World War I was fought on many fronts around the world from the battlefields of Europe to the far-flung colonies in the Pacific and Africa. While it is most famous for the trench warfare stalemate that existed on Europe's Western Front, in other theatres of combat the fighting was mobile and often involved set-piece battles and cavalry charges. The Eastern Front often took thousands of casualties a day during the major offensive pushes, but it was the west that saw the most concentrated slaughter. It was in the west that the newly industrialized world powers could focus their end products of the military–industrial complex. The deadliest day of the war was during the opening days of the conflict. The Imperial German war council had initiated the Schlieffen Plan which involved multiple armies flooding through the borders of Belgium and France. On August 22, 1914, during the Battle of the Frontiers, five separate French armies engaged the German invaders independently of each other. Across all those battlefields, on that single day, 27,000 French soldiers lost their lives protecting their country. [1]
The term casualty in warfare is often misunderstood. It often refers not to those who are killed on the battlefield but to those who can no longer fight. That can include disabled by injuries, disabled by psychological trauma, captured, deserted, or missing. A casualty is, by definition, a soldier who is no longer available for the immediate battle or campaign, the major consideration in combat. The number of casualties is simply the number of members of a unit who are not available for duty. For example, on March 21, 1918, during the opening day of the German spring offensive, the Germans casualties are broken down into 10,851 killed, 28,778 wounded, 300 POW or taken prisoner for a total of 39,929 casualties. [2] The word casualty has been used in a military context since at least 1513. [3] In this article, the numbers killed refer to those killed in action, killed by disease, or killed by their wounds.
Country | Battle, Siege, or Offensive | Date | Number killed on this day | Total killed during WWI | % of total killed | References |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Russian Empire | 1,700,000 [15] | |||||
German Empire | 2,037,000 [8] [9] | |||||
Romania | 335,706 [22] | |||||
Bulgaria | 101,229 [A 3] [23] | |||||
Austria-Hungary | 1,200,000 [24] | |||||
Ottoman Empire | 325,000 [A 4] [24] |
Country | Battle, siege, or offensive | Date | Number killed on this day | Total killed during WWI | % of total killed | References |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
United Kingdom | Battle of Jutland | May 31, 1916 | 6,094 | 744,000 [6] | 1% | [25] |
German Empire | Battle of Jutland | May 31, 1916 | 2,551 | 2,037,000 [8] [9] | 0.13% | [25] |
Italy | SS Principe Umberto | June 8, 1916 | 1,926 | 460,000 [15] | 0.48% | [26] |
France | SS Gallia | October 4, 1916 | 1,338 | 1,357,000 [4] | 0.1% | [27] |
Austria-Hungary | SS Linz | March 18, 1918 | 697 [A 5] | 1,200,000 [24] | 0.06% | [28] |
Russian Empire | Pallada | October 11, 1914 | 597 | 1,700,000 [15] | 0.04% | [29] |
Empire of Japan | Kawachi | July 12, 1918 | 500–700 [A 6] | 4,661 [30] | 13% | [31] |
United States | USS Cyclops | After March 4, 1918 [A 7] | 309 | 116,516 [17] | 0.3% | [32] |
Ottoman Empire | Barbaros Hayreddin [A 8] | August 8, 1915 | 258 | 325,000 [A 9] [24] | 0.07% | [33] |
Canada | HMHS Llandovery Castle | June 27, 1918 | 234 | 56,639 [10] | 0.4% | [34] |
Country | Battle, siege, or offensive | Date | Number killed on this day | Total killed during WWI | % of total killed | References |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ottoman Empire | Third attack on Anzac Cove | May 19, 1915 | 5,000~ | 325,000 [A 10] [24] | 2% | [35] |
France | First Battle of Krithia | April 28, 1915 | 1,001 [A 11] | 1,357,000 [4] | [36] | |
United Kingdom | Battle of Scimitar Hill | August 21, 1915 | 1,497 [A 12] | 744,000 [6] | 0.2% | [38] |
Australia | ANZAC Cove | April 25, 1915, August 7, 1915 [A 13] | 755 | 61,527 [10] | 1.2% | [39] [40] |
New Zealand | Battle of Sari Bair | August 8, 1915 | 507 | 18,166 [13] | 3% | [41] [42] |
India | Third Battle of Krithia | June 4, 1915 | 207 [A 14] | 42,448 [A 15] [A 16] [45] | 0.5% | [46] |
Country | Battle, Siege, or Offensive | Date | Number killed on this day | Total killed during WWI | % of total killed | References |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Italy | 460,000 [15] | |||||
France | 1,357,000 [4] | |||||
United Kingdom | 744,000 [6] | |||||
German Empire | 2,037,000 [8] [9] | |||||
Austria-Hungary | 1,200,000 [24] |
Country | Battle, Siege, or Offensive | Date | Number killed on this day | Total killed during WWI | % of total killed | References |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Greece | 6,000~ [15] | |||||
Serbia | 127,535 [A 17] [15] | |||||
Italy | 460,000 [15] | |||||
France | 1,357,000 [4] | |||||
United Kingdom | 744,000 [6] | |||||
Russian Empire | 1,700,000 [15] | |||||
German Empire | 2,037,000 [8] [9] | |||||
Bulgaria | 101,229 [A 18] [23] | |||||
Austria-Hungary | 1,200,000 [24] | |||||
Ottoman Empire | 325,000 [A 19] [24] |
The total number of military and civilian casualties in World War I was about 40 million: estimates range from around 15 to 22 million deaths and about 23 million wounded military personnel, ranking it among the deadliest conflicts in human history.
