Military Casualties of WWI
| Country | Killed and Died of Wounds or Disease |
Wounded |
|---|---|---|
| Russia | 1,700,000 | 4,950,000 |
| Germany | 1,775,000 | 4,216,000 |
| France | 1,385,000* | 4,266,000 |
| Austria-Hungary | 1,200,000 | 3,620,000 |
| British Empire | 908,400 | 2,090,200 |
| Italy | 650,000 | 947,000 |
| Turkey | 325,000 | 400,000 |
| United States | 116,516 | 234,428 |
| Serbia and Montenegro | 48,000 | 143,000 |
| Belgium | 14,000 | 44,700 |
| Rumania | 335,700* | 120,000 |
| Bulgaria | 87,500 | 152,400 |
| Greece | 5,000 | 21,000 |
| Portugal | 7,200 | 13,800 |
Hanson W. Baldwin, World War I, (N.Y.: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1962)
Lest we forget, for a myriad of reasons.
My Grandfather Reggie fought two tours of duty with the British Infantry as a sergeant in France and Belgium 1916-1918. Somme (2), Ypres, among others. It was supposed to be the war to end all wars. If you heard some of his stories, you would be on board with that. “Yours is not to question why, yours is but to do and die”. What a horrible loss. It also consumed the lives of its survivors in many ways…
Canada WW1 66,500 KIA 175,000 wounded.
can anyone provide a link for the ceremonies in Ottawa. I’m having a tough time finding one and I would be very grateful.
Thank you.
For those that went on to critize France for their WWll reaction – the figures suggest there wee not a lot of men folk yet available for another slaughter.
Lestwe forget.
Canada 620,000 mobilised, 67,000 dead, 173,000 wounded.
The population was 7,207,000 in 1911. Assume that half the population are males, you get 3,600,000. That would mean 1 in 6 males was in uniform. When you take away those too young or old for the military the rate could have been as high as 1 in 4, possibly higher.
Think of all the men between 18 and 40 that you know. Now imagine that one quarter of them are in the army. Now imagine that 1 in 9 of those men is killed and 1 in 3 of the survivors is wounded. Example – If you know 27 men, 3 will be killed leaving 24 alive but 8 of those are wounded.
There would have been almost no one in the country who did not have a family member or friend who was killed or wounded.
We must never forget.
P.S. These are all back of the envelope calculations, feel free to correct me if you have better numbers.
They died defending the concept of democratic freedom. The best thing we can do to honor them is never take freedom for granted and always be vigilant in defending it.
Most of the current generation or two, think that their security and comfort is generic, Like it comes with the country eh?
Peace is slipping away at about the same rate as our freedoms.
Do not mistake rights for freedoms. They are very different things. One requires much fighting and death. The other is an imaginary construct in the minds of fools who don’t know what freedom is.
occam – They died defending the concept of democratic freedom.
No. In WWI they died so non-democratic empires could thrive. I a not sure which Empire was democratic – I count none.
Scar – you should look into the history of the British empire at least.
British Empire – no, not democratic, unless you were white.
I take nothing away from the soldiers who fought and died for Canada, the king, and Empire. Included in these are some of my relatives.
Knew a tough old Englishman once who had been a Royal Artillery teamster riding
and caring for the horses that hauled the big guns around the front in WWI.
He did this at age 15. There were plenty more like him. Many were lost in action.
Brave people who did their duty.
Mass Slaughter on a Personal Level
I recently read that an average of the remains of 45 WW I soldiers are found every year in France.
The seeds of WW I were sown in the 1860s with the creation of a unified Germany and the opposition of the other European states to this creation. It was the failure of politicians to deal with this.
God bless them all and rest in peace.
The vast majority of us who have served Canada in the military throughout time did not have to pay the ultimate price and likewise for the soldiers of many other countries. We served for love of country.
I believe this service in this way is especially true for people who have family or know people who can only dream of what we have in Canada.
Thanks Lance, Kate and EBD
Since a big chunk of the fighting on the western front happened in Belgium, how come there were so few Belgian casualties?
Just heard on the radio that several people were arrested in Toronto this am for shouting abuse at mayor Rob Ford during his speach at the city of Toronto’s remembrance day service. It is sickening that that could happen. These are the people we will be fighting against in the near future.
