At Its Peak, WW2 Was Costing 40% of US GDP

How much did the United States spend on World War I and World War II, and how do these costs compare to the costs of modern warfare?

Compared to World War II and modern wars, World War I was relatively cheap for the United States in terms of dollars spent.

The total cost of the war, which the United States was involved in for a total of 584 days, was $20 billion in 1917-18 dollars.

This works out to an inflation-adjusted cost of $440 billion.

World War II was much more expensive for the country. To start, the US involvement in World War II lasted much longer - 1,365 days instead of 584.

The country spent $296 billion financing its war effort from 1941 to 1945 - this works out to roughly $4.7 trillion in today's dollars.

The United States spent $3.44 billion per day on World War II, and ended up losing over 400,000 lives.

At the peak, the United States spent 40% of its total GDP on World War II. The entire country was involved in the war effort, with factories being repurposed to manufacture weapons, ammunition and clothing, etc.

Compare this to the Gulf War, where just 0.3% of the country's GDP went towards the war against Iraq.

War has gotten progressively more expensive as time has gone on. We've moved from trench warfare to million dollar missiles, hundred million dollar fighter jets, billion dollar bomber jets and even more expensive aircraft carriers.

Modern warfare is very expensive, and the costs to carry out an operation against a country like Iran is massively expensive, even if the conflict doesn't carry on for very long.

Source: How Long Every War in U.S. History Actually Lasted and What It Cost

Filed under: General Knowledge