Casualties of the First World War | Rankings

Despite intensive research by historians there is no - and there will never be - a definitive list of the casualties inflicted during World War One. Where detailed record-keeping was attempted the demands of battle undermined it, as the destructive nature of the war, a conflict where soldiers could be wholly obliterated or instantly buried, destroyed both the records themselves and the memories of those who knew the fates of their comrades.

For many countries the figures only vary within the hundreds, even tens, of thousands, but those of others - particularly France - can be over a million apart. Consequently, the numbers have been rounded to the nearest thousand (Japan is an exception, given the low number) and the figures in this, and almost every other list, will differ; however, the proportions should remain similar and it is these (represented here as percentages) which allow the greatest insight.

In addition, there is no convention as to whether the dead and wounded of the British Empire are listed under this umbrella title or by individual nation (and there is certainly no convention for those regions which have since divided). I have decided to recognise as many of the constituent countries as possible.








*. Statistics cited from The Longman Companion to the First World War (Colin Nicholson, Longman 2001, pg. 248); they have been rounded to the nearest thousand.

1. The figure of 55,000 refers to soldiers who saw combat; the number of Africans involved as auxiliaries or otherwise is likely to include several hundred thousand. Troops were drawn from Nigeria, Gambia, Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Nyasaland/Malawi, Kenya and the Gold Coast. Figures for South Africa are given separately.

2. The British West Indies regiment drew men from across the Caribbean, including Barbados, Bahamas, Honduras, Grenada, Guyana, Leeward Islands, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Trinidad and Tobago; the bulk came from Jamaica