World War One 1916

Battle of Verdun By 1916, the war was a stalemate However, the Germans thought they could win if they inflicted heavy casualties on the French The Germans decided to select Verdun, held a direct route to Paris

The battle began with a 9-hour bombardment of 1 million shells The Germans wanted to wage a war of attrition (kill more French, have less Germans die) By the time the fighting bogged down, the French lost 120,000 troops, Germans lost 100,000 (December 18th, 1916; longest)

German skulls

Battle of the Somme The Somme is a river in France This battle was intended to take some German troops away from Verdun The battle began on July 1st 1916 after a 5-day artillery barrage

Mine exploding near German trench

The British expected there to be no resistance when they charged the German trenches Wrong! The British lost 20,000 men in 1 day! Saw the first tank used in battle When the battle ends November 18th, the French and British suffer 620,000 casualties; Germany suffers 434,000

Battle of Jutland (Denmark) Largest naval battle of World War I Germany wanted to stop the British blockade in the North Sea England wanted to deal a decisive blow to the German fleet

England ends up losing more ships and men Germany does not challenge the British navy ever again during the war The Germans start their policy of unrestricted submarine warfare

View from a British ship Shells splashing