Will You Be Putting The Lights Out to mark the outbreak of World War One?

The Lights Out project is inspired by the famous remark made at the outbreak of the war by the then British Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey, who said: “The lamps are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our life-time.” 

Everyone is invited to take part in the project next month by turning off their lights, leaving on a single light or candle for a shared moment of reflection.  People can take part either individually or collectively by attending one of the many organised events which are taking place around the UK.  Lights out will take place on Monday 4^th August from 10.00 pm – 11.00 pm GMT and will synchronise with the candlelit vigil service which is being held in Westminster Abbey.

The project is being organised by 14-18 NOW, the official cultural programme for the First World War Centenary Commemorations.  Four leading international artists have been commission by 14-18 NOW to create public artworks in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England. Bombay-based artist Nalini Malani will present a large-scale video projection across the entire west elevation of the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh; Welsh artist Bedwyr William’s work will take the form of a large-scale light and sound installation presented at the site of the WW1 North Wales Memorial Arch in Bangor; leading artist Bob and Roberta Smith’s new large-scale work using thousands of candles will be created by a range of community based groups in Belfast. Across London a special project will be revealed on the night of 4th August.

Millions of people are expected to participate in Lights Out and hundreds of local authorities, national organisations which include the BBC, parish councils and places of worship have pledged their support. Landmark buildings amongst them the Houses of Parliament, Eden Project, the Imperial War Museums and Tower Bridge will turn off their lights.  The Royal British Legion has launched a campaign for at least one million candles to be lit across the UK.  Theatre's nationally and internationally, including the National Theatre WW1 production War Horse, will invite their audiences to take part after their curtain calls.

Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller has created an original Lights Out digital artwork in the form of an app, which can be downloaded for free.

The 14-18 NOW programme is funded by the National Lottery including The Heritage Lottery Fund and Arts Council England.

For more information visit the website: www.1418NOW.org.uk/lightsout

WW1 – some statistics on the "war to end all wars"

• Over 65 million men were mobilised.
• 8.5 million were killed.
• 12.8 million wounded.
• 8.8 million civilian casulties.
• $186.3 billion the total cost of the war.

 
One way to understand the violence and slaughter that occurred in the Great War is to examine the number of casualties and deaths. Exact figures are still in dispute, because of different definitions used each category, the questionable accuracy of the recording system used and the loss or destruction of a number of official documents. The data in the tables below reflect numbers from several sources and are consistent with most experts' current estimates.

Country	Total Mobilized Forces	Killed	Wounded	Prisoners and Missing	Total Casualties	Casualties as % of Forces
ALLIED AND ASSOCIATED POWERS
Russia	12,000,000	1,700,000	4,950,000	2,500,000	9,150,000	76.3
British Empire	8,904,467	908,371	2,090,212	191,652	3,190,235	35.8
France	8,410,000	1,357,800	4,266,000	537,000	6,160,800	73.3
Italy	5,615,000	650,000	947,000	600,000	2,197,000	39.1
United States	4,355,000	116,516	204,002	4,500	323,018	7.1
Japan	800,000	300	907	3	1,210	0.2
Romania	750,000	335,706	120,000	80,000	535,706	71.4
Serbia	707,343	45,000	133,148	152,958	331,106	46.8
Belgium	267,000	13,716	44,686	34,659	93,061	34.9
Greece	230,000	5,000	21,000	1,000	27,000	11.7
Portugal	100,000	7,222	13,751	12,318	33,291	33.3
Montenegro	50,000	3,000	10,000	7,000	20,000	40.0
TOTAL	42,188,810	5,142,631	12,800,706	4,121,090	22,062,427	52.3
ALLIED AND ASSOCIATED POWERS
Germany	11,000,000	1,773,700	4,216,058	1,152,800	7,142,558	64.9
Austria-Hungary	7,800,000	1,200,000	3,620,000	2,200,000	7,020,000	90.0
Turkey	2,850,000	325,000	400,000	250,000	975,000	34.2
Bulgaria	1,200,000	87,500	152,390	27,029	266,919	22.2
TOTAL	22,850,000	3,386,200	8,388,448	3,629,829	15,404,477	67.4
GRAND TOTAL	65,038,810	8,528,831	21,189,154	7,750,919	37,466,904	57.5

Source: http://www.pbs.org/greatwar/resources/casdeath_pop.html