Battle of Verdun Speech

Battle of Verdun Speech Good afternoon, I am Cadet Smith, and today I plan to further educate you all on the Battle of Verdun. The Battle of Verdun lasted from February 21st, 1916 to December 19th, 1916; it was known as one of the lengthiest battles in world history. The battle was fought in Verdun-sur-Meuse, France, a small city located in North-Eastern France. The battle was fought between France and Germany. The Commanders in the battle for France was General Philippe Pétain and a French artillery officer known as Robert Georges Nivelle. The Commanders in the battle for Germany were Chief of the General Staff Erich von Falkenhayn and the last Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Prussia and the German Empire, Frederick William Victor Augustus Ernest. To Germany, England was their most important enemy and therefore had to be defeated. Commander-in-Chief General Falkenhayn decided the only way to weaken England was to defeat their ally France by attacking them somewhere important. The Schlieffen Plan was Germany’s strategic plan for victory in a possible future war in which the German Empire might find itself fighting on two fronts: France to the west and Russia to the east. The Plan was to help Germany avoid a two-front war by moving troops in the west and quickly defeating the French and then, if necessary, rushing those troops by train to the east to face the Russians before they had time to mobilize fully. The Schlieffen Plan was created by Count Alfred von Schlieffen and modified by Helmuth von Moltke the Younger after Schlieffen's retirement. The plan was then enforced by Commander-in-Chief General Falkenhayn. France’s objective was to defend the Fort of Douaumont, which the French recognized as their largest and most powerful fort in the world. Fort Douaumont was the largest and highest fort on the ring of 19 large defensive forts protecting the city of Verdun, France since the 1890s. Unfortunately by 1915, it was decided that Fort Douaumont and other Verdun