Health Effects of WW1

World War One had profound consequences in the health of the troops. There were about 60 million military personnel who went to war between 1914 to 1918. Out of 60 millions - 8 million were killed, 15 million were seriously injured and 7 million were permanently disabled. Germany lost 15.1% of its active male population, Austria-Hungary lost 17.1%, and France lost 10.5%. In Germany civilian deaths were 474,000 due in large part to food shortages and malnutrition.

By the end of the war, famine killed 100,000 people in Lebanon, 5 million to 10 million from Russian famine. By 1922, there were between 4.5 million and 7 million homeless children in Russia as a result of World War I. By 1930s, the northern Chinese city of Harbin had 100,000 Russians and thousands emigrated to France, England, and the United States.

In Australia, the effects of the war on the economy were no less severe. The Australian prime minister, Billy Hughes, wrote to the British prime minister, Lloyd George, "You have assured us that you cannot get better terms. I much regret it, and hope even now that some way may be found of securing agreement for demanding reparation commensurate with the tremendous sacrifices made by the British Empire and her Allies." Australia received ₤5,571,720 war reparations, but the direct cost of the war to Australia had been ₤376,993,052. 416,000 Australians served in the war and 60,000 were killed & 152,000 were wounded.

In 1914, louse-borne epidemic typhus killed 200,000 in Serbia. Russia had about 25 million infections and 3 million deaths from epidemic typhus (1918 to 1922). In 1918, a major influenza epidemic spread around the world and flu pandemic killed at least 50 million people.