Battle of Verdun
1916 CE · France
The Battle of Verdun was fought in 1916 CE in France between France vs Germany; French victory; the longest battle of the First World War.
Battle of Verdun: quick facts
- Date
- 1916 CE
- Location
- France
- Belligerents
- France vs Germany
- Commanders
- Philippe Pétain and Robert Nivelle vs Erich von Falkenhayn and Crown Prince Wilhelm
- Result
- French victory; the longest battle of the First World War.
- Casualties
- roughly 700,000 killed, wounded or missing across both sides
- Era
- 🪖 World Wars
- Quiz difficulty
- medium
What happened at the Battle of Verdun?
Germany intended to 'bleed France white' at Verdun, but the ten-month battle bled both armies equally with over 700,000 combined casualties. French General Pétain's rallying cry 'Ils ne passeront pas!' (They shall not pass!) became a national symbol of French determination. The battle produced the most concentrated devastation of World War I, turning verdant hills into a moonscape of craters.
Did you know?
The landscape around Verdun was so devastated by shellfire that several villages were completely erased from the map. They are still marked on French maps as 'villages that died for France.'
Sources and further reading
- Battle of Verdun on Wikipedia for the full account, historiography and primary sources.
- How BattleGuess compiles and checks battle facts: see the About page.
Entry last reviewed 26 September 2026.