The Human Cost
60,000
estimated total dead
Each dot below represents 1,000 human lives. Scroll to watch the scale unfold.
50,000 soldiers killed in combat, from wounds, or from disease. Each = 1,000 lives.
10,000 civilians killed — from violence, famine, disease, and displacement. Wars are not fought only by soldiers.
How Wars of the Roses's dead compare to other conflicts and events.
300 dead
Bosworth Field — decisive battle, surprisingly few casualties
3,000 dead
Blore Heath total dead
10,000 dead
Estimated English civilian dead over entire conflict
17,000 dead
Battle of Flodden Field (1513) — comparison battle
28,000 dead
Towton alone — bloodiest battle ever fought on English soil
50,000 dead
Total dead — all battles of the Wars of the Roses
57,470 dead
British dead on Day 1 of the Somme — a single day, 450 years later