The compared deaths of the Main Allied Powers in World War 1 are as follows:
Russia: 1,773,700
France: 1,375,800
Great Britain: 908,371
Italy: 650,000
United States: 126,000
It is important to note that of these countries, America has suffered the least losses. This is a clear representation of Woodrow Wilson's efforts to keep the US out of the war and keep the country as an "associated power." This meant that America would not publicly support any side, but still supported Democracy, which was found in the Allied powers. While America was a strong power in the Americas, this very greatly due to the fact that most strong countries were in Europe and to reach America was a challenge in itself. During WW1, America faces the same weakness, for they cannot influence the war very much due to the travelling difficulty. Later, America becomes stronger.
Source for the numbers: http://www.worldwar1.com/tlcrates.htm
Nice to see the stats and interesting to see how much toll the war took on life on the home-front. Although the US did have the least casualties, it is important to note that the US only fought in the war for a few months, so in comparison to the other countries in the Triple Alliance, they lost so much more men per month that they were active in the war. Even though Woodrow Wilson made an attempt to convince the voters that he would try to avoid war, once he was elected, he no longer needed to win the support of the people because he would stay in office for 4 years.
ReplyDeleteA few questions I still have: What were the percent of casualties in comparison to the population of each country? what were the casualties of the central powers? and what were the casualties in terms of deaths, injuries, and prisoners of war?
Thanks for posting!!
Audrey! I found this website that has the total mobilized forces and the total casualties. I don't know percent of the total population it is, but check it out because it answers a few of your questions (if you're willing to do the math). :)
Deletehttp://www.pbs.org/greatwar/resources/casdeath_pop.html
Wow! nice source Julia! So shocking to see that both Russia and France lost much more than half of their troops! Do you think this is because they were surrounding Germany (as the main forces of the Eastern and Western front, respectively)? Also, since the Central powers lost many more percentage of their men, do you think this more easily allowed for the allies to force the Treaty of Versailles upon them?
DeleteI think the main reason that the Central Powers had little say in the treaty was the fact that they were excluded from the negotiations. The Allies made up the treaty by themselves, and then threatened Germany with invasion if they didn't sign.That being said, as the Central Powers had lost a greater percentage of their forces, especially with the introduction of American troops, they were in no real position to do much else.
DeleteWhat were the casualties in respect to the men mobilized? What were the casualties of other countries involved?
ReplyDeleteAccording to the same article, here are the mobilized number and the percentages of soldiers dead for each country:
ReplyDeleteRussia: 12,000,000 => 14%
France: 8,410,000 => 16%
Great Britain: 8,904,467 => 10%
Italy: 5,615,000 => 11%
United States: 2,850,000 => 4.4%
This is pretty interesting. It seems that France, though not putting in the most troops, suffered the most losses, not to mention a 4.4% death rate for the US! That is extremely low for the US and probably contributed greatly to the idea that America stole the war win from France and Britain (the countries that faced great losses).