World War I Centenary: WW1 in Numbers
When World War One was declared, street celebrations took place across the capital cities of Europe. Nobody envisioned trench warfare, and nobody could predict the casualties of one of the deadliest conflicts in history.
According to data from the History Learning Site, a soldier or civilian died every eight seconds during the war.
On the week commemorating the outbreak of the First World War, IBTimes UK looks at the figures of men mobilised, wounded and killed in the two opposing alliances: the Allies and the Central Powers.
Men mobilised
Total number of Allies: 42 million
Total number of Central Powers: 22.8 million
Country with most men mobilised: Russia, 12 million. This was closely followed by Germany, with 11 million.
Great Britain and empire had 8.9 million men mobilised, Portugal had the least number of men, with 100,000.
Percentage of casualties in men mobilised
Total in Allies: 52%
Total in Central Powers: 57%
Interestingly, Italy had a higher percentage of casualties with 39%, higher than the 35.8% figure for Britain.
Romania had a high percentage of casualites, with 71% of the 750,000 men mobilised. Austria had the highest number overall, with 90% of the 7.8 million deployed.
Men killed
Total number of fatalities in Allies: 5 million
Total number of fatalities in Central Powers: 3.3 million
Country with highest number of fatalities: Both Russia and Germany saw 1.7m men killed during WW1.
Japan, which deployed 800,000 men, had just 300 fatalities – just 0.037% men died in the conflict.
Great Britain and empire lost 908,000 men, while France lost 1.3 million.
Together, Germany and Austria lost 2.9 million men during the First World War.
Men wounded
Total number of Allies: 13 million
Total number of Central Powers: 8.3 million
Russia had the most men wounded, 4.9 million, while Germany saw 4.2 million injured.
Prisoners of War and missing men
Total number of Allies: 4 million
Of the Allies, Russia had the most POWs and missing, with 2.5 million – while Japan had just 3.
Total number of Central Powers: 3.6 million.
Meanwhile, Germany had 1.1 million and Romania had 27,000.
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