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[[File: Battelfield Verdun.jpg|thumbnail|left|300px|The battlefield in 2005]]Verdun was a very bloody battle even by the standards of WW I. The name of Verdun has become a by-word for butchery. A modern estimate found that there was in total, 714,231 casualties, 377,000 of these were French and some 330,000 German. This translates into an average of 70,000 casualties per month. However, even more, recent estimates indicated that the numbers were even greater and higher than even the battlefields of the Somme. The Battle of Verdun lasted for 300 days and became the longest and one of the most costly battles in modern warfare. At the end of the battle little territory had been gained by either side and the situation after the battle was much the same as it had been a year earlier. To many it appeared that the battle had been inconclusive however, the French had thwarted the Germans and they had weakened them and they had not been knocked out of the war. France won the battle by not being beaten and because it was able to continue the war and this helped the western allies to prevail on the western front.