Title: How Many People Died in the First World War? | History Hit
Headings: How Many People Died in the First World War?
How Many People Died in the First World War?
Peter Curry
Loss of life in Britain
Outside Europe

Content: Particularly grievous to many countries during the war was outbreak of the Spanish flu. This began to cause widespread deaths in 1918, and lasted for several years after the war. It is so named because censorship laws preventing reporting on the flu in most countries that were at war. Spain remained neutral and consequently had no ban on reporting the spread of the virus, making it seem as though it was particularly badly affected. This was a particularly virulent strain of influenza which resulted in the deaths of between 50 and 100 million people, or around 5% of the world’s population at the time. On the eve of the Battle of the Somme, cameraman Geoffrey Malins visited the front lines near Beaumont-Hamel to film footage of the troops as they prepared for the supposed, decisive offensive. He went on to film some of the most iconic footage of the battle. This short drama follows in the footsteps of Malins that fateful morning in 1916. Watch Now
Outside Europe
Millions more died across the globe in horrific circumstances. Around 1.5 million Armenians were systematically executed by the Ottoman government, in a genocide that the Turkish government still denies.