5 million dead human bodies.
"Prisoners and missing" accounted for 7,750,000 additional human beings.
Many of them were torn to shreds and smithereens by the gigantic
concentration of mechanical and explosive power, designed, constructed
and transported to the European battlefields for the express purpose of
carrying on this month-long and year-long collective endeavor to take as
much life as possible and destroy as much property as possible while war
declarations authorized and legalized mass murder and wholesale
destruction.
Not all victims of the hideous 1914-18 blood bath were killed. "Wound
casualties" numbered 12.8 million among the Allies; 8.4 million among
the boys, young men and adults mobilized by the Central Powers. Some of
the wounded were crippled for life. Some were less severely injured, but
all 22.2 million were more or less severely handicapped when they stood
up to face the rigors of civilian life at war's end. All were denied the
possibility of living normal, productive, creative, satisfying lives.
Wars are fought on battlefields. In the war of 1914-18 many of the
battlefields included villages, towns, cities. These complex
institutions, occupied by men, women and children were smashed and
burned wholesale.
The figures which I have used in listing the 1914-18 war losses were
compiled by the United States War Department. They are more or less
accurate, but they underline the fact that for years on end the centers
of western civilization concentrated their energies and devoted every
means at their disposal to cripple or destroy fellow human beings and
their habitations.
Pages:
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251