World War I casualties
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The number of World War I casualties (military and civilian) was over 37 million - over 15 million deaths and 22 million wounded. This includes almost 9 million military deaths and about 6.6 million civilian deaths. The Allied Powers lost more than 5 million soldiers and the Central Powers more than 3 million. Casualty numbers are much debated.
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[edit] Debated numbers
The sources for the numbers used in this article are listed below.
Estimates for World War I casualty numbers vary to great extents, and they are often stated without any citations. Furthermore, estimates may include part of the Russian Civil War and Armenian Genocide, and it is debated to which degree - or if at all - these events should be included.
Many of the civilian deaths were due to the outbreak of the Spanish flu or related to famine.
[edit] Casualties by country
| Allied Powers | Military Deaths | Civilian Deaths | Total Deaths | Wounded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 59,330 | ? | 59,330 | 159,171 |
| Belgium | 13,716 | 30,000 | 43,716 | 44,686 |
| Canada | 66,655 | ? | 66,655 | 172,950 |
| France[1] | 1,375,800 | 40,000 | 1,415,800 | 4,266,000 |
| Greece | 5,000 | 132,000 | 137,000 | 21,000 |
| India | 43,000 | ? | 43,000 | 65,000 |
| Italy | 650,000 | ? | 650,000 | 947,000 |
| Japan | 300 | ? | 300 | 907 |
| Montenegro | 3,000 | ? | 3,000 | 10,000 |
| New Zealand | 18,166 | ? | 18,166 | 58,526 |
| Newfoundland[2] | 1,251 | ? | 1,251 | 2,314 |
| Portugal[3] | 7,222 | ? | 7,222 | 13,751 |
| Romania[4] | 335,706 | 275,000 | 610,706 | 120,000 |
| Russia | 1,700,000 | 2,000,000 | 3,700,000 | 4,950,000 |
| Serbia | 45,000 | 650,000 | 695,000 | 133,148 |
| South Africa[5] | 9,445 | ? | 7,000 | 12,000 |
| United Kingdom[6] | 703,000 | 30,633 | 733,633 | 1,663,000 |
| United States[7] | 126,000 | 200[8] | 126,200 | 234,300 |
| Total (Allied Powers) | 5,567,591 | 3,157,833 | 8,725,424 | 13,990,605 |
| Central Powers | Military Deaths | Civilian Deaths | Total Deaths | Wounded |
| Austria-Hungary | 1,200,000 | 300,000 | 1,500,000 | 3,620,000 |
| Bulgaria[9] | 87,500 | 275,000 | 362,500 | 152,390 |
| Germany[10] | 1,773,700 | 760,000 | 2,533,700 | 4,216,058 |
| Ottoman Empire | 325,000 | 2,150,000 | 2,475,000 | 400,000 |
| Total (Central Powers) | 3,386,200 | 3,485,000 | 6,871,200 | 8,388,448 |
| Neutral nations | ||||
| Norway[11] | - | 1,892 | 1,892 | ? |
| Total (all in table)[12] | 8,953,791 | 6,644,725 | 15,598,516 | 22,379,053 |
[edit] Table sources
The main source used for military deaths & wounded (unless stated otherwise in the footnotes below) is:
- Everett, Susan, History of World War I, (page 248), Bison Books, 1980.
The main source used for civilian deaths (unless stated otherwise in the footnotes below) is:
- Tucker, Spencer C. The European Powers in the First World War: An Encyclopedia, Garland Publishing, New York, 1996.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ This includes the deaths of French colonial troops which were 57,700
- ^ Newfoundland was a dominion at the time, and not part of Canada
- ^ These numbers are for Western front only. There were Portuguese casualties in Africa also.
- ^ Excludes 265,000 civilians dead and missing.
- ^ The Commonwealth War Graves Commission names and commemorates 9,445 South African military dead from the First World War [1]
- ^ Statistics from The Longman Companion to the First World War (Colin Nicolson, Longman 2001, pg. 248)
- ^ US official figures, given 1 April 1920 read: 35,560 killed in action, 14,720 died of wounds, 57,460 died of disease, 7,920 died of other causes, 205,690 wounded, 46 missing, 4,480 prisoners. Source: The Communication Trench, Anecdotes & Statistics from The Great War 1914-1918 by Will R. Bird (pg. 75)
- ^ Approximation; incl. 128 killed on the RMS Lusitania as well as crewmen killed on merchant ships. Even the approximate number of US civilian deaths is still debated.
- ^ Excluding those that died of disease during autumn 1918 retreat.
- ^ Civilian deaths were mainly by famine. German figures are disputed, some other sources list the following figures: 2,037,700 dead, 4,216,057 wounded, resulting in a total of 6,253,757 casualties.
- ^ Norway was neutral in the war but 1,892 Norwegian sailors died, mostly due to vessels torpedoed by German submarines. Norway lost about 50% of its merchant fleet, percentage-wise the highest loss of any nation's merchant fleet in WWI.
- ^ Total sum of existing numbers in the table (i.e. countries not included in table are excluded).
[edit] See also
[edit] Main articles
[edit] Other
- Thankful villages - villages in England and Wales which lost no men in World War I
- World War II casualties
[edit] References
- Everett, Susan, History of World War I, (page 248), Bison Books, 1980
- Nicolson, Colin, The Longman Companion to the First World War, Longman 2001, ISBN 0-582-28983-1
- Bird, Will R., The Communication Trench, Anecdotes & Statistics from The Great War 1914-1918
- Tucker, Spencer C. The European Powers in the First World War: An Encyclopedia, Garland Publishing, New York, 1996
- Hirschfeld, Gerhard (Ed.), Enzyklopaedie Erster Weltkrieg, Paderborn, 2004 (esp. article "Kriegsverluste" by Ruediger Overmans)
- Urlanis, Boris, Wars and Population, 1971
- Urlanis, Boris, Bilanz der Kriege, Berlin, 1965.
- Heeres-Sanitaetsinspektion im Reichskriegsministerium, Sanitaetsbericht ueber das deutsche Heer, deutsches Feld- und Besatzungsheer, im Weltkriege 1914-1918, Volume 3, 1934
- Dumas, Samuel, Losses of Life Caused by War, Oxford 1923
[edit] External links
- WWI casualties - Casualties of World War I from "Trenches on the Web"
- WWI casualties - from Twentieth Century Atlas
- WWI casualties - Casualties of World War I from about.com
