If, now, we attempt to present the statistics of the total cost of the war we must be mindful of the difficulties mentioned above. The figures are not entirely accurate, and cannot be made entirely accurate for the following reasons: In the first place, the last date in the official return differs from country to country. They are, however, all subsequent to the armistice, with the exception of Russia, where we have no trustworthy figures after the advent of Bolshevism. In the second place, we do not know, except in the case of the United States and Great Britain, whether the figures comprise the total expenditures or only the purely war expenditures. Even making allowance for these differences it will be seen that the total war expenditures amount to over $232,000,000,000. In Japan and some of the minor belligerents, there were virtually no war expenses. Inasmuch, however, as most of the countries will continue to have expenses attributable to the war for some little time in the future, it is probable that the total war expenditures will amount, by the end of 1920, to almost $236,000,000,000. From this must, however, be deducted the sums counted twice, because advanced to their allies by the United States, Great Britain, France and Germany. Making allowance for this, it is safe to say that the total net war expenditures will be about $210,000,000,000. WAR EXPENDITURES OF ALL BELLIGERENTS In Millions ==================================================================== | From entrance | To | | | into war | | | --------------+----------------+----------------+----------+-------- Great Britain | August 4, 1914 | March 31, 1919 | £ 8,601| $41,887 | | | | Australia | August 4, 1914 | March 31, 1919 | £ 291| 1,461 | | | | Canada (inc. | August 4, 1914 |August 31, 1919 | | 1,545 Newfoundland) | | | | New Zealand | August 4, 1914 | March 31, 1919 | £ 76| 365 | | | | South Africa | August 4, 1914 | March 31, 1919 | £ 33| 243 | | | | India | August 4, 1914 | March 31, 1919 | £ 119| 584 | | | | ------- British Empire| | | | $46,083 | | | | France | August 3, 1914 | March 31, 1919 |fr 169,000| $32,617 | | | | Russia | August 1, 1914 |October 31, 1917| ru 51,500| 26,522 | | | |