The loss of life was greater than in any previous war in history, in part because militaries were using new technologies, including tanks, airplanes, submarines, machine guns, modern artillery, flamethrowers, and poison gas.
The first day of the Battle of the Somme, in northern France, was the bloodiest day in the history of the British Army and one of the most infamous days of World War One. On 1 July 1916, the British forces suffered 57,470 casualties, including 19,240 fatalities. They gained just three square miles of territory.
The Most Deadly Battle In History: Stalingrad
The figures for the Battle of Stalingrad battle are shocking even by the standards of the other campaigns on this list. Running from August 23, 1942 to February 2, 1943, Stalingrad led to 633,000 battle deaths.
The Eastern Front often took thousands of casualties a day during the major offensive pushes, but it was the West that saw the most concentrated slaughter. It was in the west that the newly industrialized world powers could focus their end products on the military–industrial complex.
The casualties in World War II were much higher. Over 15 million died in battle — nearly double the number from World War I — and 25 million were wounded. Additionally, World War II resulted in over 45 million civilian deaths.
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.
WW1 battlefields today
However, there are many sections of preserved trenches, such as those at Vimy near the Vimy Ridge Memorial, that stand as monuments to the fighting. They're great educational tools, giving some insight into the places men of many nations fought, lived, and died.
Who Won the Battle of the Somme? The Allied victory at the Somme—despite its horrific costs—inflicted serious damage on German positions in France, spurring the Germans to strategically retreat to the Hindenburg Line in March 1917 rather than continue battling over the same land that spring.
Mortuary Affairs is a service within the United States Army Quartermaster Corps tasked with the recovery, identification, transportation, and preparation for burial of deceased American and American-allied military personnel.
Clearing the Battlefields
After 1918 the immense task of “clearing up” was carried out by the military and the civilians who were returning to their shattered communities. The landscape in the fighting lines had been smashed to pieces. Roads, woods, farms and villages were often no longer recognisable.
France and Belgium is still contaminated by remnants of war, UXOs and toxic chemical compounds. There is an area a few kilometers out of Verdun where trees do not grow. Only a few lichens and musks survive there. The few in the know call it “La Place à Gaz” (the Gas Place).
If Germany had won on the Western Front, it would have acquired some French territory and maybe Belgium. The Germans probably wouldn't have been able to enjoy their victory for long. Britain would have retained its independence, protected by its navy that might have continued the hunger blockade against Germany.
The First World War was not inevitable or accidental, but began as a result of human actions and decisions. Over 65 million men volunteered or were conscripted to fight in mass citizen armies.
The trench experience involved the terror of mud, slime and disease and the constant threat of shellfire. Heavy artillery and new weapons such as poison gas threatened death from afar; but hand to hand combat with clubs and knives killed many during the grisly business of trench raids.
The longest war in history is believed to be the Reconquista (Spanish for Reconquest), with a duration of 781 years.
The total number of military and civilian casualties in World War I was more than 37 million. There were over 16 million deaths and 20 million wounded. Here are the top 10 deadliest battles of WWI.
The deadliest single-day battle in American history, if all engaged armies are considered, is the Battle of Antietam with 3,675 killed, including both United States and Confederate soldiers (total casualties for both sides was 22,717 dead, wounded, or missing Union and Confederate soldiers September 17, 1862).
The German army was the strongest in Europe because it had been preparing for war. At the start of World War I, the army consisted of 840,000 men. All men under the age of 45 were trained for military service and belonged to the German army or reserves.
But that agency doesn't account for the more than 4,400 still missing from World War I. Thanks to the efforts of several volunteers, the records of these missing WWI men are slowly being unearthed, and more men are identified.