The Russo-Japanese War

160,000

estimated total dead

Each dot below represents 1,000 human lives. Scroll to watch the scale unfold.

Military Dead

140,000 soldiers killed in combat, from wounds, or from disease. Each = 1,000 lives.

Japan — 88,000 military dead

Russia — 52,000 military dead

Civilian Dead

20,000 civilians killed — from violence, famine, disease, and displacement. Wars are not fought only by soldiers.

Civilian dead — 20,000

Deadliest Engagements

Battle of Mukden163,000

Siege of Port Arthur88,780

Battle of Liaoyang46,000

Battle of Sha-Ho44,000

Battle of Tsushima12,000

Battle of Telissu7,000

Battle of the Yalu4,400

For Perspective

How Russo-Japanese's dead compare to other conflicts and events.

Russo-Japanese — total dead160,000

American Civil War (U.S. deaths)620,000

Spanish-American War (total)63,000

World War I (total dead)20,000,000

Milestones of Loss

52,000 dead

Russian military dead — a catastrophic defeat for a great power

88,000 dead

Japanese military dead — victory came at enormous cost

140,000 dead

Total military dead — shockwave felt around the world

All figures are historical estimates and vary across sources. The true human cost of war is impossible to fully quantify — these numbers represent the best scholarly consensus. Each number was a person with a name, a family, and a life unlived.