I just finished the Dan Carlin series on WWI called "Blueprint for Armageddon". I came away with a question though. Why is it that it seems like none of the large second world war battles had anywhere near the casualties of the first world war (minus stallingrad). Yet WW2 had a much higher body count overall. I'm curious to see how this happens.
That is a great series and it is easy to get wrapped up into the horror of World War 1. However, World War 2 operations were generally far more fatal due to advances in technology and tactics which also allowed for larger groups of armed forces to be deployed. In addition, Hitler and Stalin were both willing to sacrifice all the people in their countries to be victorious. I think the best way to demonstrate this is by looking at the casualties of the three largest WW1 operations/offensives and comparing them to one operation of WW2.
World War 1 Casualties:
Hundred Days Offensive, August to November 1918
Source: Tucker’s “Germany at War: 400 Years of Military History.”
The Spring Offensive, March to July 1918
Source: Churchill’s "The World Crisis, Vol. 2"
The Somme Offensive, July to November 1916
Source: Miles’ “Military Operations France and Belgium, 1916: 2nd July 1916 to the End of the Battles of the Somme”
In terms of casualties the three largest offensives of WW1 total: 5,037,789
Now of course all the numbers mentioned and those that will be mentioned are up for debate. So far, the offensives listed are generally recognized as the largest of WW1. All of them had over a million casualties, in addition the third battle of Ypres could have had over a million casualties but the numbers vary.
World War 2 was a gargantuan conflict, mainly because of the conflict between Germany and Russia. If you did not count all the other combatants besides Germany and Russia it would still be the largest conflict in history.
Operation Barbarossa June to December 1941
Axis: 1,000,000+
Soviet: 4,973,820
Total: 5,973,820+
Sources: Askey’s “Operation Barbarossa: The Complete Organisational and Statistical Analysis, and Military Simulation.” And Krivosheev’s “Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses in the Twentieth Century.”
This one operation was the largest in history, and was more costly than all three of the largest offensives of WW1 COMBINED. And that was just the opening operation for the Eastern Front. To name a few more on the Eastern Front Operation Blau, Operation Uranus, Operation Feuerzauber, and Operation Bagration had causalities in the millions. Now add on the millions that fought in China and Japan, all the people that fought in the Western Front, and all the operations in North Africa.