Title: World War I | Holocaust Encyclopedia
Headings: World War I
World War I
Key Facts
Outbreak of World War I
The Allies and Central Powers
The Scope of Fighting
Impact of US Entry into the War and the Russian Revolution
Central Powers Surrender
Armistice
Military Losses
Civilian Losses
Critical Thinking Questions

Content: Although accurate casualty statistics are difficult to ascertain, an estimated 21 million men were wounded in combat. The enormous losses on all sides of the conflict resulted in part from the introduction of new weapons and military tactics, such as long-range artillery, tanks, poison gas, and aerial warfare. Military leaders also failed to adjust their tactics to the increasingly mechanized nature of warfare. A policy of attrition, particularly on the western front, cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of soldiers. July 1, 1916, saw the heaviest loss of life in a single day. On this day, the British Army on the Somme alone suffered over 57,000 casualties. Germany and Russia incurred the highest number of military deaths: an estimated 1,773,700 and 1,700,000, respectively. France lost sixteen percent of its mobilized forces, the highest mortality rate relative to troops deployed. Civilian Losses
No official agencies kept careful accounting of civilian losses during the war years, but scholars assert that as many as 13,000,000 non-combatants died as a result of hostilities, mostly from starvation, disease, military action, and massacres.