Title: Casualties | WW 1
Headings: World War 1 casualties
World War 1 casualties
Content: Casualties | WW 1
World War 1 casualties
The historical literature on World War I is still arguing about the number of WWI casualties, with a range between 6 and 13 million. The main reason for the different estimates lies in the term 'loss', which in the military terminology of the time included all those soldiers who were no longer able to fight, and who may have been dead, wounded or captured. Nevertheless, some figures relating to military losses are more accurate, specifically those concerning soldiers who died on the battlefield or as prisoners of war. Of the 60 million soldiers who fought in the First World War, over 9 million were killed — 14% of the combat troops or 6,000 dead soldiers per day. The armies of the Central Powers mobilised 25 million soldiers and 3.5 million of them died. The Entente Powers deployed 40 million soldiers and lost more than 5 million. The mortality rate ranged between 6% and 30%, with the highest in the armies of Serbia, Montenegro and the Turkish Empire, mainly due to large epidemics of cholera, typhoid and smallpox, against which the armies of other countries vaccinated their troops. Infectious diseases did also spread in other armies, but with a lower mortality rate. In absolute numbers, major battles on all fronts claimed the highest number of casualties, primarily because of the technology of warfare based on explosive artillery shells. The death toll among prisoners of war amounted to between 5 and 10 % of prisoners.