World War One had a huge human costs, people in the combatant nations struggled to deal with the results of the war. It is estimated that 8 million soldiers died on the battlefield, with Russia in the first place with around 2 million military deaths. France had the highest proportionate number of losses with the record of death being one out of every ten adult male. Around 8 million civilians died because of the war and another 20 million people died in the worldwide influenza epidemic that followed the war.
The nature of the war made proper burials very difficult, soldiers were usually interred where they fell. When the remains were gathered, due to the chaos of the war, it was difficult to make an accurate identification, and hundreds of thousands of death soldiers remained unidentified. Memorials were built on the main battlefields of the war, to express the general need to recognize the great sorrow and suffering caused by it. Europe also raised public memorials to honor the dead and held ceremonies on important anniversaries such as November 11, the day that the war ended, and July 1, to commemorate the Battle of the Somme.
Reference
McKay, John P. A History of Western Society. 12th ed. Vol. 2. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2017. Print.
Great blog post. It really opens up my eyes when I realize how many people lost their lives.
ReplyDeleteI think it is very sad that so many soldiers didn't receive a proper burial. I couldn't even imagine what it would be like to a family member of a fallen soldier and not even receive their body.
ReplyDeleteIt is incredible how many deaths this War caused, I can't even imagine how many deaths would a World War caused in the actuality.
ReplyDeletethats a rough eye opener, I was not aware that so many people lost their lives during this war.
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