abstract

The aim of the paper is to study the selection effects of mortality among Italian soldiers in WW1. To achieve this goal, are used the individual-level data of more than 62,000 soldiers born between 1874 and 1899 in north-eastern Italy. Almost 10% of these soldiers died in the war. A data set was constructed by linking two different sources. There was the call-up registers and the Roll of Honour of the fallen Italian soldiers of WW1. In this paper, are considered, as explanatory variables, the military corps which the soldiers belonged to, some individual demographic characteristics, such as age, socio-economic factors, such as occupation and literacy, and anthropometric factors, such as stature and chest circumference. The results of the analyses show that even in a conflict where, apparently, all soldiers faced similar perils, there were individual characteristics that increased and others that decreased death risks. These characteristics depended partly the soldier’s assignment to corps before he was sent to the war zone. Others, however, depended on individual behaviour and characteristics.