In January 1916, French flyers sent word that the Germans were getting ready for their Verdun offensive. On February 11, 1916, a French intelligence officer found that the Germans were building up their forces on the right bank of the Meuse. Over the next week and a half, thousands of French men and artillery were sent to Verdun in preparation for the impending German invasion. When the main rail lines to Verdun were destroyed or constantly hit by German artillery, it was a logistical problem that had never been seen before. To get around this, they set up a motorized supply chain on a scale that had never been seen before. They sent more than 3,000 trucks with people and supplies to the front. On February 21, German artillery began a huge bombardment of a front stretching about 25 miles (40 km) from the Bois d'Avocourt to Étain, and at 4:45 PM, the first German infantry attack was made.

The advance continued with combat engineers leading the way, and by the conclusion of the first day, German troops had broken through French defenses and occupied the Bois d'Haumont. The Germans pressed their advantage the next day, holding off a French counterattack. The Germans were able to break through the French first line of defense in three days, forcing both sides to strengthen their defenses. General Joseph-Jacques-Césaire Joffre was replaced by General Philippe Pétain, who was given the herculean task of holding the right bank of the Meuse with his brand-new army. Pétain sent hundreds of artillery pieces to Verdun, and 500,000 German forces attacked the village of Douaumont from February 26–29, but the French fortifications resisted.

For four months, the Germans fought hard at Verdun to stop the Allied advance in Picardy.On March 6, two German reserve corps crossed the Meuse at Brabant and took the Hill of Oie. On March 10, the Germans took the Bois de Cumières, allowing them to attack La Mort Homme ("the Dead Man"), one of the main French defenses. The fierce battles cost both sides tens of thousands of lives, and Peak 295 was No Man's Land. The French lost their entire left bank Meuse front line by April 8.

The crown prince ordered a massive attack on both banks on April 9, but it yielded little. Pétain was promoted to Army Group Center, and Robert-Georges Nivelle led French forces on the right bank and Henri Berthelot led the left bank defensive. On May 8, the Germans took the Bois Camard but failed to attack Hill 304, the French strongpoint. On May 24, German forces took Cumières, but a French onslaught on Douaumont halted German reinforcements for the left bank. On June 1, the Germans attacked French right-bank strongpoints Vaux and Thiaumont.

On June 15, the French recaptured about a half mile (one kilometer) of trenches on Le Mort Homme. On June 21, the Germans resumed their right bank onslaught after winning Verdun, but the advance stopped at Froide Terre. On June 23, sector commander Pétain advocated moving to the left bank if the Germans approached, but on June 27, he was ordered to hold the right bank.

The Franco-British Somme offensive began on June 24 and the Germans attacked Verdun on July 11 and August 1. The French retook Thiaumont and Fleury, but the Germans retook it on August 8. Gen. Charles Mangin presented a Verdun liberation plan in September and the offensive began on October 21 with a massive artillery barrage. By December 1916, 75% of the French army had fought on the Meuse. Mangin planned to retake the second French line on December 5, but bad weather delayed the plan and revealed it to the Germans.

Nivelle resumed the preliminary barrage on December 9, and attack occurred at 10 AM on December 15. The French captured 9,000 prisoners and destroyed 115 weapons, and on December 18, Chambrettes and 11,000 German prisoners were recaptured at the Battle of Louvemont. Verdun was over.

The two forces at Verdun lost almost 700,000 casualties, including 300,000 killed, over 10 months in 1916. Nine villages—Beaumont, Bezonvaux, Cumières, Douaumont, Fleury, Haumont, Louvemont, Ornes, and Vaux—were completely devastated. The settlements were commemorated as having "killed for France" and ruled by mayors after the war. The 1932 Douaumont Ossuary memorialized 150,000 nameless French and Nazi troops. Due to explosive munitions, development was forbidden in a 65-square-mile (170-square-kilometer) area on the Verdun crest. In the 21st century, the French Interior Ministry claimed that over 10 million shells remained in the earth around Verdun, and bomb-clearing squads removed 40 tons of unexploded bombs annually. Chemical rounds, which looked like explosive shells, leaked when found and handled and kept their toxicity over time. At current rates, les démineurs ("the deminers") would continue clearing munitions in Verdun for decades.