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Casualties of War - Putting American Casualties in
Perspective
by  - November 3, 2003
The United States of America has a somewhat unique relationship with
war. While America is considered to be the most militarily powerful
country in the world today, Americans as a whole have never experienced
war in the way that many other countries of the world have. There is a
huge disparity between the American experience of war and the global
experience. This may have an impact on American attitudes towards war.
Presented below are various statistics on causalities of war. The
information is useful for reference material, but it is also useful for
gaining an understanding of the human cost of war, and the cost of war
for Americans compared to the rest of the world, which may be helpful in
understanding cultural attitudes about war.
The total number of Americans killed in action from all major wars
combined, the ten listed below, is 2,757,196, which, while a
disheartening number, is about the same as the number of Vietnamese that
died in the Vietnam War alone.
| War |
Duration in months |
| Revolutionary War |
80 |
| War of 1812 |
30 |
| Mexican-American War |
20 |
| Civil War |
48 |
| Spanish-American War |
4 |
| World War I |
19 |
| World War II |
44 |
| Korean War |
37 |
| Vietnam War |
90 |
| Gulf War |
1 |
| War |
Casualties |
KIA |
| Revolutionary War |
10,623
|
4,435 |
| War of 1812 |
6,765 |
2,260 |
| Mexican-American War |
17,435 |
1,733 |
| Civil War |
970,227 |
184,594 |
| Spanish-American War |
4,108 |
385 |
| World War I |
320,710 |
53,513 |
| World War II |
1,078,162 |
292,131 |
| Korean War |
136,935 |
33,651 |
| Vietnam War |
211,471 |
47,369 |
| Gulf War |
760 |
148 |
| World War I |
|
Country |
Military Personnel |
Military Deaths |
Military Casualties |
| Russia |
12,000,000 |
1,700,000 |
9,150,000 |
| Germany |
11,000,000 |
1,773,700 |
7,142,558 |
| Austria-Hungary |
7,800,000 |
1,200,000 |
7,020,000 |
| France |
8,410,000 |
1,357,800 |
6,160,800 |
| British Empire |
8,904,467 |
908,371 |
3,190,235 |
| Italy |
5,615,000 |
650,000 |
2,197,000 |
| Turkey |
2,850,000 |
325,000 |
975,000 |
| United States |
4,355,000 |
126,000 |
364,800 |
| Others |
4,104,343 |
497,444 |
1,298,293 |
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World War II Deaths |
|
Country |
Military |
Civilian |
Total |
| Soviet Union |
13,600,000 |
7,700,000 |
21,300,000 |
| China |
1,324,000 |
10,000,000 |
11,324,000 |
| Germany |
3,250,000 |
3,810,000 |
7,060,000 |
| Poland |
850,000 |
6,000,000 |
6,850,000 |
| Japan |
1,506,000 |
300,000 |
1,806,000 |
| Yugoslavia |
300,000 |
1,400,000 |
1,700,000 |
| Rumania |
520,000 |
465,000 |
985,000 |
| France |
340,000 |
470,000 |
810,000 |
| Hungary |
? |
? |
750,000 |
| Austria |
380,000 |
145,000 |
525,000 |
| Greece |
? |
? |
520,000 |
| Italy |
330,000 |
80,000 |
410,000 |
| Czechoslovakia |
? |
? |
400,000 |
| Great Britain |
326,000 |
62,000 |
388,000 |
| USA |
295,000 |
N/A |
295,000 |
| Holland |
14,000 |
236,000 |
250,000 |
| Belgium |
10,000 |
75,000 |
85,000 |
| Finland |
79,000 |
? |
79,000 |
| Canada |
39,000 |
N/A |
39,000 |
| India |
36,000 |
? |
36,000 |
| Australia |
29,000 |
N/A |
29,000 |
| Spain |
12,000 |
10,000 |
22,000 |
| Bulgaria |
19,000 |
2,000 |
21,000 |
| New Zealand |
12,000 |
N/A |
12,000 |
| South Africa |
9,000 |
N/A |
9,000 |
| Norway |
5,000 |
? |
5,000 |
| Denmark |
4,000 |
? |
4,000 |
| Total |
23,289,000 |
30,755,000 |
55,714,000 |
(Note that Australian, British, French, Chinese, Laotian, Cambodian,
and several other nationalities were involved in the Vietnam war as
well, but I don't have their statistics shown here. Laos is actually the
most heavily bombed country in world history, and one person is still
killed by American bombs an average of every two days in Laos currently,
some 25 years after the war. It is estimated that it will take another
100 years to completely rid Laos of all the unexploded American
ordinance that remains in the country.)
American dead - 58,169
Vietnamese killed by American military - 1,165,000+
The Vietnam Veteran's Memorial, also known as The Wall, is 493 feet
long, or almost 1/10th of a mile. A Vietnamese equivalent to this
memorial, including both North and South Vietnamese military and
civilians who were killed by the American military, would be 9,903 feet,
or almost 1.9 miles, long. This does not include disease and starvation
deaths, injuries, or South Vietnamese killed by the North Vietnamese
Army.
Sources:
http://www.cwc.lsu.edu/cwc/other/stats/warcost.htm
http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat2.htm
http://www.valourandhorror.com/DB/BACK/Casualties.htm
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWdeaths.htm
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views since 11/3/2004