“The unreturning army that was youth”

The Great War claimed the lives of an estimated 10 million fighting men and appalling civilian losses. The “war to end all wars” destroyed the old European order and ushered in a new era of global politics


TOTAL MILITARY CASUALTIES
Allies		22 million
Central Powers	15 million

MILITARY DEAD	% of total mobilised
Germany		1.8m	16%
Russia		1.7m	14%
France		1.4m	16%
Austria-Hungary	1.2m	15%
British Empire*	1m	10%
Italy		650,000	12%
Turkey		380,000	11%
Romania		335,000	45%
U.S.		116,500	3%
Bulgaria	87,500	7%
Serbia		45,000	6%
Belgium		13,700	5%
Portugal	7,200	7%
Greece		5,000	2%

CIVILIAN DEAD
8-12m

MILITARY WOUNDED
Germany		4.2m
Russia		5.0m
France		4.3m
Austria-Hungary	3.6m
British Empire	2.1m
Italy		947,000
Turkey		400,000
Romania		120,000
U.S.		234,000
Bulgaria	152,000
Serbia		133,000

WAR SPENDING
Allies 		$125bn†
Central Powers	$60bn
Cost of war estimated at $185bn‡. In France alone, 4,850 sq km of forest, 20,000 sq km of farmland and 250,000 buildings were destroyed


Title quotation from Siegfried Sassoon’s “Prelude: The Troops”. 
*Includes Canada, Australia, N. Zealand, S.Africa, India and others. 
†In 1914 dollars. 
‡$4.7 trillion in 2017 dollars


Sources: Imperial War Museum, Times Atlas of World History
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