Chris Blattman

Search
Close this search box.

A U.S. serviceman’s chance of death in battle, 1775-1991

  • War of Independence: 2 percent (1 in 50)
  • War of 1812: 0.8 percent (1 in 127)
  • Indian Wars: 0.9 percent (1 in 106)
  • Mexican War: 2.2 percent (1 in 45)
  • Civil War: 6.7 percent (1 in 15)
  • Spanish-American War: 0.1 percent (1 in 798)
  • World War I: 1.1 percent (1 in 89)
  • World War II: 1.8 percent (1 in 56)
  • Korean War: 0.6 percent (1 in 171)
  • Vietnam War: 0.5 percent (1 in 185)
  • Persian Gulf War: 0.03 percent (1 in 3,162)

Via Futility Closet, quoting Nicholas Hobbes’ Essential Militaria (2003).

5 Responses

  1. Bradley has a good point, but I would also like to see it broken into different jobs, considering that for every “frontline” infantry man there is at least 2 or more support staff.

  2. I’d be curious about levels of severe injury. Injury levels went up quite a lot in more recent wars due to improved combat medicine (less injured people dying) and less of a focus on “battles.”

  3. I wonder if these numbers literally deaths in battle or do they include deaths more broadly due to war, like fatal injuries from any kind of skirmish, etc.?

Why We Fight - Book Cover
Subscribe to Blog