War Casualties First World War
Although historians have been researching for years, they have no come up with a definitive figure on the war casualties in the First World War. While records were maintained by different nations, the demands of the battle did not allow accurate records to be maintained. It was common during the First World War for soldiers to be completely obliterated and buried and this had an impact on the maintenance of the records. |
For some countries, there is a variation where war casualties are concerned and this variation can be from a few hundreds casualties to a few thousands. On the other hand, France, which suffered a lot of casualties, has a variation of around one million. Hence, invariably war casualties for the First World War are rounded off to the nearest thousand.
In Africa, 55,000 soldiers saw combat, but there were still many hundred thousands who took part in auxiliary services and other kinds of non-combative services. In Africa, soldiers came from Nigeria, Gambia, Rhodesia, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Malawi, Kenya and the Gold Coast. It is estimated that 10,000 soldiers were killed, but it is not known how many were wounded.
Australia sent 330,000, out of which 59,000 soldiers were killed and 152,000 were wounded. Austro-Hungarian Empire had 6,500,000 soldiers fighting, 1,200,000 were killed and another 3,620,000 were injured. Belgium sent 207,000 soldiers, out of which 13,000 were killed and 44,000 were wounded. Bulgaria had 400,000 soldiers fighting during the First World War, and lost 101,000 soldiers and 153,000 were wounded.
However, the biggest casualties were sustained by the French, Germany, and Britain. The French had 7,500,000 soldiers, lost 1,385,000 and another 4,266,000 were wounded. The Germans had a total of 11,000,000 soldiers, and out of these 1,718,000 were killed and 4,234,000 were wounded. Britain (excluding the soldiers from the Dominion) sent 5,397,000 troops to the First World War. She lost 703,000 soldiers and another 1,663,000 were injured.
The Russians sent 12,000,000 soldiers, lost 1,700,000 of them and another 4,950,000 were wounded. The United States had a total of 4,272,500 soldiers, with 117,000 killed and 204,000 wounded.
The total number of casualties in the First World War was about 37.5 million, and this figure included both soldiers and civilians. Around 16.5 million died, and 21 million were wounded due to the war.
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The First World War effected Europe very badly. The Russian Empire as well as the Austro-Hungarian Empire was eliminated. The Empires were broken down into new states; communism had taken root in Eastern Europe; Britain and France gained new territories from the Central Powers, which lost majority of their resources and territories. However, the effects of the First World War were felt in the US too. And, these effects caused the US to enter the war. At the time the US entered the war, many people were for it. However, in hindsight, some people felt that the decision was wrong. 