Introduction
World War II (WWII) was the largest and deadliest conflict in world history. The conflict started in 1939 when Nazi Germany, led by Adolf Hitler, invaded Poland. The war involved the vast majority of the world’s countries and ended in 1945 when Germany and Japan surrendered. While the war was fought between the Allies (Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union) and the Axis (Germany, Italy, and Japan); casualties were taken by countries across the world and between both soldiers and civilians. In fact, in countries like the Soviet Union, nearly twice as many civilians died as soldiers. It is estimated that a total of 70 to 85 million people died during the conflict.
A country’s casualties are the total number of persons – both military and civilian – who were hurt or killed during World War II. This number may be broken down to differentiate deaths versus injuries and/or civilians versus soldiers. Military casualties include battle deaths and injuries, missing military, accidents, diseases and deaths of prisoners. Civilian casualties include Holocaust victims, war crimes, population transfers, and war-related famine and diseases.
Learn for yourself about World War II casualties by country by investigating the map and charts.
[shield-db-table]Need to survey a highly targeted audience?
Talk to our Experts