At a very high level, the
period between 1915 and 1918 on the Western Front is usually
considered to be a stalemate. It's considered to be a
stalemate because you did not have a major movement
on the front. There were some movement, but
the front pretty much looked the way that it looks in
this diagram right over here. That's not to say that it
was not incredibly bloody. In fact, it was so
bloody that some of the most famous battles, not
just in World War I history, but in world history,
occurred during this period. And in particular,
they occurred in 1916. In 1916, the first of
these happened in February, where you have the Battle
of Verdun, or "Ver-done". Battle of Verdun, where
you have the Germans, who want to do an
offensive on the French that most historians believe
was intended not to necessarily gain this territory, but to
try to make the French put so many troops here and inflict so
many casualties on the French that they might not be
able to overcome that. And they might have to throw
the French out of the war. And they especially thought
this part of the front was vulnerable because the
French could be attacked from multiple sides, this
little bulge right over here. And so in February of
1916, they attack primarily with artillery. So they're shelling
the French right over here, this whole area. The French keep bringing
troops into the mix. And to get a sense of how ugly
and how scary this whole scene was, this is a quote from the
journal of a French soldier who was serving in Verdun
during the Battle of Verdun, or serving in the
Battle of Verdun. And he wrote-- and he
was unfortunately later killed due to artillery
fire-- "Humanity is mad. It must be mad to
do what it is doing. What a massacre. What scenes of
horror and carnage. I cannot find words to
translate my impressions. Hell cannot be so terrible. Men are mad." And this battle would continue
through most of the year. As you go into
the summer, that's the maximum of the
German offensive. This is some of the territory
that they are able to capture. But as you get into the late
summer, in July of 1916, the British and
the French decide to do an offensive on another
part of the front, right over here near the Somme River. So this right over here
is the Somme River. So this right over here
is the German offensive. In July, you have the
Battle of the Somme, sometimes referred
to as the Somme Offensive, named
after the Somme River. It occurred where
the Somme River intersected with the front. And this was an Anglo, British
and French, Anglo French offensive. And it's also famous-- both of
these were incredibly bloody. That's what really
made them noteworthy. But this was also famous for
the first use of the tanks. This was a picture of a
British tank at the time. But both of these were
incredibly bloody. It was lucky for
the French at Verdun that the offensive
at the Somme happened because this forced the Germans
to go off of the offensive as we get into the
late summer of 1916. They had to bring troops back
over here to help support it. But the end result
of both of these is you do not have a major
movement of the front. In fact, by the end of
1916, because the Germans had to go fight at the
Battle of the Somme, the French were
able to recapture much of this territory. So the real end result of
both of these offensives, one on the German side,
one on the British side, was just a massive, massive,
massive loss of human life. Each of them, it's
estimated, had on the order of a million
casualties, roughly half on each side. At Verdun, it was slightly
more on the French side than the German. But it was roughly 55, 45%. So a million
casualties in Verdun. A million casualties on
both sides at the Somme. I've seen estimates
on the death toll being a third of a
million to half a million for each of these battles. So both of these were
incredibly, incredibly ugly battles for both sides. The end result for
the Germans though was even more
interesting because you have to remember what was
happening at the Eastern Front. On the Eastern Front,
1916 was the year that the Russians finally were
building up their war machine. They were finally able to
equip the munitions necessary. It was also the year
that the Romanians joined on side of the Entente
along with the Russians on the Eastern Front. The Austro-Hungarians were
suffering huge losses. So in 1916 the Germans were
in a very tough situation. Huge losses at
Verdun, huge losses at the Battle of the
Somme, the Russians are starting to get more
aggressive on the Eastern Front, the Austro-Hungarians
are starting to have trouble. So they decide to
essentially re-trench. So they're going to start
bringing more troops back to the Eastern Front. But in order not to
lose too much ground on the Western Front,
they essentially try to hold a smaller front. So they back up to this line. This is the line at the end
of the Battle of the Somme. The Germans recognize
that they can't protect this entire front. They want to protect
a shorter front. So they begin preparing to
move back right over here. And this line right
over here is named after the field marshal
of the German army. It's called the Hindenburg line. It's no coincidence. It's the same name
of the zeppelin that blew up in the late '30s. It was actually named after
Field Marshal Hindenburg for whom this line is named. But the Germans do
this in order so that they can take more
troops to the Eastern Front and hold a shorter line. So by the end of 1916, they
start making the preparations for the Hindenburg line. And in February of
1917, they actually move back to the
Hindenburg line. So this is 1917 February
you have the Germans move to the Hindenburg line. So 1916, incredibly,
incredibly ugly year. Two million casualties,
not a lot of movement of the actual front.