Estimating the share of each Allied nation in the great victory, mankind
will conclude that the heaviest cost in proportion to prewar population
and treasure was paid by the nations that first felt the shock of war,
Belgium, Serbia, Poland and France. All four were the battle-grounds of
huge armies, oscillating in a bloody frenzy over once fertile fields and
once prosperous towns.
Belgium, with a population of 8,000,000, had a casualty list of more
than 350,000; France, with its casualties of 4,000,000 out of a
population (including its colonies) of 90,000,000, is really the martyr
nation of the world. Her gallant poilus showed the world how cheerfully
men may die in defense of home and liberty. Huge Russia, including
hapless Poland, had a casualty list of 7,000,000 out of its entire
population of 180,000,000. The United States out of a population of
110,000,000 had a casualty list of 236,117 for nineteen months of war;
of these 53,169 were killed or died of disease; 179,625 were wounded;
and 3,323 prisoners or missing.
[Illustration: KINGS AND CHIEF EXECUTIVES OF THE PRINCIPAL POWERS
ASSOCIATED AGAINST THE GERMAN ALLIANCE (King George V of England,
President Raymond of France, President Woodrow Wilson of the United
States, King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy, King Albert I of Belgium)]
[Illustration: Photograph of Clemenceau]
Copyright International Film Service.
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