how many u.s. soldiers have died over the course of u.s. history?

by Dr. Daphney Conn Sr. 8 min read

American deaths number just over 100,000, which is still a huge and tragic amount, but nothing when you compare it to the 17+ million soldiers and countless civilians that died during the course of this pointless war.

Number of military fatalities in all major wars involving the United States from 1775 to 2022
War (and years of U.S. military involvement)Number of fatalities
American Civil War (1861-1865)620,000
World War II (1939-1945)405,399
World War I (1917-1918)116,516
Vietnam War (1965-1973)58,209
7 more rows

Full Answer

How many American soldiers have died in all wars?

May 27, 2019 · Nearly 500,000 military personnel died during the U.S. Civil War. That’s almost half of all Americans who have ever died during wartime, and more than a hundred times more than died during the...

How many Americans were in the military during World War II?

Apr 04, 2022 · For more than a century, the total death toll of the American Civil War was generally accepted to be around 620,000, a number which was first proposed by Union historians William F. Fox and Thomas...

What wars have there been in the United States military?

May 25, 2017 · It's a sober fact we're meant to be reminded of on Memorial Day, particularly in light of the nearly 7,000 U.S. troops killed, and the many more wounded, over the last decade in our most recent and ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

How many people died in the Iraq and Gulf War?

They may be a young country, but the number of American soldiers that have been killed in war is still high because the wars with the highest deaths all occurred in the 20th century, when they were very much one of the superpowers of the world. Official stats put the number of Americans that have died in non-civil war conflict at over 650,000.

How many people died in the Civil War?

For more than a century, the total death toll of the American Civil War was generally accepted to be around 620,000, a number which was first proposed by Union historians William F. Fox and Thomas L. Livermore in 1888.

Is it possible to get accurate records of the Civil War?

While many civil war historians agree that this is possible, and even likely, obtaining consistently accurate figures has proven to be impossible until now; both sides were poor at keeping detailed records throughout the war, and much of the Confederacy's records were lost by the war's end.

How many times as many Americans served in World War II as did in the wars of the last decade?

As a proportion of the population, 14 times as many Americans served in World War II as did in the wars of the last decade.". Another stark disparity is the rate of U.S. fatalities in today's conflicts as compared to those in even the recent past.

How many wars has America fought?

America has never been a stranger to war. In our relatively short history as a nation, we've fought a lot of them: 11 official wars and numerous other domestic and international military conflicts, collectively resulting in huge numbers of casualties on both sides of the battlefield.

Is American warfare less a national sacrifice than it once was?

In short, modern American warfare has become less a national sacrifice than it once was, with a significantly smaller percentage of the nation's population bearing the burden. The chart below shows U.S. war deaths per official military conflict.

How many soldiers died in the Civil War?

That’s because more than 620,000 soldiers died in the American Civil War. Not all of these were shot though. In fact, a significant percentage died as a result of disease and starvation. It’s also worth noting that some historians have put the figure at closer to 850,000.

How many American soldiers died in the Vietnam War?

Nearly twice as many American soldiers died in the Vietnam war than died in the Korean war. Both wars caused outrage back home and in total nearly 180,000 American soldiers lost their lives because of them. They didn’t achieve much and they have since proved as a reminder to countries like America that might of military and advanced weaponry doesn’t mean anything when your enemy has a far greater understanding of the terrain and you can’t always tell who your enemy is.

How many British soldiers died in the Revolutionary War?

They also took a lot of soldiers with them, as 24,000 British soldiers died during the Revolutionary War, just under half the amount that fought in the war for the British Empire.

How many people died in non-civil wars?

Official stats put the number of Americans that have died in non-civil war conflict at over 650,000. These were killed in direct conflict, but there are also about a quarter of a million who have died as a result of war, whether they were training for it, had accidents during it, or caught some disease while enlisted.

What were the major conflicts in the Second World War?

Key conflicts for America during the Second World War include Pearl Harbor, which was actually the trigger that sent them to war in the first place; the Allied Invasion of France, which was pivotal in turning the war and involved all Allied countries; and the Battle of Midway.

Which war cost the least American lives?

The Gulf War was a key part of recent US history, but it is actually the war that has cost the least number of American lives, with 258 soldiers dying. George Bush Senior took the US into this war to expel Iraq from Kuwait and stop them from invading additional countries. It worked and was successful.

Is the United States the biggest country in the world?

The United States is the biggest country on earth. Its military might is greater than any other country, despite the fact that it is still very young in the grand scheme of things. America was formed through grit, determination and wealth, but it was also formed thanks to a lot of bloodshed, which begs the question, ...

How many men were in the Continental Army?

Over the course of the war, about 231,000 men served in the Continental Army, though never more than 48,000 at any one time, and never more than 13,000 at any one place. The sum of the Colonial militias numbered upwards of 145,000 men.

How long did the Revolutionary War last?

The conflict lasted a total of seven years, with the major American victory at Yorktown, Virginia in 1781 marking the end of hostilities, although some fighting took place through the fall ...

How many Hessian soldiers died?

This total number includes battlefield deaths and injuries, deaths from disease, men taken prisoner, and those who remained missing. Approximately 1,200 Hessian soldiers were killed, 6,354 died of disease, and another 5,500 deserted and settled in America afterward.

What was the most costly battle of the war?

In both of these battles most of the losses were prisoners. The crushing defeat of the Continental Army at the battle of Camden, S.C. stands out as the most costly battle of the war.

How many British soldiers surrendered in Charleston?

Some engagements involved large numbers of prisoners, such as Yorktown, in which the British surrendered over 8,000 soldiers. In Charleston, S.C., the British captured 5,000 continentals, but similarly suffered a major setback when 6,200 British soldiers under General John Burgoyne surrendered at Saratoga, N.Y.

What was the American Revolution?

American Revolution Facts. The Revolutionary War was a war unlike any other—one of ideas and ideals, that shaped “the course of human events.”. With 165 principal engagements from 1775-1783, the Revolutionary War was the catalyst for American independence. This article provides information on the American Revolution, ...

Why did the Americans form a committee of correspondence?

The Americans formed Committees of Correspondence, and later, a Continental Congress, to find solutions, but could not find common ground with the English. When fighting broke out in 1775, American revolutionaries determined that separation was the only means of obtaining liberty and justice.

image