War's cost is measured in soldiers' lives

When there is war, soldiers are killed — plain and simple. Wars go back thousands of years, with enormous loss of life, including many conflicts most of us have never heard of.

In 331 B.C., Alexander the Great defeated the Persian army at the Battle of Gaugamela, where an estimated 40,000 Persians were killed. Eleanor of Aquitaine died in 1204. She was queen of both France and England, and her lifetime spanned the era of the Crusades, which resulted in more than 100,000 deaths.

In 1625, Charles I ascended the English throne, igniting a series of civil wars that ultimately resulted in about 250,000 deaths. Many of these deaths came from hand‑to‑hand combat.

The U.S. Civil War in the 1860s resulted in more than 600,000 deaths. During World War I, British forces fired massive artillery barrages on German trenches during the Battle of the Somme. British commanders believed the bombardment had killed most German soldiers, but many were sheltered in deep underground tunnels. When British troops attacked, they were mowed down by machine‑gun fire, suffering about 20,000 deaths in a single day.

During World War II, aerial bombardment became a major element of warfare. Combined with ground and naval battles, the war resulted in more than 50 million deaths worldwide, with the Soviet Union suffering the greatest losses

Roger Gregory served as a captain in the 1st Infantry Division in Vietnam. He is a Priest River businessman.