Prisoners of war in World War I

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Between 7–9 million soldiers surrendered and were held in prisoner-of-war camps during World War I.^[1] All nations pledged to follow the Hague Conventions on fair treatment of prisoners of war, and the survival rate for POWs was generally, though not always, much higher than that of combatants at the front.^[2]

The conditions of the POW camps were, in general, satisfactory (and much better than in World War II), thanks in part to the efforts of the International Red Cross and inspections by neutral nations. However, conditions were terrible in Russia and the Ottoman Empire. Starvation was common for prisoners and civilians alike. About 15–20% of the prisoners in Russia died, and as did 8% of Russians imprisoned by the Central Powers.^[3] In Germany, food was scarce, but only 5% died.^[4][5][6] Soldiers that surrendered were not always taken as POWs, as they were sometimes gunned down by the prevailing army instead.^[7][8]

25–31% of Russian losses (as a proportion of those captured, wounded, or killed) were to prisoner status, for Austria-Hungary 32%, for Italy 26%, for France 12%, for Germany 9%; for Britain 7%. Prisoners from the Allied armies totalled about 1.4 million (not including Russia, which lost 2.5–3.5 million soldiers as prisoners). From the Central Powers about 3.3 million soldiers became prisoners; most of them surrendered to Russians.^[9]

While the Allied prisoners of the Central Powers were quickly sent home at the end of active hostilities, the same treatment was not granted to Central Power prisoners of the Allies, many of whom served as forced labour, e.g., in France until 1920. They were released only after many approaches by the Red Cross to the Supreme War Council.^[10] German prisoners were still being held in Russia as late as 1924.^[11]