Casualties of the First World War

Totals of those Killed and Wounded

Related Resources • WW1 101 • Glossary of WW1 • Timeline of WW1 • Countries Involved • WW1 Resources Despite intensive research by historians there is no - and there will never be - a definitive list of the casualties inflicted during World War One. Where detailed record-keeping was attempted the demands of battle undermined it, as the destructive nature of the war, a conflict where soldiers could be wholly obliterated or instantly buried, destroyed both the records themselves and the memories of those who knew the fates of their comrades. For many countries the figures only vary within the hundreds, even tens, of thousands, but those of others - particularly France - can be over a million apart. Consequently, the numbers have been rounded to the nearest thousand (Japan is an exception, given the low number) and the figures in this, and almost every other list, will differ; however, the proportions should remain similar and it is these (represented here as percentages) which allow the greatest insight. In addition, there is no convention as to whether the dead and wounded of the British Empire are listed under this umbrella title or by individual nation (and there is certainly no convention for those regions which have since divided). I have decided to recognise as many of the constituent countries as possible.

Casualties of the First World War

Country Mobilized Killed Wounded Total Casualties Africa1 55,000 10,000 unknown unknown - Australia 330,000 59,000 152,000 211,000 64% Austria-Hungary* 6,500,000 1,200,000 3,620,000 4,820,000 74% Belgium* 207,000 13,000 44,000 57,000 28% Bulgaria* 400,000 101,000 153,000 254,000 64% Canada 620,000 67,000 173,000 241,000 39% The Caribbean2 21,000 1,000 3,000 4,000 19% French Empire* 7,500,000 1,385,000 4,266,000 5,651,000 75% Germany* 11,000,000 1,718,000 4,234,000 5,952,000 54% Great Britain* 5,397,000 703,000 1,663,000 2,367,000 44% Greece* 230,000 5,000 21,000 26,000 11% India3 1,500,000 43,000 65,000 108,000 7% Italy* 5,500,000 460,000 947,000 1,407,000 26% Japan* 800,000 250 1,000 1,250 0.2% Montenegro* 50,000 3,000 10,000 13,000 26% New Zealand 110,000 18,000 55,000 73,000 66% Portugal* 100,000 7,000 15,000 22,000 22% Romania* 750,000 200,000 120,000 320,000 43% Russia* 12,000,000 1,700,000 4,950,000 6,650,000 55% Serbia* 707,000 128,000 133,000 261,000 37% South Africa 149,000 7,000 12,000 19,000 13% Turkey* 1,600,000 336,000 400,000 736,000 46% USA* 4,272,500 117,000 204,000 321,000 8%

^*. Statistics cited from The Longman Companion to the First World War (Colin Nicholson, Longman 2001, pg. 248); they have been rounded to the nearest thousand. All percentages are my own; they refer to the % of the total mobilized.
¹. The figure of 55,000 refers to soldiers who saw combat; the number of Africans involved as auxiliaries or otherwise is likely to include several hundred thousand. Troops were drawn from Nigeria, Gambia, Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Nyasaland/Malawi, Kenya and the Gold Coast. Figures for South Africa are given separately.
². The British West Indies regiment drew men from across the Caribbean, including Barbados, Bahamas, Honduras, Grenada, Guyana, Leeward Islands, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Trinidad and Tobago; the bulk came from Jamaica.

Citation And Footnotes:

Title: Casualties of the First World War
Author: Robert Wilde
Date: 2003