Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"The attack opened with a furious bombardment by 1220 German guns on a narrow eight-mile front. Falkenhayn's plan saw this section of the Western Front turned into a 'mincing machine' as artillery inflicted slaughter on an industrial scale.… Falkenhayn's plan failed, but Verdun's debilitating effect corroded the French army's morale, contributing to widespread mutinies the following year. In the long term, it also played a part in sapping the French will to fight another war with Germany in 1940." [1001 Days]