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Verdun was designed by the German command to be a war of attrition. The idea was to draw as many French into the battle to weaken them on other battle fields like the Somme to the north. The idea wasn't to move on Paris, it was simply to kill as many French Soldiers as possible until the French Army was bled dry. Pretty stark summation of "battle tactics" in 1916. Soldiers were seen as war material and expendable.
The front along the Meuse River was around 35 miles long. The battle ground was about 70 square miles. On those 70 square miles, it is estimated that more than 1,000 shells fell per square mile during the battle. The land was totally pulvarized, at least a half dozen french villages no longer exist to this day, because they were in the Zone Rouge and the French Government forbade rebuilding them.
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