'…a universal outpouring of savagery, imbecility and race hatred… Civilization was about to murder itself.'
—Bruce Duffy on the First World War, in The World as I Found It (1987)
All-cause mortality at age 15-34 years in
France: 1900-2007
Colours: The coloured curves represent French males (blue) and females (red); for comparison, the light grey curves represent males (generally the upper grey curve) and females (generally the lower) in England & Wales.
Comment: French mortality rates during the two world wars include the deaths of French military personnel (as do those for England and Wales).
The mortality rate for men aged 15 to 34 was some 85 times higher in 1915 than in 2007.
Method: Mortality rates were downloaded from the Human Mortality Database (see www.mortality.org or
www.humanmortality.de)
on 4 December 2009. The plotted lines connect unsmoothed values.
Colours: The coloured curves represent French males (blue) and females (red); for comparison, the light grey curves represent males (generally the upper grey curve) and females (generally the lower) in England & Wales.
Comment: French mortality rates during the two world wars include the deaths of French military personnel (as do those for England and Wales). The mortality rate for men aged 15 to 34 was some 85 times higher in 1915 than in 2007.
Method: Mortality rates were downloaded from the Human Mortality Database (see www.mortality.org or www.humanmortality.de) on 4 December 2009. The plotted lines connect unsmoothed values.