| The Human
Cost of War
Changes in Warfare
 The
Great War brought a whole new level of destruction and death
to human history. A total of over sixty million men were mobilized
for war, an occurrence that was unprecedented. In addition to
the increased number of men involved in battles, war itself
became much more deadly with the application of science to find
ways to kill.
During the 16th Century a typical war would kill or wound one
man in twenty. This had increased to one combatant in seven.
In the 20th Century that rate would rise to one man in every
three becoming killed or wounded.
The losses suffered by all nations during the Great War were unsurpassed
in history to that point in time. The numbers of men lost remains
a bone of contention between historians. Accurate numbers do not
exist and arguments over the actual numbers lost vary. The numbers
below are typical of cited works trying to establish total losses:
| |
Mobilized |
Dead |
Wounded |
Missing/PoW |
| Russia |
12,000,000 |
1,700,000 |
4,950,000 |
2,500,000 |
| Germany |
11,000,000 |
1,773,700 |
4,216,058 |
1,152,800 |
| Great Britain |
8,904,467 |
908,371 |
2,090,212 |
191,652 |
| France |
8,410,000 |
1,375,800 |
4,266,000 |
537,000 |
| Austria-Hungary |
7,800,000 |
1,200,000 |
3,620,000 |
2,200,000 |
| Italy |
5,615,000 |
650,000 |
947,000 |
600,000 |
| US |
4,355,000 |
126,000 |
234,300 |
4,526 |
| Turkey |
2,850,000 |
325,000 |
400,000 |
250,000 |
| Bulgaria |
1,200,000 |
87,500 |
152,390 |
27,029 |
| Japan |
800,000 |
300 |
907 |
3 |
| Rumania |
750,000 |
335,706 |
120,000 |
80,000 |
| Serbia |
707,343 |
45,000 |
133,148 |
152,958 |
| Belgium |
267,000 |
13,716 |
44,686 |
34,659 |
| Greece |
230,000 |
5,000 |
21,000 |
1,000 |
| Portugal |
100,000 |
7,222 |
13,751 |
12,318 |
| Montenegro |
50,000 |
3,000 |
10,000 |
7,000 |
All nations involved during the Great War suffered losses. France
suffered both in military and civilian losses more than all nations,
but in England, it became hard to find young boys between 18 and
20 walking down the street. A generation of men had disappeared
in the muddy fields of France.
MULTIMEDIA
"'Till the Boys Come Home" Song
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