As a follow-up, I've seen it claimed that a hundred artillery shells were fired for every combat fatality in WWI. This seems to be roughly accurate (if not an underestimate) by order of magnitude given readily-available numbers (e.g. Britain was producing roughly 50 million shells a year by 1917 and lost about 700,000 men throughout the four-year war) but I was wondering if there was a generally good source or sources on the shell production numbers of the various combatants (which might also include the cost information that would answer OP's question).

Follow up: Was there a mass buildup of artillery leading up to the war? Did it lead to a cold war situation where nations were cranking out shells to keep their numbers higher?

Hi folks,

We've unfortunately had to remove nearly every answer in this thread. Please keep in mind that here on /r/AskHistorians, we ask for quality, expertise, and in-depth responses. This isn't the place for reiterating soundbites about logistics, or repeating tired and discredited popular stereotypes about WWI being 'over by Christmas,' or vague and short non-responses to follow-up questions.

Please, if you're going to contribute here, take the time to ensure that what you contribute is authoritative, detailed, relevant, and worthwhile.

Thanks for your understanding!