Global South World - World War I https://www.globalsouthworld.com en-US A century on, this is how World War I wiped out nations https://www.globalsouthworld.com/article/a-century-on-this-is-how-world-war-i-wiped-out-nations https://www.globalsouthworld.com/article/a-century-on-this-is-how-world-war-i-wiped-out-nations?feed=World%20War%20I Thu, 31 Jul 2025 22:30:04 Z More than a century after the guns went silent, The World in Maps is highlighting the human cost of World War I. Marked in shades of red, pink and black, the map estimates what proportion of each country’s population died in the conflict.

Countries like Serbia and the Ottoman Empire are shaded the darkest, indicating that more than 10% of their populations died; other nations fall into bands ranging from 4‑10% down to below 0.5%.

Historians still debate how many people died in the Great War. According to the French Institute for Demographic Studies (INED), the conflict caused nearly 10 million military deaths . The institute notes that over 2 million Germans, nearly 2 million Russians, nearly 1.5 million French, about 800,000 Britons and 650,000 Italians were killed.

An article for the U.S. television network History cites an official post‑war report noting that the Allied powers: Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Serbia, the United States and others, lost around 5.4 million military personnel , including 885,138 Britons, 1,397,800 French soldiers, 1,811,000 Russians, 651,000 Italians, 275,000 Serbs and 116,708 Americans.

The Central Powers: Germany, Austria‑Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria lost about four million soldiers. The same article notes that fatalities included those who died from wounds, disease and accidents.

Countries that lost more than 10% of their people

The darkest shading on the map highlights nations where more than one in ten people died. Serbia is the most extreme example. Small yet caught at the heart of the conflict, Serbia lost about 275,000 soldiers, according to the Allied report cited by History.

The demographic impact was catastrophic. INED describes France as the allied country with the highest proportion of deaths after Serbia, implying that Serbia’s losses were even higher relative to its population. Many demographers estimate that around one‑sixth of Serbia’s pre‑war population perished when military and civilian deaths are combined.

The Ottoman Empire (modern‑day Turkey) also appears in the darkest category. The International Encyclopedia notes that losses were particularly heavy for Turkey because poor sanitation and food shortages added to battlefield deaths. Official figures vary widely: one table in the encyclopedia lists military deaths ranging from 325,000 to 804,000.

Factoring in civilians, some historians estimate the empire lost more than 13% of its population. Parts of Africa and the Middle East, such as German East Africa (present‑day Tanzania) and Libya, also show extremely high mortality in the map, reflecting local conflicts and famine.

]]> Global South World The World in Maps The World in Maps On this day 111 years ago, the world descended into one of the deadliest conflicts in human hist