Siobhan O'Connor
Author of No More Dirty Looks.
- May 25, 2009 • 1:30 am PDT
- + responses
A look at how many have served, how many have died, and how much we've spent on every major American war.
American Revolution, 1775-1783
290,000 service members, 4,435 Americans dead*, $1.8 million spent
War of 1812, 1812-1815
287,000 service members, 2,260 Americans dead, $1.2 million spent
Mexican War, 1846-1848
79,000 service members,13,238 Americans dead, $1.8 million spent
Civil War, 1861-1865
2,213,000 service members, 625,000 Americans dead**, $45.2 million spent
Spanish-American War, 1898-1902
307,000 service members, 2,446 Americans dead, $6.8 million spent
World War I, 1917-1921
4,734,000 service members, 116,516 Americans dead, $253 billion spent
World War II, 1940-
16,113,000 service members, 405,399 Americans dead, $4.1 trillion spent
Korean War, 1950-1955
5,720,000 service members, 61,085 Americans dead, $320 billion spent
Vietnam War, 1964-1975
8,744,000 service members, 58,220 Americans dead, $686 billion spent
Gulf War, 1990-1991
2,225,000 service members, 467 Americans dead, more than $96 billion spent
Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan), 2001-present
53,000 service members, 686 Americans dead, $188 billion
Operation Iraqi Freedom (Iraq), 2003-present
160,000 service members, 4,299 Americans dead, $671 billion
AMERICAN CASUALTIES ON MAJOR WARS SO FAR: 1,294,039
TOTAL SPENT ON MAJOR WARS SO FAR: $6.51406 trillion
*This number is widely disputed and current estimates are closer to 8,000.
** Includes Confederate soldiers
(All totals were adjusted for 2008 dollars and do not account for veteran benefits, foreign aid, or interest. Most death tolls are official government totals and do not account for controversial deaths. All service members totals are U.S. armed forces and auxiliary forces, and do not account for private contractors.)
Sources: Oxford Companion to American Military History; United States Department of Defense; The New York Times; The Brookings Institute; CRS Report for Congress