When I see the dead & wounded numbers for Germany & Austria it amazes me that Germany was even able to wage war for six years during WWII! I.E Where did Germany find the manpower?
The numbers for Russia in WWI & WWII does make one appreciate why post WWII USSR was paranoid about security; one cannot take hits like that and NOT freak out about the potential for invasion from outside.
I appreciate their sacrifice. but I can’t help but feel that WWI was a completely pointless exercise in mass death, at least the extent that America and Canada participated. We should never have gotten involved.
Minuteman, the Belgians fought bravely, esp. in the Forts of Liege and R. Meuse, but were for the most part overrun and out of action by October, 1914 when they retreated from Antwerp.
What was left of their army (about 60% of the field army) held a small part of the line in NE Belgium but never went on the offensive.
Belgium’s military went from 43,000 men to about 185,000 men after mobilization. The vast majority of the country was overrun and that makes recruitment difficult.
Since my sweetheart is Hungarian I want to bring up the issue of Trianon and how the Hungarians (not the Austrians) got the short end of the stick, even after they kept the Ottoman’s at bay for such a long time.
Four of my uncles on the French-Canadian side of the family fought in WWII — one each in the Canadian Army, Navy, and Air Force, and one went south and volunteered with the U.S. Marines. They all saw combat except my uncle in the Air Force, who was stationed in England as a radio operator (although radio operators certainly risked their lives during the massive German blitzkriegs over England). My other “pea-souper” uncles were definitely in the thick of it: Submarine attacks, tank battles, Normandy invasion, and the whole shebang.
I really didn’t know my mother’s four brothers very well but, equally unbeknown to them, their influence on my life was in fact profound: as a child I used to read their war correspondence to my mother that she kept in her hope chest. It was firstly their bravery, and secondly the cause for which they were fighting — the overthrow of tyranny — that probably moulded my young mind forever to understand that Canadians must “stand on guard” forever for our hard-won freedoms, and zealously wrestle them back from any tyrannical interlopers who would dare to attempt to usurp those freedoms from us again.
That’s why it’s important to teach children about why we sometimes go to war and acquaint them with the stories of our Veterans — not to instill “violence” in them, but to instill the opposite: the morally-based principle of self-defence from violent tyrannies, if we expect to remain free and at peace for the generations to come.
Mr Libertariansaresmarter,
Actually, it was America’s entry that ended the war. By 1917, all the European armies were exhausted, and each hoped for the other to collapse first. The Germans hung on because of encouraging news of French mutinies, and the entire Russian army had basically dropped their rifles and walked home. On the other hand, the generals knew that the upcoming Class of 1918 would not provide enough soldiery to replace the ones lost in 1917. The prospect of another million or two of new, fresh soldiers from America was a fatal blow to the German/Austrian morale. The war ended in the West when German soldiers, when told to retreat, wouldn’t stop and retrench, but kept heading home. Had America stayed out of the war, the slaughter would have dragged on for more years. Desperation would drive armies to try ever more horrific technologies, and who knows — WWII might have been even worse.
addenda to ricardo at November 11, 2011 3:54 PM,
Oops, I should have posted my WWII comment under the other heading…
I really doubt that Tom when countries are losing that bad they tend to want peace. Russia peaced out under Bolshevik rule. And I still don’t see any rational for American or Canadian entry into WW1.
Libertarian, Canada joined as part of the British Empire. While we had a choice, it really wasn’t much of one being that the alternative was to abandon the mother country for whom a large portion of Canadians were citizens. NFLD was under British rule and didn’t have any choice.
It’s moot anyway, the armies were voluntary (at least in the beginning) so while _countries_ made decisions, it was the common person who decided to go.
America joined because Germany forced their hand. The publication of the German Ambassador’s negotiations with the Mexicans to take the south border states, the unrestricted submarine warfare that started to be very detrimental to US trade all contributed to the US getting into the war.
America was very much a live and let live country and would have stayed that way if not for the aggression shown to her.
It’s true that there was no draft lance but people still had to pay greatly in taxes for that crap. And fighting a war to indulge Mother Britain is beyond wrong. Should’ve gone Republic.
It’s true that the Germans did that, but I’m not sure if that was in response to Wilson’s weapons shipments to Germanies enemies, which I’m pretty sure had no congressional authorization. Wilson wanted in on that war. He and his progressive friends used it to crush dissent, literally rounding up and arresting pacifists. Should’ve hung.
ricardo @ 3:54, last sentence, exactly and well said to the point of why.
