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Annual casualty figures - thought this would be easy...


redbarchetta

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Funny how you think you'll be able to find information easily, until you search...

I'm beginning to write panels for an exhibition on the Chinese Labour Corps, and want to place the need for incremental manpower by 1916 in context.

Easy, thinks I, I'll just quote casualty figures (kiiled, wounded and missing) for Britain and France for 1914, then for 1915, then for 1916, to show how they simply couldn't continue to replace losses through their own resources and that bringing 140k labourers over from China was an inevitable step.

But I cannot find annualised casualty figures anywhere, and certainly not by country...

Has anyone found this.  I don't need precise, or detailed, numbers - in tens of thousands really, just to show the scale of the task for the countries... and I only need them for GB and France.

James

 

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The medical statistics volume of the official history covers combined figures of the British expeditionary forces.
image.png

 

Craig

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Suggest the tables presented in Churchill’s The World Crisis, aka The Great War .  The appendix at the back of the final volume gives summaries.

 

You couldn’t improve on Craig’s citation of the official medical statistics for the British Empire.  These include millions of non battle cases - sick or injured - which dramatically alter the totals, because they take account of huge numbers who were admitted to hospitals with conditions that were not serious.

 

French figures are compiled by differing criteria depending on the source, but those used by Churchill indicate close to one million in 1914, nearly a million and a half for 1915, and approaching nine hundred thousand for 1916. Again, several hundred thousand of these were men who were ill or injured in accidents, as opposed to battle casualties.

 

That’s a very rough and ready assessment : if you wish, I’ll seek out more precise figures.

 

Phil

Edited by phil andrade
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Thanks, everyone.  I have The World Crisis (just hadn't looked in it!).

Reasonable assessments quoted in Churchill's tome are 'official enough' for me.

Nice to be back chatting in this Forum - been a while, but imagine the period preparing for this exhibition will draw out all sorts of left-field requests.

All GWF members will have free access to the exhibition, of course...

James

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