<P> Neither side proved able to deliver a decisive blow for the next two years . Throughout 1915--17, the British Empire and France suffered more casualties than Germany, because of both the strategic and tactical stances chosen by the sides . Strategically, while the Germans only mounted one major offensive, the Allies made several attempts to break through the German lines . </P> <P> In February 1916 the Germans attacked the French defensive positions at Verdun . Lasting until December 1916, the battle saw initial German gains, before French counter-attacks returned matters to near their starting point . Casualties were greater for the French, but the Germans bled heavily as well, with anywhere from 700,000 to 975,000 casualties suffered between the two combatants . Verdun became a symbol of French determination and self - sacrifice . </P> <P> The Battle of the Somme was an Anglo - French offensive of July to November 1916 . The opening of this offensive (1 July 1916) saw the British Army endure the bloodiest day in its history, suffering 57,470 casualties, including 19,240 dead, on the first day alone . The entire Somme offensive cost the British Army some 420,000 casualties . The French suffered another estimated 200,000 casualties and the Germans an estimated 500,000. Gun fire wasn't the only factor taking lives, the diseases that emerged in the trenches were a major killer on both sides . The living conditions made it so that countless diseases and infections occurred . Trench foot, shell shock, blindness / burns from mustard gas, lice, trench fever, cooties (body lice) and the' Spanish Flu' </P> <P> Protracted action at Verdun throughout 1916, combined with the bloodletting at the Somme, brought the exhausted French army to the brink of collapse . Futile attempts using frontal assault came at a high price for both the British and the French and led to the widespread French Army Mutinies, after the failure of the costly Nivelle Offensive of April--May 1917 . The concurrent British Battle of Arras was more limited in scope, and more successful, although ultimately of little strategic value . A smaller part of the Arras offensive, the capture of Vimy Ridge by the Canadian Corps, became highly significant to that country: the idea that Canada's national identity was born out of the battle is an opinion widely held in military and general histories of Canada . </P>

Who won and who lost world war 1