Key Battles: Verdun, the Somme and Passchendaele

By 1916 the Western Front had been locked in stalemate for over a year. Neither side could break through the other's trenches, so generals turned to a new logic: the war of attrition.

Attrition means winning not by capturing ground but by wearing the enemy down — killing, wounding and exhausting their soldiers faster than they can replace them. The side that runs out of men first loses.

A war of attrition measures success in enemy casualties and used-up reserves, not in miles of captured land. This is the key to understanding Verdun, the Somme and Passchendaele.

This changes how you judge these battles. Asking "how much ground did they take?" often gives the wrong answer. The sharper exam question is: which side did the battle wear down more? All three battles below must be understood through their reasons, events and significance — the three angles the AQA specification names.

Verdun ran from 21 February to 18 December 1916 — nearly ten months, one of the longest battles in history.

Reasons. The German commander General Erich von Falkenhayn deliberately chose attrition. Verdun was a ring of forts of huge symbolic value to France; Falkenhayn calculated the French would defend it to the last man. His stated aim, as later reported, was to "bleed France white" — to draw the French army into a killing ground where German artillery would destroy it.

Events. The Germans opened with a massive artillery bombardment and quickly took Fort Douaumont. The French, under General Philippe Pétain, held on with the rallying cry "Ils ne passeront pas" ("They shall not pass"). Supplies and men were fed in along a single road, the "Voie Sacrée" (Sacred Way). The fighting became a grinding slaughter for tiny patches of ground.

Significance.

Aspect	Detail
Duration	21 Feb – 18 Dec 1916
Casualties (approx., both sides)	~700,000–976,000 killed, wounded or missing
German aim	To "bleed France white" through attrition
Outcome	France held Verdun; the plan failed

Falkenhayn's plan backfired: Germany bled almost as heavily as France, and he was dismissed in August 1916. Crucially, the pressure on France at Verdun is a key reason the British launched the Somme — to draw German troops away.

The Battle of the Somme ran from 1 July to 18 November 1916.

Reasons. It was planned as a joint British–French offensive, but as France was pinned down at Verdun, the British Army under General Sir Douglas Haig carried the main effort. Its aims were to relieve Verdun, break through the German lines, and wear down the German army.

Events — the first day. A week-long artillery bombardment was meant to destroy the German trenches and cut the barbed wire. It failed to do either: the German dugouts were deep and the wire was often left intact.

When the whistles blew on 1 July 1916, British infantry advanced across no man's land into machine-gun fire. The British Army suffered around 57,000 casualties that day, of whom roughly 19,000 were killed — the bloodiest single day in its history.

Later events. The battle ground on for over four months. The tank was used for the first time (at Flers-Courcelette, September 1916) but too few worked to be decisive. By November the British had advanced only about 10–12 km.

Significance. The Somme cost around 420,000 British, 200,000 French and 450,000–650,000 German casualties (approximate figures). It achieved no breakthrough, but it relieved Verdun and drained irreplaceable German reserves.

Passchendaele, officially the Third Battle of Ypres, ran from 31 July to 10 November 1917.

Reasons. Haig wanted to break out of the Ypres salient in Belgium, capture the ridges beyond, and reach the Belgian coast to shut down the German U-boat bases. He also aimed to keep wearing down the German army.

Events. The opening bombardment (over four million shells) destroyed the drainage system of low-lying Flanders. Then it rained. The battlefield turned into a sea of liquid mud so deep that men, horses and guns drowned in shell craters. British and ANZAC forces used improved "bite and hold" tactics — taking small objectives, then digging in — but progress was measured in metres.

Significance.

Aspect	Detail
Dates	31 Jul – 10 Nov 1917
Conditions	Waterlogged mud after the drainage was destroyed
Casualties (approx., both sides)	Broadly 200,000–260,000 each side
Ground taken	Passchendaele village captured for about 8 km of advance

The village of Passchendaele fell in November 1917. The tiny gains and appalling conditions made it a symbol of the war's futility, yet it continued the attrition that helped exhaust Germany before 1918.

Because AQA asks about reasons, events and significance, it helps to hold the three battles side by side.

Battle	Year	Who attacked	Key reason	Significance
Verdun	1916	Germany	Attrition — "bleed France white"	France held; German plan failed
The Somme	1916	Britain (& France)	Relieve Verdun; break through	No breakthrough; drained German reserves
Passchendaele	1917	Britain (& ANZACs)	Clear the Ypres salient; reach the coast	Tiny gains in mud; continued attrition

Exam tip: for a "write an account" or essay question, link the battles. Verdun caused the Somme; the lessons of the Somme shaped the "bite and hold" tactics at Passchendaele. Showing this chain of cause and consequence lifts an answer into the higher levels.

The shared thread is attrition. None produced a decisive victory, but together they wore down the German army — a key reason the Allies were able to win in 1918.

1. Judging the battles only by ground gained

Measuring the Somme or Passchendaele purely by kilometres captured misses the point of an attrition battle. Assess instead whether the battle wore down the enemy's manpower and reserves.

2. Misdating the battles

Verdun and the Somme are both 1916; Passchendaele is 1917. Mixing up the years, or placing the Somme before Verdun, undermines a chronological account.

3. Blaming Haig without balance

"Haig was a butcher" is an interpretation, not an analysis. Note that the failed wire-cutting bombardment, deep German dugouts and the need to relieve Verdun all shaped the first day of the Somme.

4. Quoting exact casualty figures as certain

Casualty totals for these battles are estimates and historians disagree. Use approximate framing ("around 57,000 British casualties on the first day") rather than presenting a single figure as settled fact.

5. Treating the three battles as unconnected

The battles form a sequence: Verdun triggered the Somme, and the Somme's costly lessons produced the cautious "bite and hold" tactics at Passchendaele. Linking them shows the cause-and-consequence reasoning AQA rewards.