"It is calculated that New Zealand lost nearly one third of its entire male population to World War 1, taking the country over two generations to recover, and seriously impacting on the economy of the country for the next 30 years. During the Great War, New Zealand raised 110,368 troops for active service overseas, of which number 100,444 actually proceeded overseas for service. The number of New Zealand men killed, directly and indirectly in the Great War was over 17,500.Originally Posted by Toast
It is estimated that over 10 million men lost their lives in World War 1. Less than 30 (26% actually) per cent of French soldiers escaped the war without injury, Britain 58 per cent, the Serbs lost 35 per cent of their men, and Turkey 30 per cent. The figures are very difficult to grasp - two million German dead, 1.3 million French dead, 1 million British Commonwealth and Empire dead." http://www.uktravelbureau.com/battle...tlefields2.cfm
11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 is the day WWI ended. That's when we choose to remember the people who died.
The irony of the fight between Germany and Great Britain is that their ruling houses were comprised of cousins, uncles, aunts, nieces, and nephews. They were also fighting over utterly esoteric values and on territory belonging to both country's "natural" enemy, France. You'll note from the following source that the only country who suffered more casualties per head of combatant than NZ was France. See the following table.
Casualties of the First World War
*. Statistics cited from The Longman Companion to the First World War (Colin Nicholson, Longman 2001, pg. 248); they have been rounded to the nearest thousand. All percentages are my own; they refer to the % of the total mobilized.
Country Mobilized Killed Wounded Total Casualties Africa1 55,000 10,000 unknown unknown - Australia 330,000 59,000 152,000 211,000 64% Austria-Hungary* 6,500,000 1,200,000 3,620,000 4,820,000 74% Belgium* 207,000 13,000 44,000 57,000 28% Bulgaria* 400,000 101,000 153,000 254,000 64% Canada 620,000 67,000 173,000 241,000 39% The Caribbean2 21,000 1,000 3,000 4,000 19% French Empire* 7,500,000 1,385,000 4,266,000 5,651,000 75% Germany* 11,000,000 1,718,000 4,234,000 5,952,000 54% Great Britain* 5,397,000 703,000 1,663,000 2,367,000 44% Greece* 230,000 5,000 21,000 26,000 11% India3 1,500,000 43,000 65,000 108,000 7% Italy* 5,500,000 60,000 947,000 1,407,000 26% Japan* 800,000 250 1,000 1,250 0.2% Montenegro* 50,000 3,000 10,000 13,000 26% New Zealand 110,000 18,000 55,000 73,000 66% Portugal* 100,000 7,000 15,000 22,000 22% Romania* 750,000 200,000 120,000 320,000 43% Russia* 12,000,000 1,700,000 4,950,000 6,650,000 55% Serbia* 707,000 128,000 133,000 261,000 37% South Africa 149,000 7,000 12,000 19,000 13% Turkey* 1,600,000 336,000 400,000 736,000 46% USA* 4,272,500 117,000 204,000 321,000 8%
1. The figure of 55,000 refers to soldiers who saw combat; the number of Africans involved as auxiliaries or otherwise is likely to include several hundred thousand. Troops were drawn from Nigeria, Gambia, Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Nyasaland/Malawi, Kenya and the Gold Coast. Figures for South Africa are given separately.
2. The British West Indies regiment drew men from across the Caribbean, including Barbados, Bahamas, Honduras, Grenada, Guyana, Leeward Islands, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Trinidad and Tobago; the bulk came from Jamaica.
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