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The Casualties of War
The toll in human life of the Great War was almost unimaginable. A new
kind of warfare, with machine guns, trenches, mortars, mines, artillery and poison
gas, brought with it a destructive power the world had never before seen. Not
only were entire cities and towns razed to the ground – in some cases virtually
obliterated – but the number of men and women killed was in the millions.
Precise figures are impossible – the dead could not always be counted.
Soldiers were buried where they fell, sometimes in group graves. Sometimes men
simply disappeared, literally blown apart by explosive shells or mines. It is
estimated that 65 million troops participated in the war with total casualties
topping 37 million. At least 8.5 million died. The wounded numbered over 21 million,
with more than 7.7 million taken as prisoners or missing. For some nations, the
number of dead meant a “lost generation.” France lost 1.3 million,
Russia 1.7 million; Germany and Austria-Hungary together lost almost 3 million. |
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For its population, Canada’s contribution to the war effort was enormous.
Canada put 619,636 men and women into uniform, most of whom were civilians. (At
the outset of the war, Canada had only 3,000 regular forces.) Of those, almost
60,000 troops were killed and another 173,000 wounded. In the final 100 days
of the war, where Canadian troops played a pivotal role in the Allied victory,
the losses were staggering. Between August and the war’s end, 45,830 Canadians
were killed, wounded or went missing. |
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