WORLD WAR I: STATISTICS
I. Casualties of World War I, 1914-1918
* casualty = a member of the armed forces lost to service through death, wounds, sickness, capture, or because the
soldier’s whereabouts could not be determined
Total
Mobilized
Killed &
Wounded
Died
Allied Powers
Russia
France
British Empire
Italy
United States
Japan
Romania
Serbia
Belgium
Greece
Portugal
Montenegro
Total
12,000,000
8,410,000
8,904,467
5,615,000
4,355,000
800,000
750,000
707,343
267,000
230,000
100,000
50,000
42,188,810
1,700,000
1,357,800
908,371
650,000
126,000
300
335,706
45,000
13,716
5,000
7,222
3,000
5,152,115
Central Powers
Germany
Austria-Hungary
Turkey
Bulgaria
Total
Grand Total
Countries
Prisoners &
Missing
Total
Casualties
Casualties %
Mobilized
4,950,000
4,266,000
2,090,212
947,000
234,300
907
120,000
133,148
44,686
21,000
13,751
10,000
12,831,004
2,500,000
537,000
191,652
600,000
4,500
3
80,000
152,958
34,659
1,000
12,318
7,000
4,121,090
9,150,000
6,160,800
3,190,235
2,197,000
364,800
1,210
535,706
331,106
93,061
17,000
33,291
20,000
22,104,209
76.3
76.3
35.8
39.1
8.2
0.2
71.4
46.8
34.9
11.7
33.3
40.0
52.3
11,000,000
7,800,000
2,850,000
1,200,000
22,850,000
1,773,700 4,216,058
1,200,000 3,620,000
325,000
400,000
87,500
152,390
3,386,200 8,388,448
1,152,800
2,200,000
250,000
27,029
3,629,829
7,142,558
7,020,000
975,000
266,919
15,404,477
64.9
90.0
34.2
22.2
67.4
65,038,810
8,538,315 21,219,452
7,750,919
37,508,686
57.6
II. Financial Costs of World War I, 1914-1918
Allied Powers
United States
Great Britain
France
Russia
Italy
Belgium
Romania
Japan
Serbia
Greece
Canada
Australia
New Zealand
India
South Africa
British Colonies
Others
Total of all Allied Power Costs
Central Powers
Germany
Austria-Hungary
Turkey
Bulgaria
Total of all Central Power Costs
Cost in Dollars in 1914-18
22,625,253,000
35,334,012,000
24,265,583,000
22,293,950,000
12,413,998,000
1,154,468,000
1,600,000,000
40,000,000
399,400,000
270,000,000
1,665,576,000
1,423,208,000
378,750,000
601,279,000
300,000,000
125,000,000
500,000,000
125,690,477,000
Cost in Dollars in 1914-18
37,775,000,000
20,622,960,000
1,430,000,000
815,200,000
60,643,160,000
III. Employment of Women in the Workforce in Britain, 1914-1920
Percentage of Women
to men in employment
July, 1914
July, 1918
July, 1920
Industry
%
26
35
27
Transport
%
2
12
4
Agriculture
%
9
14
10
Commerce
%
27
53
40
All Workers
%
24
37
28
IV. Colonial Troop Death Statistics for the British, French, & German Empires,
1914-1918
BRITISH COLONIES:
Total colonial military dead = 161,700
Australia 59,000; India 43,000; Tanzania 20,000; New Zealand 17,000; South Africa 7,000; Gold Coast (Ghana) 1,200; Kenya
2,000; Malawi 3,000; Nigeria 5,000; Sierra Leone 1,000; Uganda 1,500; Zambia 2,000.
Britain recruited Indian, Chinese, native South African, Egyptian and other overseas labor to provide logistical support in the
combat theaters. Included with casualties in East Africa are the deaths of 44,911 recruited laborers.
FRENCH COLONIES:
Total colonial military dead = 82,000
Morocco 15,000; Niger 15,000; Indochina (Vietnam) 12,000; Mali 10,000; Senegal 6,000; Algeria 5,000; Guinea 2,500;
Madagascar 2,500; Benin 2,000; Burkina Faso 2,000; Congo-Brazzaville 2,000; Ivory Coast 2,000; Tunisia 2,000; Chad 1,500;
Central African Republic 1,000; Gabon 500.
GERMAN COLONIES:
Total colonial military dead = 17,000
Namibia 10,000; Cameroon 5,000; Togo 2,000
QUESTIONS FOR ANALYSIS
1.
What factors likely contributed to the high casualty statistics for most nations?
2.
US $1 in 1918 had the approximate value of US $15.68 in 2015. What is the approximate total cost
of World War I in today’s approximate monetary value?
3.
What likely accounts for the trends of employment for women in the workforce during the war?
What likely accounts for the trend following the war?
4.
Explain the link between the statistics for colonies found in item IV and the rise of nationalism in
colonies and their increased demands for self-determination after the war?