The Human Cost
463,000
estimated total dead
Each dot below represents 1,000 human lives. Scroll to watch the scale unfold.
63,000 soldiers killed in combat, from wounds, or from disease. Each = 1,000 lives.
400,000 civilians killed — from violence, famine, disease, and displacement. Wars are not fought only by soldiers.
How Spanish-Am War's dead compare to other conflicts and events.
385 dead
Only 385 Americans killed in combat — the smallest combat toll of any major U.S. war
3,289 dead
Over 2,900 more Americans died of disease — yellow fever, typhoid, malaria — than in combat
60,000 dead
Spain lost an estimated 60,000 soldiers, nearly all to disease after years of fighting Cuba's independence war
63,000 dead
Total military dead on both sides — a 'splendid little war' that killed far more from fever than from bullets