How do we count the cost of World War I?

The aim of this lesson is to look at the human cost of the war, in terms
of worldwide casualties, as well as the significance of each individual
casualty. All of your work should be completed on the computer. You
have four tasks to complete using these instructions.

Task One.
Answer the questions
1. What were the total casualties for Britain?
3.1 million
2. What were the total casualties for Germany?
7.1 million
3. Which two countries had the most men killed?
Germany and Russia
4. How many countries, in total, lost men in WWI?
15 countries
5. Which country suffered most, in terms of casualties, during the
war?
Austria, the percentage of total casualties of mobilised men is
the highest (90%)
Task Two.
You are going to create a bar chart showing the men mobilised and
killed for each country. Follow the instructions.

RUSSIA 12000000 1700000

FRANCE 8400000 1300000
BRITAIN 8900000 908000
ITALY 5500000 650000
USA 4300000 126000
GERMANY 11000000 1700000
AUSTRIA 7800000 1200000
TURKEY 2800000 87000
Task Three.

Answer the questions.

1. How many hits did you get?
Using my own name, Sweens, I didnt get any hits. Then I used
the name Willems, the surname of my cousins and uncle. I got 7
hits and 5 of them were Dutch.
2. How did you feel when you were reading the information about
the people who died?
It made me feel a bit uncomfortable because these people died
for their country, and died because they tried to make life in the
future easier than it was before.
3. Pick one solider and look carefully at the information about
him. Make a note of who he left behind and any other
interesting information.
Antoon Hendrik Willems was warrant-officer of the Dutch
Army (KNIL). He died in Amahai, Ceram. Ceram is a Moluccan
island. He is buried in Ambon War Cementary.
Task Four.
How do we count the cost of the Great War? Does it matter which
country lost the most young men, or is each individual death equally
important, regardless of nationality? Write a paragraph answering
this question, and explaining what you have learnt this lesson.

Every death should be equally important, but for some reason, my

first reaction that the death of the young soldier is more important.
When I think about it for a second, age shouldnt be important at all. I
dont think that background matters because in the end, they were all
human, they all had a family and however everyone is different, they
all of the were the same in a way.
What I learned from this lesson is that however we dont talk a lot
about World War I, its not less important than World War II just
because the Netherlands werent involved in World War I. Ive also
learned that we will probably never learn from history, looking at all
the high tensions globally, and everyone trying to show that they are
the most powerful country and that what other counties do doesnt
bother them.