The Great War - WW1
Counting the Cost of War
Its near-on impossible to estimate the final human cost of the war. The Russians suffered the most, losing as many as 3 million, plus, dead before the ravages of famine and civil war took their toll. The Austrian-Hungarian empire lost at least 1.2 million dead and 3.6 million wounded, but these incomplete returns are almost certainly an underestimate. German figures are also uncertain; their own estimate was that they had suffered nearly 1.9 million dead and 4.3 million wounded. The French had total casualties of 5 million of which1.4 million were dead or missing. The British empire suffered 3.2 million casualties of which nearly a million were dead or missing. Of these some 745'000 came from the United Kingdom. Fighting on a narrow single front the Italians lost 460'000 dead. It is worth noting that this figure represents almost exactly half of the death toll of the entire British empire on all fronts. The Turks estimated their losses at 2.3 million, while the United States sustained 326'000 casualties, of which nearly 116'000 were dead, 206'000 wounded and 4'500 prisoners or missing.