Libersmarts,
Peace is imposed by the victor. As any strategist will tell you, the purpose of a war is to destroy the enemy’s ability to resist your will. In 1917, the situation was like that joke with the punchline, “I don’t need to outrun the bear; I just need to outrun you.” The one that gave up first would lose, as happened with Russia. Austria and Turkey were sending out peace feelers, about to leave Germany alone in the Triple Alliance. Germany’s only hope was to outlast the rest of the Entente, and it looked pretty likely that France would collapse like Russia. America’s entry into the war dashed that hope as it encouraged the French and the British.
America’s military contribution was actually quite small, but everyone knew that once an army was trained up and shipped over, the exhausted Germans would not be able to resist them. America’s greatest contribution was more psychological than military.
May Canadians always be commanded by great Canadian officers…
“Canada joined as part of the British Empire. While we had a choice, it really wasn’t much of one being that the alternative was to abandon the mother country for whom a large portion of Canadians were citizens. NFLD was under British rule and didn’t have any choice.”
Canada and Newfoundland had identical status at the time of WWI. Neither country had a choice for war but determined their own contribution.
The greatest mistake we could make is to think it can’t happen again. It can. We are totally dependent on our southern neighbors for our freedom and should never take that for granted, but we do. When they screw up we even like to rub it in and make like we are above that sort of thing. We are not. We just dont have the muscle to get into the kind of trouble they get into.
I have nothing but the highest respect for the Veterans, theirs and ours.
A lot less respect for politicians that send them to conflicts under the guise of freedom when freedom is not a factor, but empire building is.
Just a few back of the envelope calculations using figures from Google and Wikipedia. Canada’s population in 1911 was 7,207,000 and total mobilisation was 620,000 men in uniform. Total casualties were 63,000 dead and 173,000 wounded.
That means that 1 in 6 males in the country were in uniform – if you take out the boys and old men the portion of men of military age would be 1 man in 4 or 1 man in 3 and 80% of those men were volunteers.
Of those in service 1 in 10 would give the ultimate sacrifice and 1 in 3 of the ‘lucky ones’ would be wounded.
In today’s terms more than the entire population of Toronto, man, woman and child, would have to enlist and the population of Saskatoon would die – plus another 50,000! Also all of Winnipeg would be wounded.
Lest we forget.
Libertariansaresmarter – This is not a day to quibble about the politics of a century ago or the tactics of long-dead generals. It is our duty this day to honour the service and sacrifice of those who came before us.
Since you have broken that rule, I cannot let your comment about indulging Mother Britain pass. Britain and many in Canada saw the invasion of Belgium and France as an existential threat. The Kriegsmarine was built at huge cost prior to the war, to sink the Royal Navy, and with the coastline of Belgium and France occupied the Kaiser’s military would have had many ports from which to launch an invasion. Germany for decades had the largest, best equipped standing army in the world before the war. The first Chancellor of Germany, Bismarck started three wars and stated that ‘blood and steel’ would determine the fate of nations some decades before and the Kaiser was his pupil. To say that that Canada went to war to indulge Mother Britain is absurd. Your reply to Lance ‘that there was no draft’ underscores your lack of knowledge. Have you not heard of the conscription crisis or the Easter riot? Read up on history, I suggest that you begin with ‘Dreadnought’ by R.K. Massie.
WWI was the banker’s war, the credit crisis of 1905, Morrocan crisis, and an Entente Cordiale…naturally they would all be home for Christmas!
Cheers
Hans Rupprecht, Commander in Chief
1st Saint Nicolaas Army
Army Group “True North”
Just over 8M people and over 600,000 VOLUNTEERS. That was Canada in 1918. Lest we forget…
Wow, the Americans took a lot of casualties for having come late to the game. I for one would never say anything against Canadians who have served. But I feel the whole society does them a disservice by pinning on a poppy but a few days a year. How about we have a society that provide them with the equipment and political will to use that equipment when necessary. Not when a bunch of hippies think so.
LTC B
Thanks for the stats, only there were also over 60,000 of my countrymen as well. Geeze, the greatest country in the world and we are left out. Bugger, no nod to American forces then.
@ markus
Canadians were all under the British Empire in WW1