SM U-19 was a German Type U-19 U-boat built for the Imperial German Navy. Her construction was ordered on 25 November 1910, and her keel was laid down on 20 October 1911, at the Kaiserliche Werft Danzig. She was launched on 10 October 1912, and commissioned into the Imperial German Navy on 6 July 1913.
The Gallipoli campaign, the Dardanelles campaign, the Defence of Gallipoli or the Battle of Gallipoli was a military campaign in the First World War on the Gallipoli peninsula from 19 February 1915 to 9 January 1916. The Entente powers, Britain, France and the Russian Empire, sought to weaken the Ottoman Empire, one of the Central Powers, by taking control of the Ottoman straits. This would expose the Ottoman capital at Constantinople to bombardment by Entente battleships and cut it off from the Asian part of the empire. With the Ottoman Empire defeated, the Suez Canal would be safe and the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits would be open to Entente supplies to the Black Sea and warm-water ports in Russia.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations military service members who died in the two World Wars. The commission is also responsible for commemorating Commonwealth civilians who died as a result of enemy action during the Second World War. The commission was founded by Sir Fabian Ware and constituted through royal charter in 1917 as the Imperial War Graves Commission. The change to the present name took place in 1960.
World War II was the deadliest military conflict in history. An estimated total of 70–85 million people perished, or about 3% of the estimated global population of 2.3 billion in 1940. Deaths directly caused by the war are estimated at 50–56 million, with an additional estimated 19–28 million deaths from war-related disease and famine. Civilian deaths totaled 50–55 million. Military deaths from all causes totaled 21–25 million, including deaths in captivity of about 5 million prisoners of war. More than half of the total number of casualties are accounted for by the dead of the Republic of China and of the Soviet Union. The following tables give a detailed country-by-country count of human losses. Statistics on the number of military wounded are included whenever available.
The Battle of Hill 60 was one of the last major assault of the Gallipoli Campaign. It was launched on 21 August 1915 to coincide with the attack on Scimitar Hill made from the Suvla front by Major-General H. de B. De Lisle's British IX Corps, Frederick Stopford having been replaced in the few days previous. Hill 60 was a low knoll at the northern end of the Sari Bair range which dominated the Suvla landing. Capturing this hill along with Scimitar Hill would have allowed the Anzac and Suvla landings to be securely linked.
The Battle of Chunuk Bair was a World War I battle fought between the Ottoman defenders and troops of the British Empire over control of the peak in August 1915. The capture of Chunuk Bair,, the secondary peak of the Sari Bair range, was one of the two objectives of the Battle of Sari Bair.
Samuel George Pearse, VC, MM was an Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Serving in the Australian Imperial Force during the First World War, he saw action during the final weeks of the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915 and later on the Western Front from 1916 to 1918. Following the Armistice he fought as part of the North Russia Relief Force with the British Army during the North Russia Campaign in 1919. He was killed after charging a machine gun post during an action at Emtsa, in North Russia, for which he was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.
Major Cuthbert Bromley VC was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
The Royal Dublin Fusiliers was an infantry regiment of the British Army created in 1881 and disbanded in 1922. It was one of eight 'Irish' regiments of the army which were raised and garrisoned in Ireland, with the regiment's home depot being located in Naas. The regiment was created via the amalgamation of the Royal Bombay Fusiliers and Royal Madras Fusiliers, two army regiments stationed in India, with militia units from Dublin and Kildare as part of the Childers Reforms. Both battalions of the regiment served in the Second Boer War.
The Allies, the Entente or the Triple Entente was an international military coalition of countries led by France, the United Kingdom, Russia, the United States, Italy, and Japan against the Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria in World War I (1914–1918).
John Wodehouse, 3rd Earl of Kimberley,, styled Lord Wodehouse from 1902 to 1932, was a British hereditary peer and Liberal politician. He was a champion polo player.
Clifford Charles "Cliff" Burge was an Australian rules footballer who played with Melbourne in the Victorian Football League.
Grangegorman Military Cemetery is a British military cemetery in Dublin, Ireland, located on Blackhorse Avenue, parallel to the Navan Road and beside the Phoenix Park.
The 1914–1918 Inter-Allied Victory medal was a French commemorative medal established on 20 July 1922. It was the French version of a common allied campaign medal where each allied nation issued a Victory Medal to their own nationals, all issues having certain common features, including the same ribbon, a winged figure of victory on the obverse and a similar inscription on the reverse, the French version reading "LA GRANDE GVERRE POUR LA CIVILISATION 1914-1918".
The Corps Expéditionnaire d'Orient (CEO) was a French expeditionary force raised for service during the Gallipoli Campaign in World War I. The corps initially consisted of a single infantry division, but later grew to two divisions. It took part in fighting around Kum Kale, on the Asiatic side of the Dardanelles, at the start of the campaign before being moved to Cape Helles where it fought alongside British formations for the remainder of the campaign. In October 1915, the corps was reduced to one division again and was finally evacuated from the Gallipoli peninsula in January 1916 when it ceased to exist.
The battle for No.3 Post was fought during the Gallipoli Campaign in the First World War, between the forces of the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade and the Turkish 19th Division.
HMS Osmanieh was a passenger and cargo ship that entered service in 1906. In 1916, the ship was requisitioned as a troopship and supply ship for the British Royal Navy in the First World War. On 31 December 1917, Osmanieh struck a mine laid by the Imperial German Naval U-boat SM UC-34 and sank at Alexandria, Egypt with the loss of 209 lives.
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