The United States played a crucial role in financing World War I. In its war-related expenditures, totaling $22.6 billion, the United States ranked fourth among all nations that participated, ranking behind only Germany ($37.7 billion), Britain ($35.3 billion), and France ($24.3 billion). In human terms, however, the U.S. role was different. Note that the figures below for military casualties are rough estimates. Civilian casualties are even more uncertain: the exact number of Russians, Italians, Romanians, Serbians, and others who died will never be known.
World War I Casualties | |||
Country | Total Population | Military Killed or Missing |
Total Civilian Deaths |
Germany | 67,000,000 | 2,037,000 | 700,000 |
Russia | 167,000,000 | 1,800,000 | 2,000,000 |
France | 39,000,000 | 1,385,300 | 40,000 |
Austria-Hungary | 49,900,000 | 1,016,200 | unknown |
United Kingdom | 46,400,000 | 702,410 | 1,386 |
Italy | 35,000,000 | 462,400 | unknown |
Turkey | 21,300,000 | 236,000 | 2,000,000* |
Romania | 7,510,000 | 219,800 | 265,000–500,000 |
Serbia | 5,000,000 | 127,500 | 600,000 |
Bulgaria | 5,500,000 | 77,450 | 275,000 |
India | 316,000,000 | 62,060 | negligible |
Canada | 7,400,000 | 58,990 | negligible |
Australia | 4,872,000 | 53,560 | negligible |
United States | 92,000,000 | 51,822 | negligible |
* Mostly Armenians |
QUESTIONS FOR ANALYSIS