Why did the Battle of Verdun Start?
The attack on Verdun (code-named “Judgment”) started because the German Chief of General Staff, Erich von Falkenhayn, believed that the assault would become a battle of attrition in which the Germans would “bleed the French army white” (“ausbluten”). From a military standpoint, he launched the massive German attack at Verdun, a narrow stretch of land which was situated in a salient in the frontline, because the Germans, deployed in a half circular-shape, believed that they would be able to surround the battleground giving them a substantial advantage in their gunnery bombardments. Psychologically, the Germans knew that Verdun had historic sentiment for the French. The area around Verdun contained twenty major forts and forty smaller ones that had historically protected the eastern border of France. Falkenhayn believed that the French could not allow those forts to fall as the national humiliation would have been too much. He was certain that the French would fight to the last man. Falk
