World War I Battles with the Most Casualties

Updated August 5, 2020 | Infoplease Staff

The table below focuses on specific battles with the most casualties in the First World War. See this timeline for other World War I battles and longer campaigns.

Battle Location DatesNumber of Casualties
Kaiserschlacht (Kaiser's battle) Northern France / West Flanders, Belgium March 21 – July 18, 19181,539,715
Battle of the Somme Somme River, France July 1 – Nov. 18, 19161,219,201
Battle of Verdun Verdun-sur-Meuse, France Feb. 21 – Dec. 20, 1916976,000
Battle of Passchendaele Passendale, Belgium July 31 – Nov. 10, 1917848,614
First Battle of the Marne Marne River near Paris, France Sept. 5–12, 1914483,000
Battle of GallipoliGallipoli Peninsula, Turkey April 25, 1915 – Jan. 9, 1916473,000
Battle of Arras Arras, France April 9 – May 16, 1917278,000
Battle of the Argonne Forest Argonne Forest, France Sep. 26 – Nov. 11, 1918187,000
Battle of Tannenberg Near Allenstein, East Prussia Aug. 26–30, 1914182,000
Ninth Battle of the Isonzo Soča valley, Slovenia Oct. 31 – Nov. 4, 1916138,000
Sources Department of Defense and Veterans Administration, firstworldwar.com, and history.com.

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Casualties in World War I
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