an ironic ring some 20 years later, when he became the head of the Vichy government that collaborated with the German occupation during World War II.

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