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- Civilian War Casualties
- Died as Prisoner of War (POW)
- Killed by Disease
- Killed in Action (KIA)
- Died from War Wounds (KBW, DOW, DWRIA)
- Missing in Action (MIA) (presumed deceased)
- Shot at Dawn
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WAR CASUALTIES.
The term "war casualty" applies to any person who is lost to a military unit by having died of wounds or disease, having received wounds, or having been injured but not mortally.
- War casualties are classified into two categories: hostile and nonhostile (disease and nonbattle injuries).
- A hostile casualty is any person who is killed in action or wounded by any civilian, paramilitary, terrorist, or military force that may or may not represent a nation or state. Also included in this classification are persons killed or wounded accidentally either by friendly fire or by fratricide, which occurs when troops are mistakenly thought to be an enemy force.
- Nonhostile casualties are not attributable to enemy action. These occur due to an injury or death from environmental elements, disease, self-inflicted wounds, or combat fatigue.
It would be wrong to believe that the past was peaceful. One reason why some people might have this impression is that many of the past conflicts feature less prominently in our memories, they are simply forgotten.
In its first 100 years of existence, over 683,000 Americans lost their lives, with the Civil War accounting for 623,026 of that total (91.2%). Comparatively, in the next 100 years, a further 626,000 Americans died through two World Wars and several more regional conflicts (World War 2 representing 65% of that total). Using this comparison, the Civil War becomes the costliest war that America has ever fought.
From: Wikipedia - List of wars by death toll
- The list of wars by death toll at this site includes death toll estimates of all deaths that are either directly or indirectly caused by war. These numbers usually include both the deaths of military personnel which are the direct results of battle or other military wartime actions, as well as the wartime/war-related deaths of civilians, which are the results of war-induced epidemics, diseases, famines, atrocities, genocide, etc.
Wikipedia - United States military casualties of war
- This article lists the United States of America's military dead, wounded, and missing person totals for wars and major deployments.
Infoplease - American’s Wars: US Casualties & Veterans
- The table at this site has information about the total number of service members, battle deaths, and nonmortal woundings in wars from 1775 to 2012; such as the American Revolution, the Civil War, World War I and II, Vietnam, and more.
The Biggest Causes of Death for Soldiers During the Civil War By Rebekah Richards
- Disease killed more than 400,000 soldiers in the Civil War, according to the University of Houston's Digital History website. Dysentery was the most common fatal disease, according to the Civil War Preservation Trust. Soldiers also died from typhoid fever, a bacterial disease transmitted by lice, as well as malaria, pneumonia, smallpox and yellow fever. Several factors contributed to the spread of disease, including poor hygiene, spoiled food, impure water, lack of medical knowledge and lack of surgeons
- Battle wounds killed about 200,000 soldiers in the Civil War. Most battle deaths were caused by rifle bullets, especially from the percussion rifle, according to Georgia Perimeter College. Infection and gangrene also caused many amputations and casualties.
WWI The Medical Front - HEALTH AND CASUALTIES
- Of every 100 American soldiers and sailors who took part in the war with Germany, 2 were killed or died of disease during the period of hostilities.
- In the Northern Army during the Civil War the number was about 10. Among the other great nations in this war, between 20 and 25 in each 100 called to the colors were killed or died. To carry the comparison still further, American losses in this war were relatively one-fifth as large as during the Civil War and less than one-tenth as large as in the ranks of the enemy or among the nations associated with us.
- The war was undoubtedly the bloodiest which has ever been fought. One possible competitor might be the Crimean War in which the casualty rate per 100 men was equally heavy. The British forces in the Crimean War lost 22 of every 100 men, the French 31, the Turkish 27, and the Russian 43.
- More than four fifths of the losses were, however, deaths from disease, while in the recent war with Germany disease deaths were inconsiderable as compared with battle deaths. The forces engaged in the Crimean war were, moreover, much smaller.
- For every man who was killed in battle, seven others were wounded, taken prisoner, or reported missing.
Encyclopedia.com - War Casualties
- This site has a chart for United States Casualties by Conflict that shows the 1) Names of the conflicts, 2) the total who served, 3) the battle deaths, 4) disease/nonbattle deaths. & 5) the # with wounds not mortal.
- It includes the following conflicts: American Revolution (1775-1783), War of 1812 (1812-1815), Mexican-American War (1846-1848), Civil War (Union only) (1861-1865), Spanish-American War (1898-1899), WWI (1917-1918), WWII (1941-1945), Korean War (1950-1953), Vietnam War (1964-1973), Gulf War (1990-1991).
For Further Reading:
- Encyclopedia.com - War Casualties
- Wikipedia - List of wars by death toll
- Military Factory - American War Deaths
- Infoplease - American’s Wars: US Casualties & Veterans
- History Net - Casualties Numbers and Battle Death Statistics for the American Civil War
- WWI The Medical Front - HEALTH AND CASUALTIES
- Wikipedia - WWI casualties
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