How bad was World War 1?

More than nine million soldiers, sailors and airmen were killed in the First World War. A further five million civilians are estimated to have perished under occupation, bombardment, hunger and disease.

Was world war 1 the worst war ever?

Also called The Great War, World War I was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and set the stage for another world war just 20 years later. It was known as “The Great War”—a land, air and sea conflict so terrible, it left over 8 million military personnel and 6.6 million civilians dead.

Was WW1 worse than ww2?

World War II was the most destructive war in history. Estimates of those killed vary from 35 million to 60 million. The total for Europe alone was 15 million to 20 million—more than twice as many as in World War I.

Why was world war 1 so bad?

Because defensive weapons had developed faster than offensive weapons and tactics. One machine-gun could decimate a whole advancing regiment, therefore the Armies ended up in trenches to be picked off by disease and artillery or sent over the top in pointless offensives.

What were the chances of surviving WW1?

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.

Which Was Truly the WORST Major WW1 Army to Fight in?

What was the #1 cause of death in WWI?

The casualties suffered by the participants in World War I dwarfed those of previous wars: some 8,500,000 soldiers died as a result of wounds and/or disease. The greatest number of casualties and wounds were inflicted by artillery, followed by small arms, and then by poison gas.

What was the life expectancy of a soldier in World War I?

At the end of the Great War, the cohort of men born in 1894 was aged 25. Half of the men in this cohort had already been struck down by two major killers: infant and childhood diseases, followed by war. Their life expectancy, already low in peacetime (48 years) was shortened by 11 years.

What were the horrors of WW1?

More than nine million soldiers, sailors and airmen were killed in the First World War. A further five million civilians are estimated to have perished under occupation, bombardment, hunger and disease.

Who would have won WW1 without America?

It must be baldly stated: Germany would have won World War I had the U.S. Army not intervened in France in 1918. The French and British were barely hanging on in 1918. By year-end 1917, France had lost 3 million men in the war, Britain 2 million.

What was the deadliest war?

By far the most costly war in terms of human life was World War II (1939–45), in which the total number of fatalities, including battle deaths and civilians of all countries, is estimated to have been 56.4 million, assuming 26.6 million Soviet fatalities and 7.8 million Chinese civilians were killed.

What was the worst war to fight in?

World War II (1938-1945) – With a death toll between 40 and 85 million, the Second World War was the deadliest and worst war in history. Experts estimate with such a high death toll, about three percent of the world's population in 1940 died.

Was World War 1 a pointless war?

It was a sad, pointless war, for which we're still paying a price. A hard-hearted peace treaty and a ravaged economy produced a “lost generation” of young Germans and led directly to the rise of Hitler and an even uglier worldwide conflagration.

How many Americans died in ww1?

United States The official figures of military war deaths listed by the US Dept. of Defense for the period ending Dec. 31, 1918 are 116,516; which includes 53,402 battle deaths and 63,114 non combat deaths.

What was the longest war ever?

Some historians consider England's Scilly conflict to be the longest war in known history, dragging on for a staggering 335 years. Yet one side was not a country in its own right, there were no casualties for the entire duration, and not a single shot was fired.

Did anyone survive all of ww1?

The last combat veteran was Claude Choules, who served in the British Royal Navy (and later the Royal Australian Navy) and died 5 May 2011, aged 110. The last veteran who served in the trenches was Harry Patch (British Army), who died on 25 July 2009, aged 111.

Did the US actually help in ww1?

Although World War I began in 1914, the United States did not join the war until 1917. The impact of the United States joining the war was significant. The additional firepower, resources, and soldiers of the U.S. helped to tip the balance of the war in favor of the Allies.

When did US and Russia become enemies?

The 2 sides were enemies long before they were allies in WWII. Relations had been bad since 1917 as Russia had become communist and the West had interfered to try and stop it. Russia had also not been allowed to join the League of Nations in the 1920s and things had got worse in the 1930s.

Did ww1 make America stronger?

In addition, the conflict heralded the rise of conscription, mass propaganda, the national security state and the FBI. It accelerated income tax and urbanisation and helped make America the pre-eminent economic and military power in the world.

What was the most feared thing in ww1?

One of the enduring hallmarks of WWI was the large-scale use of chemical weapons, commonly called, simply, 'gas'. Although chemical warfare caused less than 1% of the total deaths in this war, the 'psy-war' or fear factor was formidable.

What was the most gruesome day in ww1?

For example, on March 21, 1918, during the opening day of the German spring offensive, the Germans casualties are broken down into 10,851 killed, 28,778 wounded, 300 POW or taken prisoner for a total of 39,929 casualties.

Who was murdered to start ww1?

Two shots in Sarajevo ignited the fires of war and drew Europe toward World War I. Just hours after narrowly escaping an assassin's bomb, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to Austro-Hungarian throne and his wife, the Duchess of Hohenberg, are killed by Gavrilo Princip.

Who lost the most in ww1?

Approximately 8.8 million of these deaths were of military personnel, while six million civilians died as a direct result of the war; mostly through hunger, disease and genocide. The German army suffered the highest number of military losses, totaling at more than two million men.

What was the average age of ww1 death?

The graph above shows the ages of the men who died in the War. The average age of death was 27 but more 19 year olds were killed than any other age.