Most of 1916 centered around one of the most important battles of World War I. It was the Battle of Verdun.

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Source: The battle of Verdun, Camuledon, YouTube

These photos show how difficult the Battle of Verdun was on those involved:

Image of soldiers in a trench with gas masks. The trenches are very muddy. There are some soldiers in the background standing in the trenches.

Source: French 87th Regiment Cote 34 Verdun 1916, Wikimedia

Image of soldiers using flamethrowers and hand grenades to aim at the top of a hill where there are huge flames and large billows of smoke.

Source: Verdun 15 03 1914 Toter Mann 296, Wikipedia

The Battle of Verdun was the longest battle of the war; it lasted 10 months from February to December of 1916. It was fought mainly between the French and German troops in a small ten square kilometer area. There were 700,000 causalities by the end of the war.

Activity

Read an excerpt of an interview of a soldier who was a witness to the Battle of Verdun and answer the questions that follow in your notes.

   We all carried the smell of dead bodies with us. The bread we ate, the stagnant water we drank. . . Everything we touched smelled of decomposition due to the fact that the earth surrounding us was packed with dead bodies . . . .

Excerpt from Witnesses of Verdun.


How do you think this battle affected the soldiers and civilians? Use examples from the images and the excerpts.